House or Home?

When does a house really feel like a home? Should you get that feeling from the moment you enter or does it become home once its filled with your things and loved ones?

After 10 years of working on super yachts, I, like many others, found myself stuffing more items into my tiny shoebox of a cabin or paying outrageous money for a small storage. When B and I decided to buy an apartment in Croatia, I was desperate for a home, for somewhere I could unpack, put my things and close the door behind us.

We knew we needed to make a smart investment - something that would help us untie the knots that bound us to the yachting life. Trawling through the real estate websites and advertisements, we finally had a shortlist of places that we knew we wanted to take a look at. They were all in a good enough state and with some minor DIY & a lick of paint, they all had the potential to be a home for us.

On the morning we met with our real estate agent in Zadar, I was excited. I was ready to feel that feeling that everyone talks about when they 'know' they have found their dream place. I imagine it's like trying on wedding dresses, you know when you have found the perfect one. However as each viewing went by, I wasn't in love with any of the apartments. B and I would comment on the great views or the large kitchen but we kept walking away thinking each place was just 'ok'. After all the viewings were finished, we sat in the square of the old town, drank our veliki makiato and felt a little disappointed. Why weren't any of those perfectly good places, good enough?

A few days went by and our agent called us to ask us for feedback and let us know (as agents always do!) that if we wanted any of the apartments we had viewed, we needed to move quickly because other people were interested. We told him, very diplomatically, that all those perfectly good apartments were great but not for us. B asked if anything else came up to let us know straight away as we were really keen to secure a place.

The very next day, B's phone rang and our agent excitedly told us that one very special place was for sale on the seafront in the old town and that we should view it straight away, We knew the location of the building, only metres from the water, so I was already getting excited about the viewing. It was a period property built in the early 1900's with the most beautiful stone features.

About 2 hours later (some things work much faster in Croatia!) we were stood in front of a huge old wooden door. One of its panels was missing and most of its paint had come off but as I stepped through this door, I couldn't believe my eyes. The 12 metre long corridor dominated the space with dark wooden double door frames leading off to a number of rooms. It was huge, it smelled old, it hadn't been lived in for 25 years and was in a complete state of disrepair but it was special.

As we explored the rooms, with their dusty gold framed oil paintings and antique furniture, I couldn't help but imagine all the things we could do with this place. I felt myself getting swept away in my ideas and coupled with the breathtaking views over to the island of Ugljan, I had a feeling this place was it. The orange and yellow kitchen which really was just a room because it had no kitchen in it anymore, the bathroom with the broken window and an old sink and the old green shutters hanging on by a thread.

Everything we had talked about avoiding was now here in front of us! Major renovation, over budget and too big but we walked away from that viewing and didn't stop talking about that apartment until we eventually managed to make it ours. A process that took 2 long years and more patience than I ever knew I had.......to be continued.