First-time house renovation

jamtart6

lol jim it gets me up and down as well dont worry. i am feeling really impatient about the extension as that is what is holding us up. i also cant do anything but decorate so i know how you feel.

jimbugalee

Thanks jamtart and all I am a positive person and not much bothers me but sometimes the house is AAARGH!! Maybe because I am in it 24/7 as also work from home during the day.

This weekend I am determined to get most of the junk to the dump and reclaim my garden back!

helping_hubby

I am hoping this weekend we can make a trip to the dump to get rid of the pile in the garden - there's lots of copper and the water tank etc. But how can you call it a priority when there is so much other stuff to do?!

I think things like this are top priority, because it's easier to keep on top of than to let it build up and have the daunting task of taking 10s of car loads to the tip. My OH used to load the car up the night before and go on his way to work the next day.

I do try and have a tidy up each weekend but I find it really tiring! I think it's the not getting anywhere that does it. Maybe in a few weeks things will be different but it's pretty difficult now.

Yes you will find months where seemingly nothing changes, yet in one week you feel like you've transformed a room. Be patient

Don't forget to have some fun as well. Go out for a meal, go to the cinema, go camping for a weekend... etc. Don't stop 'living'.

Any experts with new plaster? Ours has dried out since May/June - do you think if we paint it we will still get cracks in it?

We got cracks in ours. I don't know if this was because we had a dodgy plasterer or not. One was was 21 foot long and we got cracks nearly floor to ceiling. I wonder if it was because I had the rads on (it was December and minus degrees). Still, at the time, I was devastated, but now I never notice the cracks. They painted over quite well and me and OH are probably the only ones who know they are there. But in answer to your question - as others have said - paint it now! That's ages to have waited. We painted ours after 2 weeks. But the cracks appeared after a week.

Another question is - do we have any colour-phobes here? I am terrified of painting a room anything but cream/white/neutral but I am trying to be brave and branch out a bit!!

Ha ha! *puts hand up* Our house is painted white/off white/calico and a splash of Liquer (light brown). We get loads of comments "oh it's quite neutral" lol I don't care though. It's what we like. Carpet is neutral too and the same colour everywhere.

I've tried to add personality through furnishings and pictures. We've gone for Red in the living/dining/kitchen. Red blinds, cushions, plant pot etc.

Turquiose/Bluey in the hallway (through the picture and plant pots).

Turquiose towels in bathroom.

Final question - anyone ever had black carpet? I want it for hall, stairs and landing but ever so slightly concerned that it might just drive me slowly insane showing every bit up!

I see you've decided against black now, but I agree with others - it shows up fluff and bits. That said I've got beige carpet which I know will show up mud and dirt (its a shoe free house at present )

jimbugalee

Good tips helping_hubby! Thanks I think I also miss doing the normal things you do when you buy your first house with your partner like having people round for dinner, movie nights in together etc. We miss out on those things. We do often have people round but they are usually helping with some sort of DIY!!

However, I am very grateful that we have a house that we can afford and although careful with money don't have to count the pennies. Some ppl would love to be in our situation. Maybe I should think about that more .....

Having had everyone talk about decorating and colours etc makes me excited when we can finally start doing that to our house. I absolutely can't wait to show you all the bathroom - but maybe a few months yet. Major plumbing this weekend!

Thanks again all. It's nice to have some support.

lisal0u

Hi jimbugalee,

I do feel for you! We have completly gutted our house but luckliy we arent living in it! You're very brave!

Ive had days where I could have given the keys to a stranger and said help yourself!

Its very true what helping_hubby said about nothing happening for months then all of a sudden you make lots of progress!

Weve been renovating for nearly 13 months now and I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel! Everyone keeps asking me if Ive got a moving in date yet which I find very annoying after the millionth time! I dont really know, hopefully September but it depends on a lots of things!

Im not sure Id do it again but Ill guess Ill reserve judgement till im living there. Everyone keeps saying itll be worth it when you have the house of your dreams and that makes me smile!

xxx

jimbugalee

I'm glad someone else has a loo in their garden!!!

TomsMom

andrew-b wrote: »

with a slight hump (only a millimetre or two so may try and scrape it down) between bit i self-levelled and bit i didn't.
Andy

Andy - do you have a rasp (I think that's what it's called). OH used one of those on a humpy bit we had, it's as old as the hills like a block of wood with this rasp thing on it but it did the job - messy/dusty but that's nothing new, we've all seen plenty of that :rotfl: .

jamtart6

thanks for tips ev1.

we have a bath in our lounge. doesnt quite beat a loo in the garden though!

jimbugalee

Yup we have bath in our lounge too!! lol

TomsMom

Andy - I didn't realise there were no contact details for that site, I too would be wary. I usually ring up on the pretext of asking a question if I'm dealing with a new site, and if they seem helpful and genuine they usually get my business. How about factory direct flooring, their address and phone number is on their contact us link, £25.75+vat but that's a fair bit dearer than the other place. I've tried to find out who makes it and then you could contact them for suppliers, but haven't come up with anything as yet.

P.S. Glad you got the floor sorted, shame about the dust though, you should have seen my kitchen after my son got a big concrete lump out of the floor with his kango thingy. Not sure why it never occurred to him or his dad to warn me so I could cover everything up!