First-time house renovation

Spicey

Well now the builders are blinding me with science. We want a flat roof extention, simple I thought. Apparently I can have either a roof covered in felt or GRP (glass fibre) or EPDM (Rubber). The last 2 being more expensive but lasts much longer.

lisal0u

Wow this thread has been busy, I've missed out on 3 pages!

Had a 12 hours !!!! at my house yesterday with my poor Dad! Had a mini celebration as we got the lighting circuit finished! We finally have lighting hooray. It means we can get a lot more done in an evening now, not sure if that a good or bad thing ha ha!

Got to pay a trip to B&Q tonight to get some insulation to insulate the floors before the ceilings go back up. The plasterer is back at the weekend so have to have it all done by then!

If anyone needs a plasterer in North Lincs he is being made redundant in a month so he will be looking for work! He's very good!

Struggling to keep up with everyones blogs at the minute but I'm having Sunday off this week so I will catch up then!

Bye for now
Lisa

TomsMom

helping_hubby wrote: »

TomsMom, I love that bath. I think the curved corner bit adds luxury. Am very jealous, but keep trying to remember that I'm still young and skint, so my time will come when I can do up a house precisely how I want.

That's the right way to think about it.

Years ago, I went through the jealousy thing when my brother was doing his house up and it always seemed to be nicer and more up to date than mine. At the end of the day it doesn't matter. As long as you've put your own love and effort into what you are doing you should be proud of what you achieve. Don't forget that when you're old enough to be able to afford something better the most exciting part of your life is probably behind you .

Be happy in what you're doing now and seek out the best you can get for your budget. Some of the nicest looking things can be found in the more budget concious shops, I saw some lovely vases, lamps and rugs in Dunelm Mill, Wilkinsons can be good for household stuff, Home Bargains, etc. The only thing I am super fussy about is having nice thick fluffy towels and I start looking at places like Dunelm, TK Maxx, Boundary Mill, BHS and M & S when there's a sale on, even Makro. I go for at least 600gsm.

My new dining suite was half price because it was the last in the shop as the supplier was no longer dealing with that shop, and my new sofa, chair and stool was an absolute bargain because the shop had some made up to sell from stock (rather than a 16 week wait) and the manufacturer got the fabric number wrong and made them in the wrong one so the display one was being sold cheap - it was already half price and I got an extra 10% 'cos they had an event that weekend and I asked for a bit more because it was a display model and got a further 5% off :T . We've had to buy new because our present stuff is too big for the new house.

Also, if anyone else is going through the "I wish I could afford that" kind of thing, we can only afford this because we bought cheaper than we sold our present business for, and the reason we sold the business is because OH is ill and his prognosis is very poor. He deserves to have something he chooses now 'cos he wont be around for more than a few years to enjoy it (unless there's a miracle), and I will have the memory that he chose it 'cos he liked it. Also, we're probably having more done now so that I don't have any major problems to deal with when he's not here.

Sorry if that's sounding morbid, don't feel sorry, it's life and we're dealing with it

lisal0u

TomsMom wrote: »

That's the right way to think about it.

Years ago, I went through the jealousy thing when my brother was doing his house up and it always seemed to be nicer and more up to date than mine. At the end of the day it doesn't matter. As long as you've put your own love and effort into what you are doing you should be proud of what you achieve. Don't forget that when you're old enough to be able to afford something better the most exciting part of your life is probably behind you .

Be happy in what you're doing now and seek out the best you can get for your budget. Some of the nicest looking things can be found in the more budget concious shops, I saw some lovely vases, lamps and rugs in Dunelm Mill, Wilkinsons can be good for household stuff, Home Bargains, etc. The only thing I am super fussy about is having nice thick fluffy towels and I start looking at places like Dunelm, TK Maxx, Boundary Mill, BHS and M & S when there's a sale on, even Makro. I go for at least 600gsm.

My new dining suite was half price because it was the last in the shop as the supplier was no longer dealing with that shop, and my new sofa, chair and stool was an absolute bargain because the shop had some made up to sell from stock (rather than a 16 week wait) and the manufacturer got the fabric number wrong and made them in the wrong one so the display one was being sold cheap - it was already half price and I got an extra 10% 'cos they had an event that weekend and I asked for a bit more because it was a display model and got a further 5% off :T . We've had to buy new because our present stuff is too big for the new house.

