Mortgage Free in 10 Years - My MFW Diary

RenovationMan

This is the reverse angle of the room and shows just how plain it looks, with no features apart from the ceiling beams and the cast iron radiator (that will soon be moved under the window and out of the way).



I'm thinking that having a nice cottage style ledge & braced door, limewashed and lime plastered walls and polished oak floorbards instead of carpet, will really lift the room and make it look a lot more interesting. Again, a lot of the work is dependant on having the finances!

gallygirl

Shame about the slate, but if it conducts the cold then it's gotta go! Good luck

RenovationMan

gallygirl wrote: »

Shame about the slate, but if it conducts the cold then it's gotta go! Good luck

I know it's a shame because the slate looks nice, but its freezing cold to the touch. You wouldn't believe the negotiations I had with Mrs Renovation in order to let me remove it, the Arab / Israeli peace accord had nothing on our 'talks'.

abouttimetoo

Hi there RM

Great to see your latest updates on here; funnily enough I was thinking about you just this week when I was catching up on the latest George Clark, Restoration Man series, are you watching it?

Well done on your negotiating skills with Mrs RM, if I remember correctly its the least she owes you after curtaingate

Regards
ATT

RenovationMan

abouttimetoo wrote: »

Hi there RM

Great to see your latest updates on here; funnily enough I was thinking about you just this week when I was catching up on the latest George Clark, Restoration Man series, are you watching it?

Well done on your negotiating skills with Mrs RM, if I remember correctly its the least she owes you after curtaingate

Regards
ATT

LOL, I'd forgotten about curtaingate.

I've been watching the restoration man series and I really liked the first one. Our house in on three levels (4 including lofts) so I could see where George was coming from with the fitted vacuum and laundry chute! Though it does keep up fit running up and down all those stairs.

I suspect that my newfound interest in DIY has come from watching that TV program. Hopefully I'll get that room finished before the series ends and I lose motivation.

abouttimetoo

Whoops, don't tell Mrs RM I've reminded you then or I'll be in the bad books

Yes, I can see how the laundry chute and Hoover gadget would come in very handy. In that particular episode I got the impression that the woman was pretty disengaged with the building works and even when it was finished wasn't that enthusiastic. It's funny how you can watch shows on TV and really 'take' to a couple and wish them well and others you dont like as much or are a bit apathic to and that's how I felt about that episode

BTW, I forgot to say before, very well done on the mortgage reductions you've made so far, I'm sure it takes a lot of discipline to do that on top of all the rennovations too.
Regards
ATT

RenovationMan

abouttimetoo wrote: »

Whoops, don't tell Mrs RM I've reminded you then or I'll be in the bad books

Yes, I can see how the laundry chute and Hoover gadget would come in very handy. In that particular episode I got the impression that the woman was pretty disengaged with the building works and even when it was finished wasn't that enthusiastic. It's funny how you can watch shows on TV and really 'take' to a couple and wish them well and others you dont like as much or are a bit apathic to and that's how I felt about that episode

BTW, I forgot to say before, very well done on the mortgage reductions you've made so far, I'm sure it takes a lot of discipline to do that on top of all the rennovations too.
Regards
ATT

I love Grand Designs as well and have had mixed feelings about many of the people on there. I much prefer the ones who pitch in and do a lot of the work, especially that bloke who handbuilt his house in the forest (Ben something) and the couple who restored that manor house in France that was burned down by the Nazis. The ones I really disliked were the lady who built a mock regency home with almost a flat roof and was broke but still looking at silk wall paper and the lady who turned the alpine farm into a ski lodge. They both came across as really spoiled.

Thanks for your comments about my OPs. It's been difficult to juggle the renovations and overpayments because we want to make the house as nice as possible as soon as possible, but we also want to make sure that we can still afford to live there comfortably when interest rates go back up.

I've pledged to get my daughters bedroom and the kitchen/dining room finished this year. It should be do-able. Just!

RenovationMan

It's been quite a while since I have updated my blog, so I thought I'd do a quick 'catch up' post.

We've been piling our money into renovating the house, so haven't really been able to put too much away for overpayments, but the house is slowly getting sorted out. I've stripped out that bedroom (the one I've posted pics of above) back to bare walls and battened it out and filled with acoustic/thermal insulation. I'm about to attach woodwool boards as a carrier for the lime plaster I'll be doing next. It's all taking ages because I do the work in the evenings and weekends whenever I find the time, but there is no rush.

I did manage to make an overpayment of £7000 though and sent it through to the mortgage company today. Once they update the balance it will stand at £243,000 which is £18k away from our target of getting the mortgage down to £225,000 (or 50% of the original valuation).

We'll keep plugging away and will hopefully reach or come close to our target by the time the mini-quest ends next year!

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

Hi,

Great to read your thread. I can totally relate/sympathise since we bought a do-er up-er and we have to carefully balance overpayments with renovations too.