First-time house renovation

latecomer

@andy - thats definitely a good plan.
@maggie - glad to hear you got some materials, hopefully they can crack on with things.

I get nothing done these days although I'm going to do a little electrics and also try to get the TV point installed today in the back room. IF I get time I might also take the radiator off in the dining room to check the state of the wall behind it. We are probably going to use our new free radiator in there as they still haven't made any attempt to arrange collection or return of it but that will mean moving pipes.

typeractive

Maggie - it sounds like you're making great progress!!! Well done. I can't wait until I'm at the skimming stage. Every single room seems to have a hold up here or there for some reason. It's pretty frustrating to say the least.

Also having limited lighting it makes it difficult to put in a good long shift and lots of things take me ages to get done! heheh. Still - a good learning curve!

Bibbitybob

Looking good maggie.

One half of the kitchen worktop is going in as I type - finally got some units on the wall this week, however we're waiting for Magnet to come back tomorrow as they've delivered the wrong fridge freezer (should have been 50/50, sent 30/70), the wrong size cooker hood (60cm instead of 90cm), the wrong colour cornice/pelmet and a top box that doesn't fit and should have been removed from the order anyway *sigh* lack of cooker hood is holding things up on the unfitted side.

Good news is that we will have enough worktop off cut to fit the island unit. I'll post about that when it's done...freestanding unit off freecycle so I'm hoping with a bit of creativity it will look good!

I've painted the majority of the walls this week in 'egyptian cotton' by Dulux - having solid colour makes a real difference. I've started on the pretty bits now too...curtains for french doors have been bought, painting up a chalk board 'shabby chic' this evening and I'll just stand with my back to the mess

latecomer

Getting paint on the walls was when we transitioned from building site to almost there. Makes a huge difference in the way the house feels to get some paint on the walls.

Look forward to seeing your finished kitchen with island unit

ukmaggie45

Fitted wardrobe went in yesterday, so OH went round to check it out and take photos before going in to work this morning. Complicated by when he got there the camera said it had no memory card in it, so he came back and had to use the card from his camera... Needless to say after looking all over the place I found the card in the card reader slot on my laptop just after he left for work.

Good thing he'd gone a bit early in case it was icy on the roads.


Fitted wardrobe by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

It's a really beautiful morning here, so he took some pics from the back room of the garden too.


Frosty garden by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

Oh, the hardcore is being spread on downstairs floor.


Hardcore in living room by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

OH has a day off work tomorrow, so we're hoping I'll be fit enough (still sneezing, snivvelling and coughing like billy-oh) to get to the carpet shop with him to finalise vinyl choice and begin looking at carpet. I think we'll just have the same carpet through the whole of the house (apart from kitchen, bathroom, shower room and utility of course).

TomsMom

Maggie Your wardrobes look fantastic! Have they been specially made for you by a local carpenter or have you gone to someone like Spaceslide? I couldn't find anything I liked when I was looking so ended up with a freestanding one to match the rest of the furniture.

Hope you're better soon. Don't envy you the task of choosing carpet, took us ages!

ukmaggie45

TomsMom wrote: »

Maggie Your wardrobes look fantastic! Have they been specially made for you by a local carpenter or have you gone to someone like Spaceslide? I couldn't find anything I liked when I was looking so ended up with a freestanding one to match the rest of the furniture.

Hi TM, we just asked our builder to recommend someone who does fitted wardrobes. They're made to measure and go right up to the ceiling (with a small void at the top due to the curve of the coving. I think it shows up pretty well on this shot.


wardrobe 1 by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

There are 3 wardrobes. The middle one has drawers.


wardrobe 2 by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

And the right hand one has a double rail and open (removable) shelves.


wardrobe 3 by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

And OH expects to hang his grotty clothes in such a work of art? :eek: I don't think so!

