My house is not ready to come out of self-isolation

Restrictions are starting to ease, but I’m not sure if I’m entirely ready.

While I’m glad to return to some sort of normality, drop my kids at school and meet friends in person, I still have concerns. Mostly because after a couple of months of self-isolating, my house is not fit to be seen by anyone from the outside world.

Despite spring cleaning and de-cluttering, certain household standards have slipped and become absorbed into our everyday. What once was considered messy and untidy has now become acceptably warm and cosy.

And what were once temporary, such as boxes in the hallway waiting to be sorted, and mismatched chairs strewn around the garden, are now permanent features that add to our home’s unique flavour.

Since the latest government announcements, I’ve taken a fresh look at my home interior and flown into a panic.

I can’t possibly host a small gathering right now.

Some may want to remain in isolation until Australia is virus-free. Me, I want to stay in until my house is presentable, which may take longer than finding a vaccine.

Firstly, our beautiful brown leather sofa, which I admit is wearing out, has developed two small tears. These have only been made worse by the arrival of our new puppy who has delighted in increasing the size of the tears and eating the foam on the inside. The effect is disastrous, but one that we’ve got used to in isolation.

We simply haven’t gotten around to getting the cushions reupholstered, but now life is getting back on track I’m hastily ringing around for quotes.

Next the bathroom, much like the sofa, is in desperate need of a revamp. But since the pandemic, it has taken a definite turn for the worse.

The bath badly needs resurfacing and the cold tap at the basin, despite endless washer changes, is leaking and can’t be used.

The hot tap still works, which is not ideal but we’re making do. However the idea of visitors not only seeing the state of the bathroom but also resorting to the bath taps for their 20-second hand wash, overlooking the peeling bath, is enough to send me back into shutdown.

And let’s face it, nothing gets put away any more. Groceries sit casually on the kitchen bench until we’re hungry and a 24-pack of toilet paper has been on display in our bathroom for a week, rather than being neatly stowed in the bathroom cupboard.

Baskets of laundry hang around for days and after unpacking the dishwasher, the dishes seem to stay out until we use them again.

It’s not that we’ve become lazy, more that we’ve got used to a different sort of normal. An untidy sort of normal.

We no longer care that the sideboard is stacked high with family games and puzzles, or that the beds are not made. Completed Lego creations stay out on show instead of being immediately packed away, and we have to hurdle over every trainer we own just to get to the front door.

But now the possibility of outsiders coming over has shocked me out of hibernation and I’m tidying with a tornado-like force.

The first task is to find proper clothes that don’t resemble trackie pants or a dressing gown, and then start putting things away. So while the return to normality is starting to unfold, for some (like me), it may take a little longer.