We Bought Our Dream Country Home! A Personal Update from Adriana

I’ve taken a little time off this week and there will be no video on Sunday - this rarely happens, as consistency is something I’m very proud of, but I have a good reason. I haven’t been relaxing, quite the opposite! Andrei and I have been very busy getting things sorted for… our new house!

I know some of you have been following my journey since I started YR Studio back in 2018 and have grown used to our current rental house, especially the kitchen, but I’ve always been honest that the ultimate goal for us as a family was to buy a little house in the countryside - a place where we could run our shop and simply enjoy a quiet, country life.

After a good few years of saving - especially the last three years, when we really “tightened the belt” - we did it! It feels like both a blessing and a victory: a blessing because we truly feel we’ve found the perfect house for us. And a victory because we did it all by ourselves. We have no inheritance or outside help, not even with childcare,  and the house (and the soon-to-begin renovation) is paid for through the work of our own hands.

Watch My Most recent Vlog - Seasonal slow living from the English countryside

 

About the house

The house (along with the neighbourhood) was built in 1986 — two years before I was born :D The price was within our means — we didn’t try to get a fancy house just for the flex, but rather chose one that wouldn’t be a strain to maintain long term.

It’s located at the edge of a small, quiet village set on the Somerset Levels. We’re not far from town, in fact, we’re not far from our old house at all, which makes things easier with the kids’ schools, parcel drop-offs, etc. Everyday life will mostly stay the same; we'll just have a prettier backyard and a place we can finally call our own!

The house needs quite a bit of work. We hope to get the most important things done before we move in: the kitchen, utility room and bedrooms will be tackled first. The bathroom, downstairs toilet, fireplace and cupboards will hopefully be done in the next year or two. There’s also the front of the house, which needs modernising, but honestly, that’s on a distant horizon.

We’re hoping to move in mid June. Until then, you’ll see a mix of content from both the old and new house.

A New Studio for YR Studio

As mentioned before, everything will stay roughly the same - but we hope the work will get easier. We’re converting the garage into a studio with full temperature control, so we can pour and store our candles without needing four(!) separate locations! I hope I’ll finally be able to start filming and showing you more behind-the-scenes moments of making candles and packing your lovely orders.

Plans, Hopes, Dreams

Honestly, this home is everything we wanted. It’s a long-term commitment, and it will take time to turn this house into a home, but I’m more than eager to put in the work. Oh, and I just have to write it - I’m already tripping over our first Autumn and Christmas in the house. It’s going to be dreamy! I’ll show you more in the next Sunday vlog  (11/05/2025) on my channel on Youtube.

Thank you to those who were wishing us well and praying while we were searching and dealing with the oil tank problems - it worked!

Adriana x