I've quit everything. Now what ?

lessonlearned

Ps. AC. Re The kind of works you have planned, new kitchen cupboard doors and work tops, new bathroom, tiled floors, fitted wardrobes, new carpets, expensive window treatments. I can't see any change out of £10k.

Because you are mortgage free, then £10k could give you a year off work .........

Just saying.

My eldest bought a house with a kitchen similar to yours. Yes it was manky.......the previous occupants had lived like pigs. He has painted the doors, revamped the worktop, re-enamelled the original Belfast sink, regrouted the tiles. He also had to repair the ceiling due to a shower leak upstairs. Including ceiling repairs his kitchen revamp has come in under £200. Yes it was time consuming but he has saved a fortune by taking it slowly and using a bit of imagibation and effort.

What is your top priority........is it really getting your new flat to showroom standards or is it living a comfortable and sustainable life without having to rush back to work before you are truly well and fit enough.

I'm sure your designer friend has lots of brilliant ideas how to transform your flat to a cool batchelor pad but he's not the one funding the budget. You are.

I would like to say be careful but I doubt you will listen.

Another vote for IKEA wardrobes - with a few tweaks and hacks you can turn them into "fitted wardrobes" for a fraction of the cost that the specialist companies will charge you.

lady1964

Gigervamp wrote: »

For the flooring in the kitchen and bathroom, I'd get a decent quality vinyl rather than tiling. It will be cheaper (due to the small size, you may be able to get an end of roll at a good price) and it will feel warmer underfoot.

The carpets I'd just get cleaned. They're an ok colour and not patterned and you said they're in good condition.

I'm not keen on venetian blinds due to the fact that they're dust traps, but I also don't like the vertical blinds as they remind me of office decor.
However, they both offer privacy whilst letting in light. I've never seen those vertical blinds in any other colour than cream, but you can get venetian blinds in a range of colours. We had silver ones in our last house.

Fitted wardrobes, the problem with them, apart from cost, is that they limit how you arrange the other furniture in the room. I've rearranged the furniture in my bedroom a couple of times since living here. I like the flexibility.
Ikea's Pax wardobes are very customisable and easy enough to build.

We have vertical blinds in a pale gray colour in our utility room, we ordered them off the Internet from blinds.co.uk, they're on a pretty standard window & cost about £50 from memory. They look nice & they do different colours. Delivery took around a week.

We also have Ikea wardrobes that we put together ourselves, well DH did, we put the spec we wanted, drawers, baskets etc and I love them. They were reasonably priced too.

Good luck AC & just to add, I agree about the kitchen, bathroom & carpets. Hire a rug doctor for your carpets once you've decorated, I know Homebase hire them out, not sure about anywhere else, possibly B&Q too.

candygirl

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Just a thought AC, you say it is grubby and many. Does the kitchen and bathroom really need replacing or would a jolly good clean do the job?

I was thinking the same.Maybe hiring a domestic cleaning service to do a deep clean?

another_casualty

Thanks for the good advice . I'm still listening
I've just been over to take some painting equipment to the new flat, for tomorrow . It looks easy enough to paint. I'm still out of condition, but I'll see how far I can get each day . The aim is to try and do one room everyday . We'll see how it goes . The last time I painted was about a year ago, before I put my flat for sale in may. Tough going then.

I must not let the shambolic paint job , or the lack of windows in the kitchen and bathroom impair my judgement.
The dark colours obviously make the place more oppressive.

I did think about painting the cupboards and worktop in the kitchen .
My feeling is that it would too laborious . Plus imho, I don't think it's gonna look the same as having shiny new glossy doors and a new worktop. I will go for rubber flooring for kitchen and bathroom .
The colours will be lighter and more neutral.

Regarding the bathroom: if it is cheaper to just have a new bath/ sink/ toilet exactly the same layout surely it won't be as expensive.
Also, if I can get away with just getting the border tiles changed , then that is another saving .
Lets face it , the people in their previous were more or less unclean.
The word rancid springs to mind.
When I leave this flat, it will be the same as I walked into it.

Hoping that a bargain or two is to be had because of the Easter holidays approaching

Dansmam

Oh AC I doubt you'll leave your new flat how you found it. If you choose to do rancid you could of course choose to mega rancid it. But you won't because when you make it truly yours you're going to love it.
I'm at the make do and mend end of the spectrum when it comes to refurb work but I would be tempted to do one thing I really love. For me it would be either a fab bathroom or a fab kitchen or fab blinds. We went for those perfect fit pully up pully down things when we eventually got round to sorting big windows. Lived with no window covering for years no problem though they are at the back. Love those blinds. All sorts of colours. Went with h*****ys but others permanent sale stock is available 😉

Worrierwalker

Hi AC it all sounds exciting!

I agree with enthusiasticsaver about the carpet- do you really want the old one under the nice new one?

If you don't change your tiles I can recommend a grout pen for the grout in-between - I couldn't believe the transformation when I used one (don't know if the effect will last though, time will tell).
I'll be interested in your new kitchen doors as I'm thinking of doing that too in our kitchen.

JTA
For bits and bobs, like shelves, lights etc I've found delivery from Habitat to be fantastic , everything carefully packed and good quality.

another_casualty

Thanks again

An annoying start to the day .
I'm expecting a delivery of a few essentials from b&q ,today before I actually do start . Namely, a step ladder, a small elephant foot type stool and a cap .
While waiting , im watching frasier . Just getting to the very end , and the doorbell rings . It was not b&q ..it was the first contractor I saw from utility warehouse .

The initial job got completed unannounced a couple of weeks ago.
After threatening u w with the ombudsman , I got £25 off my next bill. Paltry but ok . If I was working, different story.

The last thing I was told, was that there is a job that has to be done outside the property .
The contractor was apologetic . I gave him the name of the man who should be contacted ..etc etc
I informed him that I won't be here , as I will be painting my flat around the corner .

I then email u w . One of the first words in the sentance sounds similar to WWF . I threatened them with the ombudsman again , and told them I would rather swallow razor blades than be a u w customer. I sent txt to landlady. I am awaiting her response.
More later

another_casualty

Worrierwalker wrote: »

Hi AC it all sounds exciting!

I agree with enthusiasticsaver about the carpet- do you really want the old one under the nice new one?

If you don't change your tiles I can recommend a grout pen for the grout in-between - I couldn't believe the transformation when I used one (don't know if the effect will last though, time will tell).
I'll be interested in your new kitchen doors as I'm thinking of doing that too in our kitchen.

JTA
For bits and bobs, like shelves, lights etc I've found delivery from Habitat to be fantastic , everything carefully packed and good quality.

I used to,go to habitat a lot
Thanks

another_casualty

B&q stuff coming between 11.03-12.03

lessonlearned

Whilst Habitat is great for stylish stuff it is expensive. It's posher sister Heals is even more pricey.

I can remember visiting the habitat store in Bournemouth and drooling. I really loved the stuff but it was beyond my meagre means.

It was from this experience that I learned how to window shop the posh shops for ideas and then try to imitate the look on a tight budget. I'm going back around 40 years or so when good design and style was difficult to find. Mere mortals like me with slender means had to be inventive.

However, nowadays there are habitat lookalike shops where you can achieve the same look for much less.

As well as IKEA (quality has improved) try The Range (a lot of tat but a few hidden gems), B&M, most of the DIY sheds, the big supermarket all have good housewares depts, especially if you go online, argos etc. Don't forget charity shops, markets, junk shops, eBay, and sites like freecycle.

Anyone can walk into a shop and furnish their home with fabulous stuff if your bank balance is big enough but it will cost more than if you take your time, shop around and use a bit of imagination.