First-time house renovation

TomsMom

Shimmyhill wrote: »

I also have started a blog,

Oooh, lovely, we love to have a [STRIKE]nose[/STRIKE] look to see what ideas other people come up with.

From your blog

We had to think long and hard but in the end we decided to replace the kitchen !!!!

:rotfl:
Bet it didn't take too long really! Are you keeping the blue?

Seriously, it looks a decent size and I bet you'll make a wonderful job of it, temporary or not. I'm envious that you got such a good bargain at Wickes. I haven't got the Davenport in my Wickes book but if what I saw in store was anything to go by you've got yourself a decent kitchen.

latecomer

That kitchen looks better than ours was/is! We just painted everything wooden white and stripped all the wallpaper off (which had been put over the top of the tiles) and cleaned it several times.

Looks really nice outside, and I'm sure with a "little" work it will be a really nice home

Shimmyhill

TomsMom wrote: »

Oooh, lovely, we love to have a [STRIKE]nose[/STRIKE] look to see what ideas other people come up with.

From your blog


:rotfl:
Bet it didn't take too long really! Are you keeping the blue?

Seriously, it looks a decent size and I bet you'll make a wonderful job of it, temporary or not. I'm envious that you got such a good bargain at Wickes. I haven't got the Davenport in my Wickes book but if what I saw in store was anything to go by you've got yourself a decent kitchen.

We half thought about a good clean up but that was before we opened a cupboard !!

Blue tiles will be going, going to strip it all out and remove all tiles. Make good any plaster and then fit kitchen and tile above worktops. The Davenport is a 'take away' kitchen as apposed to the Fitted kitchen book that i suspect you have. We basically paid £420 for 2x1000mm Corner units, 3x600mm units, 2x300mm units, 1x500mm draw unit and the posh sink (was £100 of cost) Complete with handles, feet etc so all we need to buy is the worktop !

There is a pantry that we will clean out and re-shelve so no issues with storage and the tiled floor will be cleaned - regarding that any suggestions for a product to strip some form of tile lacquer ??

Destruction should commence tomorrow !!!!

TomsMom

Shimmyhill wrote: »

There is a pantry that we will clean out and re-shelve so no issues with storage

Pantry, oooooooooh a pantry :drool: . My mom had a pantry in her previous house, it was soooooooo useful. I wish I'd got one

any suggestions for a product to strip some form of tile lacquer ??

Would there be a Nitromors product for this? Worth looking or asking.

We basically paid £420 for 2x1000mm Corner units, 3x600mm units, 2x300mm units, 1x500mm draw unit and the posh sink (was £100 of cost) Complete with handles, feet etc so all we need to buy is the worktop !

I admit it, I'm jealous, I want a bargain like that .... can't find a foot stomping smiley :rotfl:

BB1984

Thanks for the blog link Shimmy! I agree with Tom's Mom, tis always fun to nose at what other people are up to...and I'm especially glad to see another bungalow-er! (incidently - are you more "mature" bungalow owners, or young things like us?! We get teased all the time!) I look forward to seeing more photos as you progress. Are you living there already, or getting the worst of the work done before you move in?

By the way, it's 10% day on friday and saturday this week, at Homebase.

BB

andrew - don't know if it helps, but our plasterer charged us circa £300 to skim the ceiling and plaster all the walls - this included materials. But it was on the basis that we were going to get him to do the whole house, so I guess he might have charged us more for the bathroom as a standalone.

Shimmyhill

BB1984 wrote: »

Thanks for the blog link Shimmy! I agree with Tom's Mom, tis always fun to nose at what other people are up to...and I'm especially glad to see another bungalow-er! (incidently - are you more "mature" bungalow owners, or young things like us?! We get teased all the time!) I look forward to seeing more photos as you progress. Are you living there already, or getting the worst of the work done before you move in?

By the way, it's 10% day on friday and saturday this week, at Homebase.

BB

We are young bungalow owners, well 30 + 29 !!! We have around 3 weeks in current rented place so hoping to get kitchen sorted and at least one room for the girls done so worst out of the way but will be a long and ongoing project as funds allow !

Have some important decisions coming up, who do i get my BB & TV with and what speakers to buy when i sell all mine off I am a total gadget kinda guy but all that has to stop now and i have even downsized my tv and selling off all my very expensive AV gear to pay for house items !!!

helping_hubby

@BB1984 - can you add an RSS feed gadget to your blog? I've managed to add everyones blogs to my google homepage but yours.

Am I the only non-bungalow person? TomsMom, do you have a house or bungalow? Hang on you're Westbroke? Thats a house.

@Shimmy - check out quidco for offers on BB and TV deals. I know Virgin are doing £80 cashback at the mo. If you have more funds and are getting sky, they usually have some offers on quidco.

latecomer

Virgin were by far the best deal when we got the house but I'm not so sure now. Depends on whether you want a TV package or not. Sky did have a great bundle package of tv, broadband and phone for under £20 if you are in an area where they have unbundled the exchange (unfortunately we're not). As the others have said, make sure you check the cashback sites too.

As to the subject of whether we would have bought the house if we knew what was coming, I'd have to say probably yes. We were both going mad in the flat and we wanted a house. we looked for about 9 months and put in loads of offers, almost exclusively on bungalows. There is no "for old folks" stigma attached to them up here (we're 32/30) and in fact they are probably more common than any other type of house in a lot of the nicer areas, which is probably why.

helping_hubby

latecomer, do you have a blog?

latecomer

Not yet. I've been promising to set one up for a while but haven't yet done it.

I'll see what I can do.