First-time house renovation

TomsMom

helping_hubby wrote: »

Am I being silly, or are have you now got 2 sinks? I'm confused! (sorry )

My verbal diarrhoea took over again :rotfl:

Yes, it is two sinks. One for the utility room and one for the kitchen. The ones left by the previous owners were - in the utility it had got rust spots all over it and the one in the kitchen was bright yellow (I kid you not!)

I like the doors. hmmm £85 - a bit out of budget.

Oh I know. I've agonised over this. We were originally going to have some oak 4 panel Victorian until we counted up the cost even with the builder's discount. So we changed our mind, with the builder's help, to plain pine (not knotty pine which I've had my fill of) at half the cost. Builder hasn't yet purchased them and when we were in Wickes hubby started looking at doors :rolleyes: and found those I mentioned. Of course, my first words were that they were quite a bit more expensive than the pine ones. He replied that they were different (and we quite like different) and he liked them better. So at the moment they are top of the list. [I think, because of his illness and his poor prognosis, he has got to the stage that he will enjoy what time he has and if that means buying something we normally wouldn't, or over our normal budget, then he's willing to do it, and he wants to make things as nice as possible for me so there's no major things to do in the future.]

It's our first house though. In many years when we're richer, we'll do things with more quality.

That's one of the nice things about getting older. You get into a more comfortable financial position (hopefully), have built up some equity in property (hopefully), and some savings (hopefully), and you are in a position to choose what you want rather than be restricted by budget. Well, that's the theory anyway. So there is something to look forward to as you mature Actually, I wouldn't like to be a young person just getting onto the property ladder now, but maybe that's because we've done all the struggling over the years and have now reached the more comfortable stage.

Me and OH are still debating over laminate vs carpet in the living room. I really really really want carpet because my feet are freezing. He wants laminate because it's easy to clean and it's got the only door to the garden.

That's only an argument for if he's doing the cleaning . And how is whizzing round with a vacuum cleaner any harder than getting out the mop and bucket or cleaning with one of those duster type mops? I feel the cold so it's carpet for me. My nephew and wife bought a house with laminate throughout. She feels the cold. After one winter the house was carpetted.

Is there such thing as a fashionable net curtain?

A voile or sheer curtain would probably be considered more "fashionable", net curtains conjure up pictures of older people, but there are some very nice plainer ones that might suit.

Don't know if any of you saw the bathroom thread, ....
So far the bath is fitted and working. The pipe work is set up for the radiator, sink, and shower...

Always something to hold us up eh? Still, it's coming on. Keep the pics coming.

latecomer

@TomsMum - like the doors. We've got solid oak furniture in our bedroom and just love the look of oak. Had no end of trouble with ours though but thats another story (3rd chest of drawers now on order from suppliers)

As for progress, we've had another set back. The chimney was retested but failed, this time even more comprehensively than the first time as there is a leak around the eaves and hence no way of determining where its coming from. So its either a rebuild or a flue liner. Obviously the second option is cheaper but still not a welcome additional cost. So the fireplace and fire are on hold for now.

I did manage to get lots of prepping done on the walls and they have now had 2 coats of undercoat with the exception of behind the radiator. I can't remove it as I've lost one of my adjustable spanners and cant get the valve connections undone. I spent about 2 hours looking for it yesterday but with no joy and of course it was the brand new one rather than the old one to make matters worse!

Hoping to get the top coat on the walls this weekend and get the skirting boards ready to go back on which means lots of wire wool and Nitromorse. Will need to cut some of them to replace the bits with holes where the electrics used to be but one of my colleagues has got a compound mitre saw that I'm going to borrow next week.

Also got a sample tin of Osmo hardwax oil to try out so I'll need to sand a small area of floor and see how it looks.
so lots to get done still before Christmas but I'm reasonably confident that we can get the room finished enough to put the sofas in and get a real tree.

TomsMom

latecomer wrote: »

@TomsMum - like the doors. We've got solid oak furniture in our bedroom and just love the look of oak. Had no end of trouble with ours though but thats another story (3rd chest of drawers now on order from suppliers).

I wonder if that's the same oak bedroom furniture that I've got my eye on? It's frustrating, especially as you're waiting for your third chest.

Sorry to hear about the chimney but progress with the walls :T

which means lots of wire wool and Nitromorse.

Oh my goodness - memories of that come flooding back. OH has done so much of that in our present house. Lots of original skirting, architrave, picture rail and a beautiful pitch pine staircase over three floors (pine from an old shipwreck over 100 years ago and used in lots of houses around here). He spent many, many hours removing layers of paint and got it back to the original and lovingly waxed it. It's so beautiful (our selling agent said it's one of the best restorations he's seen). The old architraves are quite detailed and there's lovely deep skirtings. That's what I'll miss when we move out - character, none in the new house. So much hard work OH put into it over the years and I just love to see wood.

