Things are settling

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I start each post by mentioning the quiet times away from my blog and the flow of everything I want to share comes gushing through my mind and it overwhelms me enough to not make a post at all. But let me try to catch you up…

I moved house. This time, I am not renting, but building a home 🙂

Towards the end of my lease, I started looking for a place, because we didn’t have much time and the landlord wanted to move back into his place. My cousin is an absolute angel and I am so incredibly grateful to her because she found me many places, worked around my work and study schedules and even picked me up and took me to viewings. We worked hard to find the items on my list of what I was dreaming about, especially when making the biggest purchase of my little existence!

The list wasn’t too crazy:

Gated community or stand-alone property
Two to three bedrooms
One to two bathrooms
A private little outside area
A pool
A private washing line
Some sun and natural light
A garage/ safe designated parking
And of course AFFORDABLE

I learnt that in the Mother City, this was near impossible. We went to about eight listings and every place we went to just didn’t feel right. Or it didn’t have much of any of the things on my checklist. I felt defeated.

Ramadaan (our holiest month of the year) started and we decided to stop the vigorous search for a property and even looked at options to rent temporarily. We did not go to one listing but made duah (prayer) and left it completely in the hands of Allah (God). About two days before the end of Ramadaan, my cousin called me and said she had found something promising, it had 99% of the items on my checklist and it was in my budget! But we asked to go and to view the property only after our Eid celebrations.

A few days later we arrived at the property, this was also the first viewing my mom had joined my cousin and me on, and I just didn’t feel the usual need to take a dozen videos and pictures to send on to my family group. My cousin was talking to the seller and my mom and I stood in the kitchen, the sun warmed and lit the entire place. We stopped talking for a while and as I looked out, realised the complete centre of nature and peace I was surrounded by.

For the first time in my journey to finding a home, I really imagined myself living in this house. We spoke about what we would change and what we’d do differently and before we really created this dream in our minds, we had to leave. The seller walked us out of the “two-bed/ one-bath” townhouse to the gate of the “gated community,” after showing us the “pool area” and the “designated parking bay”.

It felt so surreal! Did I just find my home?

My cousin drove through alone and my mom and I came together so we all got into my car and spoke about how great this place would be. Knowing that there would be some work to be done to make it more perfect but that it had the potential to be exactly what I’d been praying for. And while we sat there we had a few questions so we called the seller and everything was answered. We decided right there in the car, parked outside the complex and put in an offer!

Even now, as I sit typing this, I cannot believe how quickly it all went. My sense of gratitude is unexplainable and incomprehensible.

It’s been eight months of living here and it truly feels like home. We’ve renovated the bathroom, the kitchen and the outside gardens, both in front and in the back. It has been transformed and though these incredible feats have been challenging, it is so rewarding to see. We have to celebrate these little wins and these moments that we will forever cherish in our lives.

All praise be to Allah

There are still a few things I’d like to do to make it extra special and turn it into my dream home but I have never felt happier and more settled since I left my childhood home and moved to Cape Town. There is so much I still want to share with you and the excitement of building my dream home but I will get to all that very soon.