First-time house renovation

andrew-b

TomsMom don't despair...in the grand of scheme of things the lack of certificate and thermostat are relatively minor hiccups. Though sometimes these minor hiccups are all it takes before "meltdown"! Been there and worn the t-shirt when we were kitchen problems to the point of tears but in hindsight it got sorted in the end! I'm not saying you shouldn't have got them but they WILL be sorted by some means eventually! If there's anything i've learnt from house renovation it's that things rarely go without problem!

I get so frustrated having to chase things up on a daily basis so know what it's like but add to that the stress and worry of your OH at the moment and things start to fizz when you shake like a polo in cola bottle waiting to go POP!

I'd speak to your son and ask him to take it up with his CORGI friend on your behalf. If CORGI were notified they will know about it and if not then hopefully corgi#1 will fall into line. I'm sure your son will be more than happy to relieve a bit of pressure off you! You don't want to be worrying yourself about these trivial things at the moment and i'm sure your OH won't want you getting yourself worked up over it either!

Anyways i'm only telling the Mom of us 1st time renovators what you'd probably tell any one of us here yourself - you've told me off enough times for overdoing things!!

Hopefully tomorrow my own current little "storm in a teacup" (aka. front door) will come a step closer to it's conclusion. My paperwork on the soffits and fascias came through as promised so one down one to go!

Andy

TomsMom

Ah, I love you guys :kisses3: . Thanks for listening to me.

Shimmyhill

What you need TomsMom is to come round here, that should make you forget about the roomstat and remember where your house was and how good it all is now !!

Mind you, BREAKING NEWS !! We have plinth in the kitchen Even have the end shelves on - of course this has taken all day as walls caused problems with fitting and shelves had to be cut down !

Tracy has given a deadline for the third bedroom to be sorted, July for Amys birthday (she is having a sleep over so Sophie needs to be in own room i'm told) Thankfully Tracy didnt specify which birthday so i am aiming for 2010 !!!!

jamtart6

I like your style Shimmy Hill. Our reply to everyone is "christmas"...but I never specify which one!!

I have updated my blog with flower pics for you to have a look at TomsMom, actually looking at the pictures makes me think they look quite pathetic, but I'm so proud of the little guys! They have grown so well! http://libertycottage.blogspot.com/ haha!

TomsMom

jamtart6 wrote: »

I have updated my blog with flower pics for you to have a look at TomsMom, actually looking at the pictures makes me think they look quite pathetic, but I'm so proud of the little guys! They have grown so well! http://libertycottage.blogspot.com/ haha!

They're lovely JT, well done you clever girl, the colours as beautiful - just the sort I'd choose.

I'm not too clever with plants and the only ones I can think of for the winter at the moment are winter pansies (although I've never had much luck with them but my fingers have been more mouldy than green up to now), snowdrops, Christmas rose, cyclamens are maybe an autumn flower I think.

Just had a google and found this as well.

lisal0u

Hi Everyone,

Sorry to hear you are having a blue day TomsMom! I hope the chocolate helped make you feel better! You definitely shouldn't feel down about a thermostat after all you have done! You could definitely get a wireless one and then there would be no disturbance to your lovely plastered walls! Its not nice when things get on top of you, don't they say these things make you stronger :rolleyes: We all must be superheros by now if that's true!

Well tonight we have been to ikea and bought our kitchen :j. It did make me feel a little bit ill spending all that money though! Its the last big spend we have though hoorah.

One thing I did want to ask you guys is how did you go about finding a kitchen fitter? We were going to do it ourselves but just do not have the time (we are currently paying rent, mortgage and double bills so need to get moved asap!). Also Stuarts parents have offered to give us some money towards it! Ikea wanted £2225 to fit 8 base units, 2 floor to ceiling units and 2 wall units. It was almost as much as the kitchen cost! Any help would be much appreciated!