I think we'll ask Tony back to do some more stuff once we move in, would like some chests of drawers in the bay to make a window seat, though they will have to be free standing because the thermaskirt will be along the skirting. Might get some storage in the small part of the room (the bit that used to be the boxroom), but I think it'll be easier to think about it when we're actually moved in, or at least in the process of moving in - which is likely to take months!

Hope TD is doing OK and managing the travel OK? Fingers crossed he doesn't have too much in the way of side effects. My very best wishes to him from me and my OH.

It's such a joy to see the sun this morning after we had freezing fog and grey gloom all day yesterday. But I suspect the roads are icy and scary off the main roads. One example of the positive side of living on a bus route!

TomsMom

They really are lovely Maggie, I love the little mirrors in the centre doors too. LOL at your comment about OH's grotty clothes :rotfl: .

TD only had to travel daily on the two days last week, from now on he goes in Mondays and returns Fridays so that's better for him. He's fine at the moment but has got to see the dietician regularly as the radiotherapy may cause problems with swallowing (due to where it is) and they've got to make sure he will be able to eat properly. He's taken his bus pass so if he feels up to it he can get to Rhyl or anywhere else he fancies. He's met up with a couple of ladies there and they are hoping to be able to share a taxi and get into Llandudno one day. They all want to do a bit of shopping so will go their own way and meet up to go back again. I think that's quite brave of him, sharing a taxi with two ladies on a shopping trip :rotfl: .

We've been luck with the weather, we had the glorious sun yesterday and this morning we've only got a little bit of ice left on the garden path. I asked the postman what the pavements were like and he said they're fine so I managed to get out this morning with the dog, I wouldn't risk it yesterday. The only snow remaining is on the top of the mountains. I feel for everyone who has had such a lot of snow but so glad we've got off so lightly.

ukmaggie45

Hi TM, so glad that TD isn't having to travel so much. Here's hoping he gets to do his shopping and has fun.

TomsMom wrote: »

They really are lovely Maggie, I love the little mirrors in the centre doors too. LOL at your comment about OH's grotty clothes :rotfl: .

I'm sure he'd say much the same about my clothes, but at least some of mine are worth a few bob on eBay (vintage) while his are just he doesn't like buying clothes so never throws any away until they are well and truly falling apart. :rotfl: You should see the jim jams he just consigned to the rubbish... Well, probably not. :eek:

Sad really, as he's a good looking bloke (well, I think so) but he doesn't bother with clothes (or hair cuts either and his beard is a bit wild at the mo) and I just wish he'd make a tiny bit of an effort from time to time. Oh sorry, this should have been in the Marital Discord section of the Forum, not the House Renovation one!

The idea of the little mirrors was they look a bit like portholes, plus the wardrobe would look a bit of a slab without something to break it up a bit. It's a very Deco feeling house (despite being 1955, but would have been designed in the late 30s), and we felt the porthole effect was in keeping with that. We're trying to go with the Deco feel, but with a twist. I just hope the shower room design stuff works OK! We spent more on the tiles for the shower room than for the bathroom, and I think it's probably smaller.

Greying over and misting up a bit here now, but it's been lovely to have some brightness earlier.

latecomer

ukmaggie45 wrote: »

while his are just he doesn't like buying clothes so never throws any away until they are well and truly falling apart. :rotfl:

he doesn't bother with clothes (or hair cuts either and his beard is a bit wild at the mo)

Bah haircuts and shaving is for people with nothing better to do. Let nature take its course!

And whats the point in buying clothes if the ones you have are still wearable? Thought this was a money saving site


I'll get me coat........

We had another dose of snow yesterday which caused mayhem with all buses cancelled for about 4 hours. Thought I was going to be walking home!

Got some more scraping done in the dining room and its pretty much finished. Did that instead of the electrics on sunday as we need that room done so we can get the skirting boards fitted which are currently lying in the sitting room that we are trying to get into.

Plasterer said he would try and come at weekend and we've not heard from him since. OH is trying to track him down as if he's not interested we need to get someone else as its blocking everything in that room.