First-time house renovation

aliasojo

Ooooh exciting times. I remember the feelings of eager anticipation as you wait to greet your first newborn. Make the most of those because after a few years you'll be wondering if there's any way to send them back! :rotfl:

Mind now, as soon as baby is born, you phone round the relatives and immediately post on MSE to let us know too!

Best wishes to both of you and supportive vibes to Mrs A.

Anyone fancy a wee wager? I bet it's a boy [STRIKE]girl[/STRIKE] [STRIKE]boy[/STRIKE] girl...one of those. :rotfl:

TomsMom

andrew-b wrote: »

Nice try...Ivory walls, chocolate curtains to match futon ..the colour it was as the "spare room"! We do actually know (from 7th scan!!) though can't reveal!

, that's twice now and I can't get you to fall for it can I :rotfl: . Will be thinking about you both tomorrow.

aliasojo wrote: »

Anyone fancy a wee wager? I bet it's a boy [STRIKE]girl[/STRIKE] [STRIKE]boy[/STRIKE] girl...one of those. :rotfl:

Yep, I have a feeling it's either going to be a pink parcel or a blue parcel .

andrew-b

aint gonna be either today unfortunately ...we were sent home after examination as not ready to be induced...to have done so would have meant possibly upto 48 hours of induction that might not have worked and would end in c-section. So was home by just after 10am. So all very disappointing to say the least.

GSDog

Just a quick update on my bungalow renovation project.

The new windows and back door were fitted last week and they have made a huge difference to the place. The old windows were very old, rusting and had several cracked windows. They were so bad that there was once ice on the inside of the windows!

The removal of the internal wall is completed and has been signed off by the building inspector.

Today I ordered the new radiators (Stelrad Softline) which are being delivered on Friday and we'll be ordering all of the plumbing materials for the weekend so we can get started on the plumbing side of things. We're basically doing all of the plumbing ourselves except the boiler installation, obviously. As soon as the plumbing is completed we'll get the electricians in to do all of the necessary upgrades to the electrics. It doesn't look like it'll need a complete rewire but there is quite a lengthy list of things needed to be done to bring it up to the latest standards. We'll also need a couple more sockets and lights put in.

We went to Howdens at the weekend and chose the kitchen which we want (Burford white) but unfortunetly there wasn't a designer there to talk to. I'm going to get prices then post it here on the forum to see if it's a good quote or not. We'll be buying the worktop and all of the appliances separately to save money, MSE style! :money:
We have the beautiful slate floor tiles for the kitchen already (they were in the sale) and we'll be going for either Iroko or American Black Walnut for the kitchen worktop and breakfast bar.

I haven't even had the chance to look at bathrooms yet but I know roughly what I want.

It's worrying how fast the money is disappearing now. As long as we still have enough money to make the garden look nice and get the designs and planning permission for the extension which we're planning next year (which will make the 2 bed bungalow into a 4/5 bed house!) then I'll be happy. :j

ukmaggie45

Any news from anyone? Nothing much has been happening with us recently, shower room screeded for vinyl lay tomorrow. Still chasing doors. Kitchen commission in a week, and I think carpets in about 2 weeks. These last weeks are very frustrating as nothing is happening at the house other than what we're doing in the garden.

No photos since OH left my camera outside the front door while helping me into house and it was nicked (hardly surprising!). Had several SD cards full of photos in the case too. :eek: Ordered new camera today, so hopefully by weekend should have it charged up and I'll finally be able to take photos of the red roller blind in the shower room!

GSDog, how about some photos? Are you writing a blog about your renovation? Would love to read if you are. If not why not??? :rotfl: Sez she who hasn't managed to! Mind you, it's all on this thread!

Hope you're all doing OK and romping ahead with your projects. :beer:

TomsMom

Oh Maggie, shame about the camera. Are all you photos on your computer or have you lost them completely?

The only news we have is that the blind man came and measured for the bedroom and loft blinds last week, we decided on normal roller blinds for those rooms in the end. Should be fitted in about 3 weeks.

We still haven't decided what flooring to have in the sun room, as per my post here. Would still appreciate anyone's thoughts. DS says he will be doing the levelling sometime in April so just in case he sticks to his words we need to make our minds up soon.

BakerBoy

@UKMaggie45 - That window in your utility room looks huge (& Lovely!) Did you have any difficulty getting building regs to approve it?

aliasojo

Aw maggie what a shame. At least you have a record of sorts via this thread even if you dont have all the pics.

Andy is suspiciously quiet again, wonder if baby has made an appearance yet. (I've decided it's a girl. )

Work on this place has stopped completely. Dont know if you remember a while back OH and I had split, well we're trying to work things out and have put the house on the back boiler for now and are spending time doing stuff for us rather than the house. That means we're living with bare plasterboard and floorboards but I dont care tbh. It's less stressful than the alternative. I'll still be on this thread in a year's time even after you lot have toddled off and are relaxing in amongst the fruits of your labour.

ukmaggie45

BakerBoy wrote: »

@UKMaggie45 - That window in your utility room looks huge (& Lovely!) Did you have any difficulty getting building regs to approve it?

Hi BakerBoy, welcome to the thread!

Haven't a clue I'm afraid. Our builder is dealing with them! :rotfl:

We don't have all the paper work yet as things aren't finished. It was in the plans from the start, and was given planning permission, so I assume it's OK. I know building control have been round, as they came when kitchen installer was installing the utility room and left us a bill and threat to sue when we'd paid it already. :eek: I think that's been sorted out now, at least I hope it has. (OH phoned them)

Building Control Man did comment that it was a funny place to have a kitchen, kitchen installer responded that kitchen was at the back, that was the utility.

Sorry, blathering as usual!

Window isn't that huge, will try measure dimensions when we go there (hopefully tomorrow) if you want. Just asked OH and he said "Building Regs? Well we seem to be passing it so far". I guess we'll know in the next month or so.

Sorry, that doesn't really answer your question! But if we have probs with Building Control, believe me this thread here will be the first to know! :rotfl:

aliasojo

TomsMom wrote: »

We still haven't decided what flooring to have in the sun room, as per my post here. Would still appreciate anyone's thoughts. DS says he will be doing the levelling sometime in April so just in case he sticks to his words we need to make our minds up soon.

My gut feeling is to have more of the same. I think vinyl would be much more practical than laminate or carpet tiles, and I think it would look streamlined if it was the same thoughout.

I have Rhinofloor in the kitchen (we enter the house via the back door most of the time, especially with the dog and it's easy to clean and always looks like new).

I don't think the colour is a problem as long as it's balanced by lighter things (walls/curtains/blinds/rug/etc etc).