First-time house renovation

latecomer

Not at the moment but I'm thinking about it. I am taking pictures so it wouldn't be hard to do.

TomsMom

latecomer wrote: »

Not at the moment but I'm thinking about it. I am taking pictures so it wouldn't be hard to do.

Ooh, do it, do it! We're all [STRIKE]nosey[/STRIKE] interested

latecomer

I'm the first to admit being nosey about other peoples project so I guess its only fair to show what we are up to. Leave it with me and I'll try and get one set up.

paddy's_mum

Sorry TomsMom - far too much of a technophobe to want to try to get my head around such "advanced" stuff as doing a blog - it's only recently that I learned how to put smilies in my posts on here! (hides red face)

However, like latecomer, we are keeping a photodiary just to keep us soldiering on when we think we can't do one more day's hard slog - and how come grit and brickdust can work themselves even under your toenails?

We are making the small front garden into a low maintenance area so it now has a border edged with kerbing, planted with shrubs, mostly evergreen. An escallonia hedge along the front to keep the bees happy, a crab apple for the wild birds, and a couple of camellias just for me. We membraned the scruffy, uneven lawned area and last week shovelled well over three tons of gravel onto it to provide a tidy appearance but one which can have vehicles parked on it if need be.

Yesterday, the new bathroom suite went in so no more dashing to the compost heap at the bottom of the garden when caught short!

Next huge job to tackle is installing my secondhand 'new' kitchen. Will let you know progress. Good luck to all tackling renovations - do you suppose the NHS does group rates for psychiatric consultations = must need their heads examining!

helping_hubby

Wow, sounds like everyone is doing some serious work at the moment. I'm getting far too hooked into my garden at the moment. I just bought 9 plants to make my hedge out of tonight and I'm not really ready for them. I guess I'll have to get digging more this weekend

I'm still waiting for plumber. I'm really not good at chasing people up...I'll freely admit that. Should I phone and give him a ultimatum? OH built the stud wall where the door was, so now we have to climb over the bath to get to the sink. So it's sort of getting to the point where I'm desperate for the bathroom to be done.

TomsMom

helping_hubby wrote: »

Anyway, far more interesting...I did a blog. It's my first one. Lots of pictures of befores/afters of what we've done so far. Enjoy: http://thehouserenovationinsurrey.blogspot.com/

Ooh goody! I really enjoyed reading your blog and seeing your pictures. Love the french doors, they look so much better than the patio doors - good move!

Tackling both gardens at the same time as renovating the house - you do like to be kept busy don't you :rotfl:

Love the bathroom wallpaper :rotfl: is it that lino on a roll type stuff? We've got that in the kitchen and bathroom. I didn't realise that was still available to buy until I saw it in a local(ish) shop about a month ago.

Your bathroom should be a good size now and I think it will look nice with the bath and toilet swapped around. Do you have a second toilet? Just wondering as if it was our house and there was no separate toilet there would be lots of banging on the door and "I need to go" (no, not kids - hubby!)

"Manky" - mmmmmmmm, good word. We've found lots of manky in our house but weren't quite so polite about it .

Your front door looks fab and you've made a lovely job of repainting the frame. You know the patterned glass - do you know what it's called? If not, it's proper name is (I believe) "Tulip". But when you put it up the other way, as yours is and can be seen from the top pane, it looks like something else. We had this in some internal doors at a previous house and used to call it "elephant's b*m". I know, very childish :rotfl: but have a close look and see if you agree.

I've left a comment and added your blog to my favourites and will be following along with a couple of others. Thanks for sharing.

helping_hubby

TomsMom wrote: »

Tackling both gardens at the same time as renovating the house - you do like to be kept busy don't you :rotfl:

Now I think about it, that wasn't the plan! We weren't meant to start the gardens until next summer, but we had to dig up a bit of the patio for the new doors, so we sort of finished what we started! Oh well We had been in limbo for a few weeks as the elcetrician stuff was stopping us from being able to do much else inside.

Love the bathroom wallpaper :rotfl: is it that lino on a roll type stuff? We've got that in the kitchen and bathroom. I didn't realise that was still available to buy until I saw it in a local(ish) shop about a month ago.

Yes it is that lino stuff, best of all it was ripped to shreds up to 2 feet from the ground, it seems the previous owners cats loved it

Nope, no second toilet. Me and hubby aren't shy if you get my drift and so to us that wasn't an issue. It is if we have guests, but it won't happen very often.

