Making it our own

Right, it has been awfully quiet here for the past two weeks, and I think it will be for quite some time to come. During the past Christmas holidays, we've been really busy DIY'ing in our new home, which is finally starting to look somewhat more like a home and less like a place that lots of people lived in, painted weird colours, damaged, moved out of, builders changed bits and bobs on, dragged dirt around, left, and left sitting for 2 months. Just 2 more days to go, and then we have to go back to work/internship and we won't have that much time to do stuff anymore, so we've been going as hard as we could. Trying to make it our own.
I've moved around a couple of times now, and each time it was to a house (or room, when I was a student) I wanted to change absolutely everything about. I cannot imagine just moving into a house that is already 'done', especially if other people lived their first. Even if I love the colours on the wall and the curtains they left hanging and the floor, I would still try to change most of it. Because to me, it is like they are still living there. I really have to tear out the old wallpaper and paint and smell and feel of the previous inhabitants, and put in my own, before I can feel comfortable.
Now with this house, anyone would have done that. Firstly, it smells of disuse and dirt and just generally, musty un-used house. Secondly, it's slightly decrepit in places, with holes in the walls and bits falling out and stuff. Also, it is painted in all the colours of the rainbow. And I mean literally every colour. To make the fun complete, the previous owners also painted over things you're not supposed to paint over, like using wall paint for beautiful old wooden beams, spray painting a radiator shiny silver, and smearing the openings of the screws of the wall sockets shut. Yup, it's been fun.
Most of the second floor (that's third floor for Americans) has been done now, except for the floors which we will do last. Most of the first floor has been painted, and the bathroom was delivered today. On the ground floor, basically nothing has been done but plaster up some holes and tearing out all the tiles in the old bathroom (we don't need a bathroom on the ground floor, so it's going to go). Because on Monday, the 'real' builders will start, smashing down walls and building new walls, bricking up doorways and making other new doorways, and installing the bathroom. When they're done, we can do the last bits (haha, 'bits') and then hopefully we can move some time in February. If we haven't fallen to pieces by then. But at least the house will be well and truly ours by then!