Jamtart - your border looks fab - I can't believe how much they have grown in a month either! You must have green fingers! For winter I can definitely recommend winter pansies and also plant some bulbs in the tub so that in early spring you get a bit more colour. You can get some really stunning daffodills! Found this and its got some good ideas: http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles1105/wintercontainers.asp

jamtart6

Thanks for the links to the plants guys! the winter pansies look great Also on the link TomsMom sent there was a great bush full of lovely red berries which would add some nice colour I almost bought a kiwi plant to go with my strawberry plant (3 strawberries and counting!) but decided to wait until next year when I hopefully have some space in the garden for a veg patch (after the extension, shed, decking and patio have gone in!!)

lisa - great news on the kitchen! Is Ikea stuff good quality? our nearest one is about an hour away so we haven't been yet, and I have no idea what the stuff is like. For a kitchen fitter, we'll be getting a good reccomended local joiner in to fit the kitchen, I'd never pay a shop to do it, but also wouldn't let my boys (OH and Dad) do it because it isn't like the bathroom which is a few hundred quid if they spoon it up, its a few thousand quid, and all the finishes will be better with a good joiner. I'm sure they fitted Mum and Dads for £400...

Josepina

I can't quite follow how many new rooms are being created/combined

Well we are extending in front of and above the garage, this is creating .....
Upstairs - 1 new bedroom with a small ensuite (i must admit this will be a tight squeeze but as it will be a guest bedroom i'm sure it will be ok) and a new ensuite and walk-in wardrobe off the existing master bedroom
Downstairs - utility room, where I've moved the monster boiler to
In addition to this I've also knocked out the wall between the kitchen and dining room and also the wall between the dining room and hall to create a big kitchen diner (yes huge RSJ's) I do intend to partially rebuild a partition to separate the stairs off tho to stop smell going up the stairs....we haven't finally decided yet how this will work but some kind of glass divide might happen?

The building costs are high so there won't be much money left at the end so initially I'm not refitting kitchen or bigger ensuite. The main aim was to get the big dirty stuff out of the way and then just take our time.

TM our plumber initially got us a mechanical timer for our boiler but I said I wanted something a bit more 20th century so he changed it for a wireless programmable thermostat VRT 360f anyway its not in use yet cause we are waiting for electrician to return but I don't think it was very expensive, maybe hold on a week or 2 and I can let you know what its like. At least wireless means no more chiselled walls or cables etc.

JT I had winter pansies I got about 500 for about £5 on a special offer but they are still looking fab! Another option is primulas they are pretty and flower every year

jimbugalee

Hi all,
Wow - loads of interesting stuff going on. Flower wise mine (I wouldn't have a clue what they are!) are coming up nicely. I think I have some marigolds which our next door neighbour gave to us Apparently I planted them a little too close so they'll be lots of colour who hooooo. We also have 2 courgette plants which seem to be doing well.

Keep smiling TomsMom I think we all know how stressful house renovation is. Possibly a lot more than I imagined!

We've got new windows being fitted tomorrow. I am so worried they won't do a good job and there by myself so asked my Dad to pop round to check the work. Fingers crossed. Will make a massive difference to the front of the house. Only problem is the now bathroom is going to have clear windows as going to be an office so I think we'll need to get some nets!

The outside rendering and new air bricks are now completed at the back which should help with the damp and any future problems.

4 weekends until the move in. I don't think the bits we need doing will be completed so we may need a plan b - somewhere else to live. I'm thinking the gym?! It has showers!!

latecomer

Showers are highly overrated - we've been without one for about 8 weeks now I think. ITs amazing how good you get at general washing in the sink and doing hair with a little help from OH and vice versa

That said I'm really really really looking forward to getting out bath in so we can get it sealed and get the shower working (or even just the bath would do for now!). Have taken more pictures of the tiling but haven't updated the blog yet but will do so shortly.

Going to try and grout the second wall today so I'd better get my finger out