You know the patterned glass - do you know what it's called? If not, it's proper name is (I believe) "Tulip".

I don't know if its called tulip...I really can't remember. We got it because the bathroom window is the same glass, as is the interior door glass, so thought we'd get the same. I think I see where you get the elephants bum thing from, but no, thankfully ours aren't bums! They are sort of random shapes.

I've left a comment and added your blog to my favourites and will be following along with a couple of others. Thanks for sharing.

I've tried to "follow your blog" but the link didn't seem to do anything. I'm on Ubuntu Firefox at work so that could be the problem. I'll try again at home.

BB1984

Here's my latest update on the bungalow refurb - the below is basically copied and pasted off my blog (because I'm lazy and can't be bothered to write it all twice) - so if you want illustrations have a nose at www.thehouseofdoom.wordpress.com

"Well, we’re getting to that stage now in the renovation process where nothing seems to be happening quickly! When knocking down walls etc, progress is very quick and very visible, but now those kinds of jobs are done we’re onto the little niggly things that take ages but aren’t very rewarding!

So, latest news from the House of Doom is:

• All the ceilings have been scraped to remove the worst of the Artex prior to the plasterer skimming them (paint flakes in eyes, dust up nose etc)
• All the ceilings and relevant walls have been painted with watered-down PVA prior to being skimmed (glue in hair, all over arms, face etc)
• The kitchen has been completely plastered and now looks lovely, although a bit patchy still as it’s taking a while to dry out.
• The bathroom has had a rough coat of plaster and the plumbers have finished putting the pipes in (including moving the shower as we changed our minds about its location!)
• the builder has taken out all the rotten floor joists and replaced them with lovely new treated timber, ends treated with creosote for good measure – the smell of which will probably disappear by xmas 2010…
• Bob has also put in several new air bricks which will hopefully improve under-floor ventilation and reduce the likelihood of damp reappearing.
• The whole underfloor of the house has been sprayed with woodworm treatment (which also has dry and wet rot killer in – belt and braces).
• Four trees have been cut down – we’re gradually letting more light into the house! Unfortunately the garden is now covered with tree…….
• A 650mm deep trench has been dug (about 8m long, through concrete and 3 tree root zones!) in which to lay a new water main from the road to the house.

Wow actually it does sound like we got quite a lot done!

This week the plasterer will be at the house again to hopefully finish off skimming the ceilings and re-plastering a few other areas. Plastering makes such a difference to the look of the place, so we’re really looking forward to seeing that all done – the blank canvas ready for us to start painting! At the end of the week the gas board are coming to put in our gas supply, which will mean that the plumbers are able to fit the boiler and we can finally have hot water. Also, our kitchen units are being delivered, which will no doubt cause chaos as the kitchen will be full to the rafters! Hopefully by that time the electrician will have got some of the light fixtures wired in which will be handy now that the clocks have gone back."

god I'm knackered.....

BB

latecomer

Reading your progress just reminds me of how little progress we are making at the moment. We were away last weekend and again this weekend. Got next week off though so I'm determined to get some stuff done including fitting a new radiator as the room we are using as our living room doesn't have one and its pretty cold if we dont have the gas fire all the time.

TomsMom

Wow Beth, what a lot has been done!

OH suggests your concrete structure is a sarcophagus :rotfl: Did you find a mummy in it?

We've had a chat with the builder today. He wants to put doors and skirtings in the lounge next week and it's doing my head in trying to decide what to have. Don't want pine with knots in - been there, done that, totally fed up with it. Of course, the oak doors I want come pretty expensive and would probably be a bit OTT for the type of house. Oh, decisions, decisions. Builder is being very helpful with suggestions, not to make us spend money but to keep costs down but at the same time giving a quality look and finish.

He gave us a good tip today, for anyone wanting to make a big purchase like a kitchen, etc. Go to the showroom at the end of the month, many places (such as Howdens etc) have targets to meet. If they're short of their target they frequently give big discounts to get your business. Too early for us to purchase our kitchen but will bear it in mind!

Anyone wanting to catch up can see my blog here.

The builders are spending a lot of time at the moment trying to correct lots of c*ck ups made by the previous owner - bent walls being a major one!