Also got a sample tin of Osmo hardwax oil to try out so I'll need to sand a small area of floor and see how it looks.

Let us know how you get on with the Osmo, we plan to do waxing in the new place.

Hope you have a productive weekend.

latecomer

The stuff we have is Pinetum Quercus oak so hopefully you'll be fine. I'm about to go and phone the manager of the retailer about it and express my displeasure with the whole experience. In fact I think its time the manufacturer did something other than just fix and/or replace it.

I'm putting in the time to strip the skirting boards, doors and frames as they are this lovely red pine which just suits the house. Ok its hard work but we think its worth it.

Will be taking pictures of the flooring before and after the sample so I'll try and post them up next week.

Edit: Just had a call with the manager at the retailer and he was very appolgetic about it all. I've also informed him of the other remaining issue with the wardrobe and he is going to deal with it personally if it hasn't improved by the end of the festive period. And if it comes to that then I'm going to be looking for a very large discount on any further furniture we buy from that supplier (we still love the furniture despite all the problems).

latecomer

Put all your rubbish in the garage and then avoid it for a while...... works for me

Have a good/productive weekend folks

TomsMom

andrew-b wrote: »

TomsMom, if you want decent pine/oak furniture, as i've recommended before here, goto pinesolutions.co.uk - we bought oxbury pine bedroom furniture from them that came ready-assembled (part-assembled wardrobes) and can't praise them enough for quality, value for money and customer service. You can get cashback via quidco - though i called and bartered with them to get a better price. Their devon oak looks like the same as the range you linked to.

Andy

Thanks Andy.

I actually have Pine Solutions in my favourites along with the other company and yes it does look the same. However, at the moment P.S. are dearer (3 drawer bedside cabinet £111 at P.S., £99 at the other place) but a bit nearer the time of ordering I shall be looking at prices again and see who comes out cheapest.

TomsMom

Oooh, guess what? One of our builders came back today (whilst we were out), installed the shower tray and plasterboarded the shower area :T

I'll get hubby to take a photo over the weekend and add a bit to my blog, it's feeling a bit neglected of late.

Must also remind my son he is supposed to be laying the floor tiles in the utility next week, he's got another job lined up before Christmas and I'll just about brain him if he puts us off 'til later.

We'll have to start thinking about tiles for the bathroom now, the shower cubicle needs tiling before the builders return in the new year as they'll be wanting to use it when they camp out again. We've seen some tiles, thought "They look nice", then look at some more and think "They look nice too", etc., and then can't make our minds up. Oh, decisions, decisions. Too much choice.......... :rotfl:

Shimmyhill

Really good day today, Kitchen is getting nearer to being ready to fit units
Also the electrician came in and we do not need as much work doing as i expected so that is a bonus - just need the gas man to come in and give us good news and it will be great (so nw boiler needed i bet )

Also figured out how to put more pictures per page on my blog so went back to a previous entry and added the pictures much bigger !!

And finally created more work myself when removing some wood paneling on the 2nd bedroom chimney breast .......

helping_hubby

Good news TomsMom. I look forward to the photos.

Shimmy, that's a interesting fireplace! We've not found anything so exciting here yet.

I'm aching all over. Today I had my mum and aunty over to help me paint - and we did quite a lot. We painted the big wall twice, and the ceiling and then OH did a second coat on the ceiling when he got home. The plan is to paint the first colour coat and third ceiling coat tomorrow morning. Then hopefully it'll be dry by the evening for the final coat on the big wall and the rads can go back on.

We did manage to take the rads off and have the heating on in the other rooms as per Andys and Canuckles advice.

I'm going to put pics of our hard work up now

Oh and I had my first bath in my new bath! It was a novelty bathing in a clean bath

TomsMom

I think that shower might cause a problem or two :rolleyes:

I've started another thread to ask a question about it but basically I previously asked the builder if it needed marine ply under the shower tray and waterproof plasterboard on the walls. "No need" I was told.

Son came round this afternoon and announced that when the builder was here yesterday fixing the shower tray and plasterboarding, he told him not to bother plastering and he would fix the tiles directly onto the plasterboard! Of course, he hadn't consulted us on this (we weren't here anyway), just went ahead and said it!

So I said I'd prefer it to be plastered before tiling, and what happens if the grout cracks and water gets under the tiles? He replies that if that happened the plaster would get wet and blow anyway so what difference does it make whether it's plasterboard or plastered over.

I'm not going to have a tantrum but I am a bit worried. Someone answered my question on the other thread that it should have been waterproof plasterboard and it should be tanked. Not sure yet what the tanking would involve but I really don't want to take a risk here, the bathroom is costing a lot of money and once the tiles are up if they have to come off in the future due to a leak they'll probably not be able to be used again and unobtainable if we need new ones.