Reno Diaries: So What Next?

The first three months of this year felt like all we were doing was waiting. Waiting for the windows to be fitted; waiting to crack on with the office; waiting to see if we would get a new kitchen floor. Now suddenly it’s felt like everything is happening all at once – the windows are in, we’ve had a new kitchen floor fitted and our lovely neighbours made some shelves for the office which means that finish line is in sight.

From This…

…To This

Yet as my poor long-suffering husband will acknowledge, I’m already thinking about the next projects. We’re very yin and yang – there are times when I sit back contentedly and look around at how much we’ve done in just over a year and he’s yearning for the next challenge; then other times when he’d love a lie in but I’m jumping up and down on the bed at 6.30 yelling “let’s do painting”

But I’m so excited by how much the house inspires me, challenges me, makes me want to try and create something beautiful out of something run down. Last year it felt so overwhelming I felt like crying at times, this year I’ve grabbed the bull by the balls, rolled up my sleeves and got stuck in.

So what next?

• Well, in a few weeks we’re replacing the gas fire in our living room with a log burner. We haven’t used the fire at all since we moved in, mainly because it’s one of those old ones where you just turn the gas tap on, fling a match in and hope for the best. That kind of stuff scares me a bit. The guy who’s fitting the log burner is the best friend of one of our up the road neighbours (who happens to be a chimney sweep, they’re all dead handy round here) and so he’ll come and whip out all the old stuff, put in a new hearth and fit the burner. I almost can’t wait for autumn to see how cosy it will be. Hand in hand with the log burner, we need to build some kind of log store and figure out where the logs are going to come from, all another learning curve.

What We Have Now…

What We Will Have…

• We’ve placed an order with local company Bromley Blinds to come and fit plantation shutters on the windows we’ve replaced, so they’ll be ready at the end of the summer and be fitted in the living room, spare bedroom and office. I’m not fussy about people peeping in so we’ll probably go the entire summer without any covering on the windows…my colleague thinks this is crazy and said one night she’s going to bike to my house and leap up at the windows to scare me. Bring it.

• Also on our list is to have our electrics overhauled – we have a lovely electrician who has already done a top to bottom survey and it makes for scary reading, there is so much that has been done incorrectly (and in some cases is actually illegal – not many people know that some electrics need to be completed by a qualified electrician otherwise it nullifies home and contents insurance, just as an example!) It’s a very unsexy part of these home renovations but is a must – we can’t have any extra electrical sockets put in on the ground floor until the work has been completed and the fuse board replaced.

• Last but not least – the front door. One of the very first things I vowed to change when we moved in, that I chose but somehow fell down the list of priorities. It’s still there, just like always, at the back of our minds. We’ll get there one day…

My Dream Front Door

How do you decide which order to do things in? Is there any one house project you’d really love to tackle?

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