First-time house renovation

Spicey

TomsMom - Thanks for trying to help. No its not gloss, though there are patches of gloss in the old bathroom which is now part of the new living room, but that is all being skimmed with plaster.
I think the yellow paint might be distemper, in which case I will have to sand as much off as I can and seal it, Ive been told by our carpenter that you can use primer sealer though not sure where to get it, will have to research on the net.
Washing machine finally turned up at 5.30, by time I got to the bungalow the plasterers had gone, but the coving guy was there. They got quiet alot of the little bits done and have prepared the new living room for skimming, used to be the bathroom, toilet and kitchen.
The window is being made (hole) and unit put in this weekend, so we will finally have some light in the new bathroom, then we can start puting in the bathroom suite. We going to move in at the end of June, it wont be finished and I wont have a kitchen till the extension built, but Im bracing myself and telling myself its an adventure! But we really need to save the rent. And fortunately my mum lives next door! we also have a good gas bbq.:rotfl:

TomsMom

ukmaggie45 I wasn't sure if you would go back to my blog if I answered your comment on there so I'm putting it on here. Thanks for identifying the lily and yes, it is beautiful. I'd love a couple of other specimen plants too, will have to keep my eyes open.

I've googled Delphinium Tricorne, yes it does look very similar. Am just wondering if it should be flowering by now? I'll put a picture on my blog when it does.

Not sure if there was any snow on Cader on Sunday, the weather was quite dreadful most of the weekend so I didn't venture into the garden. OH didn't mention it and he usually notices.

ukmaggie45

TomsMom wrote: »

ukmaggie45I'd love a couple of other specimen plants too, will have to keep my eyes open.

Hi TM, I can recommend agapanthuses (or should that be agapanthi?), they seem to do well in Abersoch, so survive the coastal climate. Some may not be fully hardy in a hard winter, though mine have survived, and we know how bitter the winter was as we stayed at the caravan over New Year and it was b****y frigid!

We have a big clump of blue ones in a pot, and another not so big clump that I grew from the seeds of the first clump in another pot. No signs of buds yet, but the foliage has survived anyway. The original clump is huge now, should probably split it and re-pot, but it's going to be difficult as the pot it's on has curved sides IYSWIM, bit like this: ( ) So will prob have to attack it quite madly to get even bits of it out. The roots are pushing the plants out of the pot too.

You can get them in both blue and white. We rather like the blue ones, but another year I might try and get some of each to grow on the caravan decking.

We had a really hot and sunny morning on Sunday! But it did look nasty across most of the mainland. Did a load of gardening, then had to tidy up the van ready for DD and her OH and his brother and little girl to go there this weekend (forgotten how difficult it is to child-proof a place!), so by the time we'd packed as well we didn't get home till about midnight. We'll be cat-sitting from tonight, after we get back from going to see about making our Wills this afternoon.

Was full of enthusiasm for doing some decluttering when we got home (after decluttering the caravan some), but I managed to hurl myself to the living room floor on Monday evening, and have a hugely swollen knee (housemaid's knee? :rolleyes: ) so until I can actually walk around a bit more easily it's having to wait.

Have set my potatoes to chit - yes, I know it's late, but only got them on Monday!

We still can't decide whether to do up our house or flog it and try get a bungalow. It needs everything doing! It was rewired soon after we got here, so that's over 30 years ago! :eek: At least we mostly have enough sockets, the spark who did it was amazed we wanted so many, swore we'd never use them all! Well, we sure proved him wrong!

The double glazed windows could do with replacing, our front door is falling apart, kitchen is a complete nightmare (along with a large hole in the ceiling where a massive lump of plaster fell out about 3 years ago - good thing DH wasn't cooking at the time, or he'd be a-goner! :eek: )... We've also got a hole on the landing ceiling - mishap in the loft! :rolleyes:

Plus every room except the bathroom needs redecorating.

It would all be a lot more possible if we decluttered a lot more of my parents' stuff that we cleared out of the flat before the sale completed.

Ah well, doubtless we will get sorted eventually!

TomsMom

Agapanthus sounds good Maggie, I do like those.

Sounds like you've got a lot to do if you stay put, but you're in the right place here . Depends if you and your OH can face all that work, also depends if you can sell your house without having to do it up. Some people are happy to buy a do-er upper, others wouldn't give it a second look. Difficult decision.

Hope your knee's better soon.

Midori_2

Hi guys, hope everyone is well. I am fed up at the minute. Just had plans through for the loft conversion but now realise how awkward it is to put the stairs anywhere without losing a substantial amount off one room, and the rooms are already tiny. Now I don't know whether to use the living room as a bedroom and put on an extension/conservatory as the living room...aaarrrgg then it is awkward cos of where the drains are or where I could do with windows or the fact that the living room wouldn't have a fireplace... I can't beleive how stressed I am feeling. I could just make my 4 kids share a bedroom...
Hope you are all having better luck!
M

jamtart6

Have you all been keeping a record of how much you have spent on your renovation? I've listed every single little thing that we have spent. Things we have borrowed/had donated don't count, but I am intrigued to see how much it will cost. From a rough budget, for all furniture, decoration, extension, appliances, kitchen, bathroom, windows etc etc. I think it will be about £20k which brings the total cost spent on the house (including buying) to £140k which is still cheaper than buying a more modernised one in this area, and re-decorating it. The cheapest for this size house are about £150k these days. Doing our own DIY has really really helped to keep costs down!

Edit to add: when the house is totally finished, I reckon even in this climate it will be worth around £160k..we didn't buy it to make money, we bought it for a home but it is still good to keep an eye on!

ukmaggie45

Midori wrote: »

. Just had plans through for the loft conversion but now realise how awkward it is to put the stairs anywhere without losing a substantial amount off one room, and the rooms are already tiny.

Hi Midori, have you considered a spiral staircase? Have no idea how this would work for a loft (fire regs and so on), but they have a smaller footprint than straight stairs, and you can get some quite nice ones - was drooling over some a few years back in our local DIY place.

Best of luck!

Maggie
who still yearns for a loft conversion, but if we were going to do it we should have when the kids were small!

Midori_2

Ooh a spiral staircase, I'd forgot about those, that maybe a good option actually. Thanks Maggie, think I will look into it.
Midori

Spicey

Yes I keep a list of everything we spend on excel spreadsheet. I have put everything into catagories and what I originally have budgeted, it adds up as I go along so I can see how close to budget it is getting or going over!
We bought for £135k and plan to spend about £35k but the bungalow in the presant climate should still be worth 200k when finished.

Spicey

Midori wrote: »

Ooh a spiral staircase, I'd forgot about those, that maybe a good option actually. Thanks Maggie, think I will look into it.
Midori

Only problem with spiral stair cases is getting furniture upstairs, so keep that in mind, if you get one.