First-time house renovation

BB1984

And good to see you, Helping hubby and Andrew B. Hopefully the gradual arrival of spring will gee all of us into action! (I can't wait for longer evenings, I haven't spent any time at my house in daylight (apart from weekends) yet!)

Welcome, jamtart! Glad to see someone else is doing a major refurb, including building work (more than me though by the sounds of it - we'll tackle our roof extension in a few years time!) I look forward to hearing/seeing your progress....also you do realise you have to start a blog?!

BB

latecomer

Shimmyhill wrote: »

latecomer,

We have a Gas fire fitted into our chimney (only done a few years ago) and i would much rather it was a normal fire to burn wood/coal etc. Are there good links to look at for the process to convert or are you starting from scratch ??

I have found precious little online about the process of changing an existing fireplace opening into one for a stove. I think the first part is just a case of removing the fire bricks and then opening it out to see what size it is. I was hoping to have a shot at it this weekend but family birthdays (3 of!) are getting in the way. If I do give it a shot I'll take plenty of pictures.

latecomer

Welcome Jamtart6

@TomsMum - Happy birthday. Also I think already having doing 4 houses excuses you from any future posting/work requirements. You shall forever more be an honourary member of this thread

@Andrew - I'm sure its a great bit of beading work

I need to phone the architect again as he had man flu last week and despite being told he would phone once he was better, he hasn't got back to us yet. I guess its possible he has real flu but I suspect he's just being difficult. In fact I've almost given up on him as we've not heard anything since his last visit.

TomsMom

:wave: Yoo hoo Jamtart - welcome. Looking forward to progress reports and as BB1984 says you must become a blogger as we all like to have a little look-see (some of us admit to being nosey, others are closet nosers [is that a word?]) .

Thank you Sam, Beth and Latecomer for the birthday wishes - Latecomer, I am indeed honoured to be an honourary member of the thread but can I have a badge please :rotfl:

The house is swarming with people this morning - 5 builders and 2 electricians and us - all in the loft, it was like a party! We just had to make a few decisions about where lights were going and which switches will operate what in the bathroom (fan/shower light, main light, etc). They're also changing the low energy bulbs in the kitchen spotlights to a warmer light, the original bulbs were the very bright white cold looking lights which to us seemed to make the room dull. They'll be changed to the warmer more yellowey light.

The studding for the en-suite is being put up at the moment, we're having a 1000cm x 800cm shower tray in there (I can't stand tiddly little square showers - I like room to move!) so it's just a bit wider than that and boy does it look big! I'll keep out of the way for the rest of the day and OH will take some photos later and I'll keep updating the blog this week as they're moving so fast. If Jamtart is interested and hasn't found a link to my blog yet here it is. That's to the last page so you'll have to keep going back by clicking "older posts" until you find page 1 if you want to see it from the beginning. Just ignore me if you don't :rotfl: .

So good to see this thread come alive again!

TomsMom

helping_hubby wrote: »

I hardly got any sleep last night, because we have a fox terrorising our bunnies. So this is yet another thing that shoots to the top of the list of things to do and I don't even know what to do about it

Still, I've got some things to look forward to, going to Staind on Monday night, and Metallica in less than 6 weeks. And we've booked a holiday to Cyprus Aaahhh sun sea and sand. Cannot wait.

Oh no, poor bunnies. When we lived in Birmingham we used to get foxes in our garden all the time and the children had a rabbit each. OH made some very strong pens that completely enclosed the hutches and their runs. They were made of some sort of pre-formed metal racks, 3' x 2', which he wired together and made a top for, they were very strong and did the job perfectly.

We're usually in Cyprus this time of year for our annual holiday (always taken in winter for the last 14 years as we had a restaurant and could only get away in winter) but haven't been able to go because of OH illness. I'm missing it and all the friends we normally see there but looking forward to booking something else later on, maybe when the house is finished. When are you going?

Shimmyhill

Finally have some curtains in the living room, damn bay windows may look pretty and be nice to stand in but they seem to have a few drawbacks - each curtain was made from 3 normal size curtains so 6 in total The windows are also very cold as is the brickwork in the bay - hoping the cavity insulation will help warm them up a bit but no doubt from feb 12th the weather will turn tropical

Speaking of the bay windows, has anyone replaced them with UPVC ? Currently they are Alu double glazed but old and useless it would seem - wondering how much each will cost to replace roughly !!

