First-time house renovation
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Well done latecomer and helping_hubby. You are certainly getting stuck in and not afraid to tackle anything. I really admire you both for your determination and how much you are doing yourselves.
Plastering is something I discussed with one of our builders - the one who has done all our plastering - as our son (who does tiling and fits kitchens and bathrooms) mentioned that he was thinking of doing a plastering course. If any of his jobs require any plastering it's something he doesn't do and has to get someone in to do it. Our builder said, in the nicest possible way, that it takes years to become good at plastering. You can learn how to do it but it's practice, practice, practice that makes someone a good plasterer. Not trying to put you off at all, certainly have a go somewhere where it's not mega important to look perfect. You might find you have a flair for it
By the way, can someone tell me what you have to do with newly plastered walls before you can start mist-coating? Ours should be dry by now, they certainly look it even though the house is unheated at the moment, as they were plastered a few weeks ago.
OH hasn't been able to do anything the last couple of weeks, his last chemo has really taken it out of him and he's been rather poorly.
Our utility room floor should be tiled either this week or next week so I might have something to put on my blog soon.
The town council have passed the plans for the refurbishment of the loft conversion, just got to wait for the county council to do the same but we've been told there shouldn't be a problem.
So who else to update? Come on Shimmy, BB, and Andy, what have you been up to (well, Andy did put some pics on another thread so I suppose that counts).0 -
I guess if it looks terrible you can always sand it back to something resembling flat. If it comes to the worst I'm sure you could chip off the plaster back to the board.0
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with newly plastered walls before you can start mist-coating? Ours should be dry by now, they certainly look it even though the house is unheated at the moment, as they were plastered a few weeks ago.
The town council have passed the plans for the refurbishment of the loft conversion, just got to wait for the county council to do the same but we've been told there shouldn't be a problem.
If the plaster is dry then it its ready for painting. I'd check to make sure there are no rough spots etc that might need sanded first though. I've found a few on ours which is disappointing as the last stuff we had didn't need anything but I guess thats the way it goes.
Congrats on the planning approval. I've really got to chase up our architect to see what's going on.0 -
Hello Hello, I'm back at last! My big news is that we've finally moved in!!
We don't have internet access at home yet, hence my lack of updates. Hopefully, though, my OH will be able to update our blog this evening at his parents'.
So yes, we've moved in, albeit with minimal "stuff" as we're living in one room for the time being. However, the important rooms (kitchen and bathroom) are fully functional now, so we've been able to cook proper meals and use our lovely big shower at last! (although annoyingly the shower seems to leak a bit, somewhere, as the absorbent slate tiles next to the tray go a darker shad of grey when we turn the water on.....they're coming back tomorrow though so I'll get them to look at it).
Also, we've got our cat!
He is called Chester and is adorable - and most importantly doesn't seem too fazed by the comings and goings (and crashes and bangs) in the house! There will be a photo of him on the blog soon too.
The bathroom looks amazing - we are so excited by it. It's incredible when we think back to what it was like before. All that needs to be done now in there is to fit the bath panel, fix the leak(!), give the floor tiles another coat of sealant, and paint the walls above the tiles (undercoats already done). Oh and also we need to sand down and paint the woodwork around the door and window.
The kitchen is nearly done too - all the units bar 3no. wall units are nowfitted, complete with doors and handles, and look fab. The walls have been undercoated now we have to decide on colours! So still on the to-do list for the kitchen: paint walls, tile splashbacks, lay laminate flooring, fit skirting boards, and paint woodwork.
Over the weekend we also mist-coated and undercoated the hall walls, and replaced some missing bits of skirting board, etc. Looks better already! Also we filled lots of holes in the walls and skirting boards (where electric sockets used to be).
Our next important job is to paint the lounge. Like helping_hubby, I really want it to be vaguely done (it's not gonna be complete!) by christmas, so we can have some friends round etc. I'm aiming to have the walls, ceiling and woodwork painted by then. We're going to re-lay the old carpet, as it's not too bad (well, it wasn't when we took it up - might be by now!), stick a rug down over it, and we've got some neutral curtains that will do for the time being. I figure that once we've got some furniture and some christmas decorations in there, it'll be vaguely presentable...!
Now we've moved in, I plan to try to do something every night - even if it's only a small thing. Tonight I'm going to decorate the xmas tree!
BB
"Live long, laugh often, love much"0 -
Congrats on moving in. Its a great feeling
I'm also going to try and do a little more during the week, particularly if it helps get things ready for Christmas.0 -
Congratulations on moving in Beth. Can't wait to see a picture of Chester. I'm sure it will feel like home when your tree is up.0
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Busy weekend here too !!
Kitchen has been gutted and we ran into many 'issues' mainly due to different plaster levels (3 levels on one 1.5m wall !!!) My dad has plastered these as they are not too big and not walls that will be on show - either units in-front or tiled over !
Having issues with the gas supply - looks like the meter was stolen ! Just had to wait for a man from transco to turn up as an emergency - i assume to make sure gas is off and safe (it is) but i left as i was freezing to death !
We move in 2 weeks today, well over the weekend so have lots to do and not much time to do it in - dawning on us what we have taken on but hopefully we will have at least a kitchen and bathroom (i hope
) 0 -
You all know that nothing is going on at my house at the moment but I thought I'd tell you what we've been doing.
