Christmas 2020: Lockdown changed how I feel about my home

Our homes have been so much more than homes in 2020. We've worked from them, exercised in them and stood outside them and clapped the NHS. We've put our children's drawings of rainbows in our windows and shared doorstep drinks with our neighbours. We've cleared out cupboards, painted walls and grown our own vegetables. In this series of blogs, we celebrate some of the ways our homes have helped us through the year - even if it wasn't quite the year we were planning.

Lockdown changed how I feel about my home

I've always had a bit of a love/hate relationship with my Edwardian semi-detached. I loved it because it was the start of a new life and I hated it because it reminded me of the modern, glossy home I had moved from, with its ensuite bathroom and utility room (the dream). Also because of the damp, in pretty much every corner that continues to baffle the plethora of builders who have come to assess the damage.

And then came lockdown. And several days that turned into weeks that turned into months of just me and the house. I would sit at my makeshift desk in the dining room, scowling at the patches of damp that seem to keep growing no matter what I do and lamenting the fact that I hadn't painted the bedrooms or finished the kitchen tiling, despite living here for over four years.

A week in June changed this. We (my boyfriend and I) were supposed to be in Crete at a super-luxe resort but we found ourselves in virtual queues on the B&Q website and in actual ones at Wickes. There was a shortage of eggshell, I bought way too many paint brushes and I scrutinised so many paint testers until I found the right shade of green for the living room (it turned out to be Tranquil Dawn).

DIY is not my forte but we cracked on and transformed the living room and the two bedrooms and, you know what, they look amazing and made me feel house-proud for the first time.

The damp patches may still be there and who knows if the kitchen splashback will ever be tiled but this house gave me shelter during what was a difficult time and I've started to finally love it. NR, Hertfordshire

Further information

This series of blogs is inspired by Savills new advertising campaign, To Every Home That's Been So Much More Than A Home - Thank You and Merry Christmas. Over the next few weeks a selection of guest bloggers will reveal just how much their homes have meant to them this year. Anne Ashworth, Property and finance writer and commentator