Renovating - What we did & Where we are now.


This time last year we were fortunate enough to buy our first home after 6 long years of renting. We viewed only a handful of properties before we found the house that was for us.

Although the house needed a lot of work we saw past it and could envision what that shell of a home could become. I vividly imagined what the house could look like and I could picture Nick and I raising our family there. That's how we knew it was the right one for us.

Buying the house and then undergoing the renovation has been such a long winded process but we are finally getting there now. I sometimes forget how far we've come so I thought I would put together a blog post of what we've done so far and what is still left to do.



What we've done so far  


Central heating
. The house had never had central heating so we had to buy a boiler, have it set up and the whole heating system needed to be installed. This was one of the most costly aspects to the renovation.


New kitchen. The kitchen was a shambles when we bought the house, a retro nightmare. We knew we needed a new kitchen and we browsed different styles for weeks before we finally decided on which to go for. This of course was costly too but as we have a kitchen fitter in the family we only paid trade price and he fit it for free! Very lucky. 

New bathroom. Another room which was a retro nightmare was the bathroom. It was avocado green and literally the worst bathroom I have ever seen. I couldn't wait to get in there to start ripping it out. I actually removed most of the tiles myself, with a sledge hammer! It was a bit scary! We then had a new bath, shower, sink, toilet installed and tiled the entirety of the room. 

Decorating. Every single room in the house needed redecorating which meant lots of hard laborious work. Not only did each room need painting, new flooring or carpet but many walls needed replastering too. 



What we still need to do

Fitted wardrobes. As the majority of the messy work has now been completed we are now focusing on fitted features within the house. We are very limited when it comes to storage as our attic is currently sealed off. I have recently been looking at sliding wardrobes because not only do they look fantastic but it's amazing how much you can store within them too. 


The finishing touches. We are almost at the finishing line when it comes to the work but there are little bits and pieces here and there that need to be completed. I am excited to start focusing on dressing each room now that the DIY is out of the way. I have seen some fantastic lamps on Amazon that I would like to buy for our bedroom and I also have my eye on a couple of rugs from Rug Mountain which I would love for the dining room and hallway.

Attic conversion. We have been discussing the possibility of building up into the attic to give us another bedroom. We would need planning permission of course but this is a future job rather than a job that needs to be done straight away. 


Front garden. The front yard is a decent size for a terraced house. At the moment it is graveled with a little path which I don't think looks good and it's not very practical either. I want to keep the path but lay down a lawn so then Noah has somewhere to play in these warmer months.


Hopefully in a few months time I can report back on how we have ticked off another few jobs on our to do list! Do you have any renovating or decorating tips you would like to share with me?

4 comments:

  1. You have done so much, the rest can be done in time. It looks beautiful x

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  2. Looks lovely! Your kitchen is near the same as mine! Wish we had those kind of tiles on the wall though.
    x

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  3. Nursery looks lovely, the duck is great! :)

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