The kitchen quotes have all been done now - B&Q, Jewsons, Wickes, Travis Perkins (which was posted to the wrong address but I will get them tomorrow) and a local place. We're 99% certain we're going with the local guy - it was the first kitchen that I saw, as soon as I saw it I said I liked it. The only one to beat him on price was B & Q and their kitchen wasn't as nice. As we know him and our son gets a lot of work through him he's given us a good discount, on top of which he's knocked a bit more off for cash and thrown in the pelmet for the wall cupboards . We wont need it delivered until about February/March but if there's going to be a price increase he'll let us know and get it delivered before. And as he's only five minutes walk away then any problems will get sorted pretty quick.
I didn't agree to the sink from him and found this one on the Wickes website. It was £84.99 on the website yesterday. We went out today and called in at Wickes (amongst other places
) to buy one for the kitchen and one for the utility room. We took them to the cash desk only to be told that they weren't the ones in the promotion. Funny that, we got them from right where the sign said Stainless Steel, 1.5 bowl.......... reduced from £124.99 to £84.99. They checked the product code and it was different, checked the stock and said they hadn't got any. Blimey - we'd gone 60 miles for this!
Whilst we were at the cash desk a lady brings one back. I asked her "Is it rubbish then?", she said "No, I've just got a thick husband. I need a single bowl as the drainer is to go above the dishwasher and he bought the 1.5 bowl which wont do that" :rotfl: .
So she toddles off and gets her single bowl one and we ask if we can have her returned one as it came up at £84.99. Yep - we could have that. "So what's the difference" we ask, "besides the product code 'cos everything else seems to be the same". Well, it seems that these promotion ones had a tap included in the pack - and a very nice one too
So what does the Customer Service Manager do? Asks us if we would also like the first one we picked up (the dearer one not on promotion) at the promotion price :T . How could we disappoint him? So we had the one the lady returned with the free tap and also took the other one at the promotion price but without the tap. Can't complain as we didn't know there was going to be a free tap to begin with.
But now on the website they've knocked the extra bit of VAT off and the £84.99 has come down to £83.18 . Do I mind? Will I ask for the extra £1.81 to be refunded off each sink. Nah, I'm a happy bunny and we're certainly not driving 60 miles back there to ask for it :rotfl:
We also saw some doors in Wickes that we like and will probably get, or get the builder to source a bit cheaper as we need 11 of them :eek: . We were originally going to have the 4 panel Victorian doors but we think these others will suit the house better.
Also went to Bathstore and ordered a mirror for the downstairs WC which is in their stock clearance. It will be delivered to their shop and we'll pick it up after Christmas (our choice, don't want another shopping trip yet and they're happy to hold it for us).
So, all in all a good day. Got a couple of bargains, made a decision (note to self, stop looking now or you'll change your mind again).
One of the builders is coming back next week to put the shower tray in the bathroom and plaster the shower area. Also our son should be tiling the utility room floor next week too. Hopefully I'll have a couple of pictures to put on the blog then.0 -
Am I being silly, or are have you now got 2 sinks? I'm confused! (sorry)
I like the doors. hmmm £85 - a bit out of budget. We're having to buy £15 mdf doors It's our first house though. In many years when we're richer, we'll do things with more quality.
BB1984, did you put your tree up? I can't really put the tree up until the living room is done, otherwise it's just another thing that needs covering.
My mum and aunty are coming this weekend and I have a plan to paint 3 coats in one day (is that doable?) on the big wall with the rads (rads are coming off). Then to paint the final coat Sunday so OH can put the rads back on Sunday evening, or monday morning.
That's my goal. I'd like to get the ceiling done too, but I don't want to aim for too much.
Me and OH are still debating over laminate vs carpet in the living room. I really really really want carpet because my feet are freezing. He wants laminate because it's easy to clean and it's got the only door to the garden. Also laminate wins on cost because we can lay it ourselves. I might give in a go for laminate and a really huge soft squishy cosy rug to go under the sofas and surrounding area. But that would defeat the cost issue
We're also having the blinds vs curtains debate. After deciding to go with blinds I'm now changing my mind back to curtains...they just make the house feel warmer and cosier. But they lose the light. Is there such thing as a fashionable net curtain? I'm not sure I fancy venetian blinds _and_ curtains, but need some privacy for the front downstairs window. Will have a google for some piccies for ideas.
Don't know if any of you saw the bathroom thread, but our bathroom started off badly - had to rebuild a wall. The good thing about this, is the wall on the hallway side was just terrible and needed replastering (previous owners had attempted but failed miserably - every trades person has a good laugh at it). Now it's plasterboard and so I think for the time being could get away with filling the gaps and screws and painting over (basically what I've done for the bits above the doors) and it'll look 100 times better than before. And we can get it skimmed at a much later date when money allows.
So far the bath is fitted and working. The pipe work is set up for the radiator, sink, and shower. The room is really big now the bath is out of the middle of the room, and where before I thought I'd get a tall thin cupboard, there's actually room for a wider cupboard, so I might go waist height so we don't lose the openess feel from having a floor to ceiling cupboard. Right now, the tiler is upstairs, I think he's mainly planning, although I can hear cutting, so I assume some tiles might go up today. They probably won't be back till Monday then.0 -
VBC_Premier_Blinds wrote: »helping_hubby; in response to your Blinds query.
Have you considered a small Roller Blind with patterned 'voile' like fabric. This way you won't lose the light but the blind will give you some privacy.
I can post a link if required.
Hope this helps!
I did try and google net style roller blinds a while ago but didn't come up with anything. Could you post a link please?0
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