Have decided we need to move at least 2 radiators so will be getting a quote for that soon so come summer our heating and insulation should be all toasty !!!

jamtart6

Hi guys, thanks for the warm welcome!
I have 2 blogs already not sure I could keep up with a third!! Although I suppose it is a great way to see progress

Our building work has just extended from a single room to a 'sunroom' and a 'utility room' which saves a major lot of hassle with doors and windows. I drew up the 'plans' today and my OH likes it (yay we finally agree on something). Just trying to work out what the roof will look like, and how much more expensive that is going to be

Happy birthday TomsMum Having just peeped at your blog...I feel I may need that third one after all I have some great pics.. You have a lovely house and a major project! Ours is relatively small.. 3bed semi...but it'll keep up occupied for a while yet...!!

Now who can beat me for moving in to a vile coloured home?? I may completely offend someone here so maybe I won't say what colours.... hmm..I know I'll post a pic of them all together and then you can see what I mean. Our bedroom was painted blood red. When I've mentioned its horrible colour to any friends they say "ooh my room is red" but when they see it...they all go "yikes"

Shimmyhill - havent had a bay replaced but our large front room window is going to be about £250 so perhaps £300-£400 with a bay??

helping-hubby - all of our workmen have been good, prompt, getting back to us with quotes speedily (except one plumber) - it's the relations e.g. my cousin the plaster who has been a pain. Still plenty of time for the others to let us down!!


EDIT: OK folks..apologies all if I offend you by slagging these colours! Just bear in mind it is a small house with small rooms, so the colours are rather overpowering! You need to click the picture for full effect
http://libertycottage.blogspot.com/

TomsMom

jamtart6 wrote: »

Happy birthday TomsMum Having just peeped at your blog...I feel I may need that third one after all I have some great pics.. You have a lovely house and a major project! Ours is relatively small.. 3bed semi...but it'll keep up occupied for a while yet...!!

Thanks Jamtart. Our house isn't big, it's got tiny hall, utility, downstairs WC, lounge, kitchen/diner, conservatory. Upstairs is 2 bedrooms and bathroom. Airing cupboard has been made smaller and half used to make shower cubicle in bathroom. Bathroom had an alcove blocked off and opened up on the landing to make a new cupboard. Then there is the loft conversion which is being rebuilt as it was dangerous (botch job by previous owner) and will be bedroom with en-suite. All the rooms are a pretty good size though. Tiny back garden, no front garden as it's straight onto a little lane, no garage.

Now who can beat me for moving in to a vile coloured home??

EDIT: OK folks..apologies all if I offend you by slagging these colours! Just bear in mind it is a small house with small rooms, so the colours are rather overpowering! You need to click the picture for full effect
http://libertycottage.blogspot.com/

You've certainly got some wild colours there :rotfl: . One house we had previously had red ceiling in the kitchen/diner. Lordy it made the room dark - we soon painted it over!

As I'm nosey I had a look at your blog. Interesting to see your craft stuff as I have done cross stitch and am a card maker. Haven't done any for about 12 months but hoping to get back to it soon.

BB1984

jamtart6 wrote: »

Now who can beat me for moving in to a vile coloured home??

Hmmmm well if you have a look at my blog, here and scroll down to the older posts, you'll get an idea of what our house was like....bright orange bedroom with dark blue furniture, a mustard-coloured bedroom, and a green bathroom...yes, we had the very same avocado bathroom suite!

I love the gold radiator....! :eek:

I'm so excited - our bedroom's being carpeted tomorrow!! :j

BB

KT1985

BB1984 wrote: »

Also KT - and can't believe you've bought a 5 bed house (esp as you're 23...?! We've all admitted our ages so feel free to enlighten us - we're a nosy bunch aren't we TM...?!)

BB

It is simple- we have moved up from the south to the midlands, bought at auction and the house is a shell :money:

Also, it is only 4 bedrooms now- we knocked one through to make our en-suite :T