First-time house renovation

stolt

not sure if this thread is still alive, lol. we have been pretty quiet on the house front but this week we have managed to get the driveway done,was touch and go due to the rain but pure chance meant that it stayed dry enough. I put some bark on the borders this evening but didnt take any pictures.

spirit

That's looking great Stolt, this rain really has been the pits hasn't it.

Hope everyone else is ok too?

latecomer

I'm still here now and again. After all the heartache of the burglary and then having to re-do the decoration etc its been a painful time but we have decided to stay in the house. I was happy to move but the thought (and cost!) of moving was a bit too much, particularly when we wouldn't get anything like this house and would need to extend and/or renovate to get something remotely similar. Wee guy loves it too as there is loads of downstairs space for him to run about, decent size garden and the park directly opposite.

We are pretty much finished except little bits and pieces. Got to put up a gate round the side to stop him escaping though. My folks are up this weekend so might get my dad to give me a hand doing that. Need to sink a couple of posts in concrete then convert the old custom made fence into a gate.

Also means I'll get to make my high level storage area in the garage at some point although I've given away some of the materials that were meant for that so may need to buy some more.

LLC is doing great - finally sleeping pretty well, mostly potty trained and growing an serious attitude. Vocabulary getting better by the day as he's figuring out the way to get things is to ask for them - mind you favourite word is still cheese

The other news is that I got seriously pee'd off at work and handed in my notice last month and am off to join a local competitor. Was technically on gardening leave for 3 months but they have now asked me to do some further work because they dont have anyone else available. Kinda sucks but at the end of day they have every right to ask me to do it so I shouldn't really complain. Hopefully still get 3-4 weeks off before starting the new job.

@stolt - love the pictures. How did you do the selective colours?

Anyone heard from TM, andyb or maggie?

spirit

:eek: have I missed something, what's this about a burglary lc? I've not experienced it but it must be bl00dy awful.

Good/bad news about the job I guess, I hope you will be much happier in your new job.

Children grow up too fast don't they, he'll be at uni before you have time to turn round!

Shimmyhill

Wow, not posted in this thread in a while - can't even remember what i was last doing!!

Still going on the bungalow renovation, have had some slow progress but as ever so many things getting in the way of real progress - like having to dig out a new soak away when discovering the reason that the down pipe seemed blocked was more to to with the soak away being about 3' from the wall and about 6" deep :eek: i wonder why it was blocked....

We ( i say we, its me apparently) are doing the start one room and then move onto another one mid project - its the only way!!

The major thing i have done is the living room fireplace, ever since we viewed the place having a wood burner was high on the list - Tracy said we needed new sofas over a stove but i won that battle (have to do the demolition work in the house before u get new sofas right!!?) Will have to dig out the pictures, will try and find out what the last update on here was and see if we made any other progress!!

latecomer

spirit wrote: »

:eek: have I missed something, what's this about a burglary lc? I've not experienced it but it must be bl00dy awful.

Good/bad news about the job I guess, I hope you will be much happier in your new job.

Children grow up too fast don't they, he'll be at uni before you have time to turn round!

Burglary was over a year ago and we had to have whole house redecorated, all clothing, linen, curtains, carpets etc destroyed, kitchen redone. We ended up fighting with the insurance for 11 months, moved out for about 9 months and plan was not to move back in. I said to sell as family home we had to make it look like one and the easiest way to do that would be to live in it short term. So we moved back in and got very close to selling but the thought of having to re-create what we already have with this house somewhere else was too much for OH and we decided to stay. Not to mention the cost of just selling and buying something similar...

OH actually wanted to move to other side of country but keep jobs on this side but thankfully 7 months of commuting 4+ hours a day put her off.

TomsMom

latecomer wrote: »

I'm still here now and again. After all the heartache of the burglary and then having to re-do the decoration etc its been a painful time but we have decided to stay in the house. I was happy to move but the thought (and cost!) of moving was a bit too much, particularly when we wouldn't get anything like this house and would need to extend and/or renovate to get something remotely similar. Wee guy loves it too as there is loads of downstairs space for him to run about, decent size garden and the park directly opposite.

We are pretty much finished except little bits and pieces. Got to put up a gate round the side to stop him escaping though. My folks are up this weekend so might get my dad to give me a hand doing that. Need to sink a couple of posts in concrete then convert the old custom made fence into a gate.

Also means I'll get to make my high level storage area in the garage at some point although I've given away some of the materials that were meant for that so may need to buy some more.

LLC is doing great - finally sleeping pretty well, mostly potty trained and growing an serious attitude. Vocabulary getting better by the day as he's figuring out the way to get things is to ask for them - mind you favourite word is still cheese

The other news is that I got seriously pee'd off at work and handed in my notice last month and am off to join a local competitor. Was technically on gardening leave for 3 months but they have now asked me to do some further work because they dont have anyone else available. Kinda sucks but at the end of day they have every right to ask me to do it so I shouldn't really complain. Hopefully still get 3-4 weeks off before starting the new job.

@stolt - love the pictures. How did you do the selective colours?

Anyone heard from TM, andyb or maggie?

:wave: Yoo Hoo LC, I'm still around . I'm still subscribed to this thread and read the posts but as there's nothing going on in my house now I don't have much to add. I've got a really good handyman if there's any "man" jobs need doing and I've already discussed with him that the kitchen/sun room might need a repaint this winter. Been in since April 2009 so some of the well used areas are showing scuffs etc. I think he will be cheaper and possibly better than the professional decorator who did the house originally. Very much on my wavelength, quite the perfectionist .

I'm glad you've decided to stay in your house despite the burglary, you put so much hard work and love into it and it seems to have a lot going for it.

Good to hear of LLC's progress. Time's going so quickly isn't it!

Good luck with the new job, I hope you'll be happier there.

jamtart6

latecomer - so sorry to hear about the burglary - glad you decided to stay in the end.

i actually came on here to find out the name of stolt's book case (http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=28953725&postcount=2595) a friend made me an imitation of it but we have never had room for it so trying to sell it now.

haven't been on for ages. House is all good, garden finished last year and now the guest room seems to be needing converting into a nursery

Hi TomsMom how are you? X

Hope all the oldies of the thread are well

latecomer

jamtart6 wrote: »

haven't been on for ages. House is all good, garden finished last year and now the guest room seems to be needing converting into a nursery

@jamtart6 - Congrats - very good news. Seems to be a common "problem" in this thread

@TM - time is flying by indeed. LLC is nearly 2 now which is frightening. Glad to hear you have found someone to meet your standards - paying for work thats of a lower standard than I can do is something that annoys me greatly.

Hejo

hello all,

we are still grinding on. New fire in, replastering finished, 1/2 way through the decorating.
Need to put the new lights in, choose carpets and flooring, fit wardrobes in bedrooms, then decide what to do with rooms that we havent touched yet!

Everything is very slow as we are taking our time searching options and not getting conned again.

Major spanner in the works is rats are back. We fixed a smashed drain and they went for 3 months but heard them back the other day. I would gladly scoop them all up and stick them under our builder's floorboards to see how he likes it.

Feels like we are nearly there. If anyone has ever done a race or a marathon it feels like the last mile where you look up and think blow this Im stopping, but the other voice in your head says keep going, you're nearly there, then the first voice shoots back, you said that last time!

Stolt - Im very jealous of your house! Its beautiful, you must be so proud
Latecomer - sorry to hear about your burglary and job woes. If I recall you had some bad trades too. Hope its all sorted now and things improve for you.