Nice people thread part 3- Nice as pie

silvercar

open glass staircase + kids = a lot of polishing!

Assuming planning appeal goes well does anyone recommend a builders in this area?

Griggs, castle builders, St James, michaels.

vivatifosi

Doozergirl wrote: »

If the nice people would like to see the new house, then I will show you the pics when I've moved in and taken them for the estate agent

Oh yes please! I don't like housing threads where its all "you're a bull", "no you're a bear", "the prices are going up by x", "no they're not, they're going down by y".... But I love the ones that go "this is my home before, this is after" or "this is how I made a pile of rubble into a home".

PasturesNew

If I'd been in a couple, where the OH was a tradesperson, I'd have done something with houses years ago. But it's just me and I don't have any skills. But I could easily be "the force behind....." sorting it all out and pointing them at what needs to be done. But an organiser, not a doer. Researching, sourcing, organising, planning .... not actual 'work'

lostinrates

I want a camera to share house pictures with you all dunno where the broken one is even. The vid-cam takes stills I think. I wonder if I could learn to use that!

misskool

lir: I bought a fig today. It's fig ice crystal so even if doesn't fruit it's a decorative shrub. The garden centre had 3/4 varieties and I was surprised. Brown turkey, brunswick, dalmatie and ice crystal.

This was birthday money so bought a peace lily and some reduced house plants; yucca (I think!), spider plant and anthurium. They just need potting on and now I need to find some nice cheap ceramic pots.

If I can split any I will take some to work.

SingleSue

vivatifosi wrote: »

Oh yes please! I don't like housing threads where its all "you're a bull", "no you're a bear", "the prices are going up by x", "no they're not, they're going down by y".... But I love the ones that go "this is my home before, this is after" or "this is how I made a pile of rubble into a home".

Oh, so do I. I love seeing the before pictures and seeing what an amazing job people have done.

Mind you, I have seen some pictures where the before pictures looked better than the after ones!

SingleSue

Doozergirl wrote: »

Different things sell houses to different people. Having probably sold houses with every type and colour of kitchen going, I get bored doing the same thing over and over again, the most classic kitchen with oak shaker doors, range cooker and black granite tops was the house that probably took the longest to sell, possibly because that seems to be the most common kind of kitchen round here. You can look at umpteen houses with that kitchen. I sold a flat which H had converted years ago, changed the doors to purple, put in a glass hob, granite sink and pale glass splashback and sold it immediately! There are tens of boxes to be ticked when people make their decision within the first 11 seconds or whatever it is. I can only make a call. But most of our kitchens over the last 11 years have been high gloss. Even the one in the 400 year old listed cottage that my daughter was born in Our house now is a mix of Applewood and high gloss.

There aren't many genuine open plan houses around in this part of the world, unlike London which seems to be filled with gorgeous spaces, which is why I like doing it; we can offer something that little bit different - I don't want our houses to look like others, I want it to stand out and that's quite hard when the unwritten rule is that I still have to paint everything magnolia if the house is for selling. That said, the rooms in both houses are flexible and large enough to have a significant open plan space and a separate lounge and there's usually a point at which we can install doors for people if they want them. I possibly need to start reigning myself back a bit, I'm not sure. I don't think I could do it if I had to play to the common perception of what people want. And the flat with the purple kitchen was really quite brave - I did it purposely to stand out from the hundreds of indentikit city centre apartments, and it worked with huge success. I didn't even get the opportunity to take a photo of it finished!

There is one house on RM in our area at the moment which has a supposed award winning kitchen (been in some magazine or other)....I think it is absolutely awful to tell you the truth and it would probably be the first thing to go, it looks so cheap and nasty and sixties...although I would probably sell it on if it is supposed to be that good.

I don't know what my dream kitchen would be, I have never had the chance to really have one. My kitchen at the moment, we picked up the units from the paper for £50...it was the price which attracted us rather than anything else because at that point, all we had was a blooming sink unit and no other units at all.

It would be nice to have one properly designed to the space rather than having the wasted areas we have now, although part of the wasted area was where we chopped one of the units in half to fit a range cooker in (2nd hand for £175) and when that went to cooker heaven, being replaced with a normal size cooker.

lostinrates

misskool wrote: »

lir: I bought a fig today. It's fig ice crystal so even if doesn't fruit it's a decorative shrub. The garden centre had 3/4 varieties and I was surprised. Brown turkey, brunswick, dalmatie and ice crystal.

Oooh I haven' heard of that one...I presume its a white fig? I hope it fruits well for you!

My figs are in pots which we sank but brought in for winter. I'm still undecided whether to plant them traditionally....I.E. root constricted or like Bob flowerdew suggests...jsut not feed them. I think the traditional will win though and I'll buy root bags.

misskool

lostinrates wrote: »

Oooh I haven' heard of that one...I presume its a white fig? I hope it fruits well for you!

My figs are in pots which we sank but brought in for winter. I'm still undecided whether to plant them traditionally....I.E. root constricted or like Bob flowerdew suggests...jsut not feed them. I think the traditional will win though and I'll buy root bags.

It's more decorative than for eating. I'm preparing myself for the fact that I'm attempting to grow a mediterranean fruit rather than something from siberia :rotfl:
(see here http://www.trees-online.co.uk/Ice-Crystal-Fig-Tree.html)

Mine is going into a 20 or 50l pot until I dig out some shrubs. It will be in the southeast-ish area, we don't really have a south facing spot. I'm now wondering if I should have bought 2 fig trees instead of 1 fig tree with lots of house plants

If you've got plenty, why not do an experiment with a few and see how well they do? I'd be interested in which way would be better

lostinrates

SingleSue wrote: »

There is one house on RM in our area at the moment which has a supposed award winning kitchen (been in some magazine or other)....I think it is absolutely awful to tell you the truth and it would probably be the first thing to go, it looks so cheap and nasty and sixties...although I would probably sell it on if it is supposed to be that good.

I don't know what my dream kitchen would be, I have never had the chance to really have one. My kitchen at the moment, we picked up the units from the paper for £50...it was the price which attracted us rather than anything else because at that point, all we had was a blooming sink unit and no other units at all.

For the medium term the cupboards we have her will move into the new kitchen. I have the opportunity now (well, in time) to do a dream kitchen and tbh...things change..

Things I know I want are larder, REAL wood, not mdf and fronts...so it can be painted and changed colour scheme wise. Cupboard with sockets in them at worksurface height to ceiling...so I can use gadgets when DH is not at home, and a BIG blackboard for my daily lists. And larder. And stone floors

Things that change are solid fuel stove or not.Open fireplace or not (DH really wants this built like his family home one was). worksurface type....even whether to have one type or more than one (I like making pastry but don't like how granite/marble looks traditionally.) Corner fridge??


I think you are right about getting something to fit the space....rather than tryin to make off the peg fit. The best kitchen I remember was my parents in the house thay had when I was very young in London. The kitchen cooking area was actually rather small and horse shoe shaped but looked out into an eating area where my mother could have kids finger painting but brushed up smart enough for lunch in it. It was ALL white and glass and perspex, quite smart for the 80s! And was cheap as chips....the glass was furniture from the 60s/seventies She did catering then and it was really functional but stylish. I can't remember the floor though.

Ours will be totally differnt but hopefully as functional.