Spoiler alert: it can be a bit of a mine field...
I can't believe we've almost been in this flat for a whole month. It's already starting to feel like home and I love it.
I'm a homebody at heart. I love my bed. I love my home comforts. I love closing the door at the end of the day and just chilling out.
Moving to London has been really exciting and I'm loving every minute of it, but in the months when Ben and I house shared, I really missed having a proper home. It's made me appreciate our little flat even more and I love coming home to our new place every night.
But the process of actually finding somewhere to live was really hard. It wasn't as easy as stumbling upon your dream place, falling completely in love and moving your stuff in the very next day. There were times when we felt like we'd never get through the front door, unpack or start to make the place feel like our own, but I think we're finally getting there.
Finding somewhere to live in London is really complicated, especially when you're in a new city. It can feel like you're doing the whole thing blind folded and sometimes all you can do is cross your fingers and hope for the best.
I'm still baffled that no one thought to teach us the basics in school. In the interest of shedding some light on the subject, I thought I'd share three of the most important life lessons that I've learned about renting a flat...
Talking to other people really helps
I moved in with my boyfriend and although, he'd lived in a house share before, renting a flat was still really new to us.
We found that speaking to as many people as possible about their experiences really helped. One size doesn't fit all, but getting as much advice as possible really helped us to understand where in London we wanted to live, average prices and how everything works.
Decide your non-negotiables and stick to them
Viewing flats can be really exciting and sometimes it's easy to get carried away.
One minute you could be swearing you don't want a ground-floor apartment and the next you could be obsessing over it's beautifully restored floorboards whilst throwing all rhyme and reason out of the window.
Although it's good to be open minded, I'd recommend sitting down and thinking about what you really want from your flat. Talk about what's most important to you, what you're willing to compromise on and what's an absolute deal breaker.
Save a list on your phone and take it with you to all of your viewings. I'm not going to lie, there'll still be times when you're tempted to ignore all sense and logic, but at least you'll have something to pull you back down to earth.
Don't expect your flat to be perfect on day one
Despite the fact you've only had the keys for 24 hours, you will feel the pressure to have a perfectly polished flat from day one.
Ever since I moved in, I've been completely obsessed with homeware. I now spend more time than I care to admit eyeing up everything on Habitat or adding things to my wishlist on Oliver Bonas.
But I'm starting to realise that these things take time. Unless you've got an endless supply of cash and nothing better to do than to wait in for furniture deliveries all day, then it's good to take things slow. It'll also give you time to think about how you want the space to actually look and whether you need that second fluffy stool. Tempting, I know...
Moving to London has been really exciting and I'm loving every minute of it, but in the months when Ben and I house shared, I really missed having a proper home. It's made me appreciate our little flat even more and I love coming home to our new place every night.
But the process of actually finding somewhere to live was really hard. It wasn't as easy as stumbling upon your dream place, falling completely in love and moving your stuff in the very next day. There were times when we felt like we'd never get through the front door, unpack or start to make the place feel like our own, but I think we're finally getting there.
Finding somewhere to live in London is really complicated, especially when you're in a new city. It can feel like you're doing the whole thing blind folded and sometimes all you can do is cross your fingers and hope for the best.
I'm still baffled that no one thought to teach us the basics in school. In the interest of shedding some light on the subject, I thought I'd share three of the most important life lessons that I've learned about renting a flat...
Talking to other people really helps
I moved in with my boyfriend and although, he'd lived in a house share before, renting a flat was still really new to us.
We found that speaking to as many people as possible about their experiences really helped. One size doesn't fit all, but getting as much advice as possible really helped us to understand where in London we wanted to live, average prices and how everything works.
Decide your non-negotiables and stick to them
Viewing flats can be really exciting and sometimes it's easy to get carried away.
One minute you could be swearing you don't want a ground-floor apartment and the next you could be obsessing over it's beautifully restored floorboards whilst throwing all rhyme and reason out of the window.
Although it's good to be open minded, I'd recommend sitting down and thinking about what you really want from your flat. Talk about what's most important to you, what you're willing to compromise on and what's an absolute deal breaker.
Save a list on your phone and take it with you to all of your viewings. I'm not going to lie, there'll still be times when you're tempted to ignore all sense and logic, but at least you'll have something to pull you back down to earth.
Don't expect your flat to be perfect on day one
Despite the fact you've only had the keys for 24 hours, you will feel the pressure to have a perfectly polished flat from day one.
Ever since I moved in, I've been completely obsessed with homeware. I now spend more time than I care to admit eyeing up everything on Habitat or adding things to my wishlist on Oliver Bonas.
But I'm starting to realise that these things take time. Unless you've got an endless supply of cash and nothing better to do than to wait in for furniture deliveries all day, then it's good to take things slow. It'll also give you time to think about how you want the space to actually look and whether you need that second fluffy stool. Tempting, I know...