You definitely need to shop around and do some bargaining, then you can get some luxuries with a tight budget! I've bought a few things from Ebay too. Got a fab bathroom demister mirror with lights down the side that are motion activated from Ebay that should have been twice the price it was!

Also playing builders merchants off against each other is a great way to save on materials, saved a small fortune on plastering materials and plan to do the same with skirting and architrive!

This is why I love this site so much, it saves me a fortune! Well it means I have more money to spend hahahah

TomsMom

KT1985 wrote: »

We are using the wall transfer things- we have 4 huge poppies to go on the red end of our lounge wall, as if they are growing out of the radiator

That sounds nice - piccy??????????

TomsMom

Robbie_Duck wrote: »

Our lass convinced me that having the a runner carpet up the middle and varnish either side on our stairs would be a great idea. I spent all last weekend sanding them down. And got 5 steps finished!!

Don't want to sound like a "been there done that" kind of person, but we had this in our very first house and although it looks nice whoever does the cleaning will be driven up the wall! Not only do you have to vacuum the carpet but you also have to dust the sides where you've varnished - makes the job twice as long and you'll be amazed at the amount of dust :eek:.

TomsMom

Spicey wrote: »

Well now the builders are blinding me with science. We want a flat roof extention, simple I thought. Apparently I can have either a roof covered in felt or GRP (glass fibre) or EPDM (Rubber). The last 2 being more expensive but lasts much longer.

Yes the GRP will last much longer than the felt. We have that on an extension in our present house, it's been on donkeys years and still fine. Felt does have a limited life but I suppose it depends on the quality, how well it's done and how many layers. We're having 3 layers on the extension and the dormer roof at the new property and have been told there is a guarantee of 10 years on each layer - the builder reckons it should have a life in excess of 25 years because of the 3 layers.

TomsMom

lisal0u wrote: »

Got a fab bathroom demister mirror with lights down the side that are motion activated from Ebay that should have been twice the price it was!

That sounds exactly like the one we've got. Our builder took us to one of his suppliers (bathrooms, electrical, etc) and we bought a lovely shower door, great quality for about £400 cheaper than we expected, a thermostatic shower which the builder was so impressed with the price he went back and got himself one the next week, and the mirror was much less than we'd seen on the 'net. Does yours have the little LED lights down the side?

BB1984

TomsMom wrote: »

Be happy in what you're doing now

thanks TM for such an inspirational post - puts things into perspective.

I was actually just thinking to myself last night how lucky we (OH and I) are - we're on the property ladder, in a much larger house than we thought we'd be able to afford as our first place; we've been able to do it up exactly how we want it (ok not exactly, but thereabouts!); we've both still (just about) got our jobs, which pay ok; we are both happy and healthy (most of the time!); we've learned so many valuable life skills through buying and renovating our place; we've moved back to my home town, which means family and friends have been able to help us out so much with diy; we've got plenty of space to start a family.....the list goes on!

For me, moving from a tiny one-bed flat in Brixton, to a 3-bed detached with a big garden, by the seaside, has improved my quality of life beyond my expectations!

All these things I remember every time I'm getting fed up with hoovering up dust, my arm's aching from painting the umpteenth coat of paint, or my hands are chapped and dry from plaster....it's all worth it at the end of the day!

BB

TomsMom

BB1984 wrote: »

thanks TM for such an inspirational post - puts things into perspective.

I was actually just thinking to myself last night how lucky we (OH and I) are - we're on the property ladder, in a much larger house than we thought we'd be able to afford as our first place; we've been able to do it up exactly how we want it (ok not exactly, but thereabouts!); we've both still (just about) got our jobs, which pay ok; we are both happy and healthy (most of the time!); we've learned so many valuable life skills through buying and renovating our place; we've moved back to my home town, which means family and friends have been able to help us out so much with diy; we've got plenty of space to start a family.....the list goes on! ....................


BB

:T

There you go, exactly the right attitude. Glass half full rather than half empty, always take the positive view and it's amazing how much happier you feel.