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 offered me a window of opportunity

This Christmas I’m buying some new stained glass for the front door of my Edwardian terraced house. It may or may not be in situ in time for the big day but the house and I have waited many years so can wait a little longer.

At first it will seem like an extravagant gift and, of course, it is. But I should point out that the current pane is full of cracks and frankly a little odd looking compared to the beautiful designs elsewhere on the street, something that didn’t escape the notice of the craftsman who came to measure up the other day.

‘I know you didn’t install it …’ he ventured confidently as he peered at the offending glass. Er, actually I did, but it was long time ago and surely it’s better than the broken window that was there when we moved in and had long since replaced the original? And anyway, we all make mistakes.

I’ve been meaning to put things right but somehow never quite had the time to sit down and think about it. 

Since March, time has hardly been in short supply and I’ve spent quite a lot of it examining my home in some detail. How to create more space? How to rectify all those little things that had been niggling away for ages and only got worse now that we were living in Groundhog Day?  

I counted the hours until the recycling centre reopened. My husband drew the short straw and set off. It took him three attempts before he was allowed to join the seemingly endless queue of cars laden with months' – if not years' – worth of recycling. The result was pretty pleasing. 

It won’t come as a revelation to say that time and attention spent both indoors and outside has really paid off. I can’t claim it’s a transformation but it’s a good reminder that you get out what you put in and that the TLC we give to our home rubs off on us too. LK, Norfolk

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.