November 3rd - Day 51
All the wall units are up and ready to be filled, the lower ones are also in but they keep going in and out as things get plumbed in and connected up. The island is up and ready for the oak worktop to be varnished (6 times!!!) - the sideboard worktops were cut and connected today, ready to be cut out tomorrow so the hob and sink can be connected and put in. We've had a working fridge freezer and oven for a few days now and I can't believe how much I've missed eating REAL food!! The first day, my husband forgot half the meal because he was so out of sync with cooking...!
I've also been buying a few things - even though we said we wouldn't until its finished!
We're definitely not going to be finished by the end of this week. We still have an entire wall that needs plastering and painting - the double doors and windows still haven't arrived so that'll most likely be the last job to be done. The floor also needs to go down once the units are done. We're hoping that next week will be the last week but to be honest, we're just go glad and grateful that it's looking so amazing that we don't mind waiting. Scout on the other hand is clearly missing his doggy man-space! He's been super clingy with us and loves the attention but he's a dog that needs some alone time, so he will be super happy to have his bedroom and garden back!
I'll have another update for you soon, and I promise in the meantime I will check in for a post that ISN'T about kitchens! ;)
xo
Saturday 17th October: Day 34
White.
Everything is so white!
Whilst the builders were painting the walls and attaching the skirtings this week, me and hubs went to B&Q and picked out matching lights and a new radiator for the 'dining room' half. The builders moved the original plumbing from the left wall (as you walk in) to the wall between the alcoves. We are having the tv mounted above it, and I have a gorgeous wooden radiator cover to go over it.
We chose bar lights as we originally wanted spots but it was a lot of extra work for something that doesn't have a great rep. The bar spots are fab, you can face them in whichever direction you need. Handy AND cute!
So we're just enjoying the weekend now, relaxing with no banging or drilling going on :) we went in and paid for the kitchen yesterday - the builders originally wanted it earlier but painting the skirtings took longer than anticipated so we pushed it back to Monday.
There's not a whole lot left to do - it's mainly fiddly bits. The radiator needs connecting, the plug covers/boxes are ready to go on, the kitchens ready to go in and the floor will be done after that.
The double doors aren't in stock yet so that wall and it's plastering and paint coat isn't done yet, but that's a couple days work once the doors are here. Then it's just a clean up job, plastering the outside of the house where the gaps were bricked up, and painting it.
We're looking at two weeks max if everything goes to plan!
We're really lucky we've got great builders who really love watching this space develop and mould into something that's going to last.
For those asking about cost - I'm happy to message you privately if you have questions, but i will do a breakdown when it's finished for you for the big jobs to get some idea of budgeting.
Speak soon!
Xo
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Thursday 8th October: Day 25
Today has been a big, BIG day!
It started off with 5 hours of work - I promise I'll tell you all about my new job just as soon as I've passed all my training! I was knackered but working from home today, so that was nice (and made 10x better by the constant cups of tea from hubby :) ).
The plastering is FINITO! The two rooms now properly look like one, and it's amazing to see. It was so hard to picture it at first, but gradually it's just come together and morphed into this incredible space.
We had a meeting with the kitchen designer to finalise our plans today. We changed a few small details - we picked out the exact flooring that we wanted (below), as well as deciding that we would sell our fridge freezer and get an integrated one instead (something that we are still apprehensive about as it means downgrading, and we love our water & ice dispenser!)
We also decided to go for the standard height wall units instead of the extra tall ones - we are both 5'6'' and realised that we would have really high shelves that would barely ever get used. The price difference was the price of the flooring so that was a no-brainer ;)
We've also been out buying a few extra bits - we decided to move the 'dining room' radiator from next to the doorway over to the wall between the alcoves, under where the TV will be mounted. We have a new radiator and radiator cover which I can't wait to put up and decorate with some frames and new pieces!
We also needed to decide on lighting - we originally wanted spots, but actually they are more trouble than they're worth, so we picked two matching spotlight bars from the current B&Q range (they've just started doing clubcards, sign up and get a £5 voucher for nothing!)
So we're looking at the kitchen being delivered by the end of next week, unless the manufacturers are able to speed along the order which they're going to try. The builders will be painting at the start of next week and using the time before the kitchen arrives to do things like the skirting, the radiator and those little fiddly bits.
We just sat in the room in shock earlier, unable to believe how fast everything's come together and how lucky we are to have been able to do this. We burnt a lot of the wood in the garden to save removal costs - perfect ending to a brisk Autumn day :)
xo
Saturday 3rd October: Day 20
I've been away on a training course for 8 days and only got home late last night - one of the first things I did was have a look at the kitchen progress, of course!! My husband has been keeping me up to date with what's been going on, when I've had a chance (it's been one intense week, let me tell you!)
So what's been going on? They've finished plaster boarding, the plastering has started, and it actually looks now like a proper room! SO impressed! Next week will see the plastering finished and the double doors replaced. Then it's full steam ahead to get the painting done and kitchen fitted!
Wednesday 22nd September: Day 10
I'm so impressed with our builders - they're so productive, every day I go into the room to see what they've done and there's some huge difference!
Its not until I look at my last update to you guys that I realise truly how much has been done since then!
This week, so far (as I won't be able to update you until the end of next week now!) we have had the plumbing re-routed so it is hidden and doesn't need to be boxed in anywhere obvious. We've also had the door bricked up, the small window removed and the new kitchen window installed!
We stood in the window this morning looking out at the garden thinking how amazing it'll be to have such a lovely view when I'm doing the dishes, and hubs is 'supervising' hahahaha! He's so cheeky.
It looks so mad outside - when the kitchen was designed, the drawings didn't take into account the fact that the kitchen half comes out further into the garden than the dining room half does, so actually we realised we have far more space than we originally designed for, as the units by the new window will appear to be sunk back into the wall. Happy days! I'm slowly beginning to picture it in 6-7 weeks time!
Right now they're rerouting all the pipes and electrics so I'll get in there later for photos and my final update before I am on hiatus for a week ;)
xo
Sunday 20th September: Day 7
Our builders are only here Monday through Friday which gives us a nice break at the weekend for some downtime and peace and quiet, which I'm very grateful for!
It also gives me an opportunity to update you guys!
It's really hard to portray the size of the space in a photo, even a panoramic one. I've made another video below to show you :)
On Friday, they bricked up the driveway window. If you recall the plans, this is where the stove and extractor are going. They then studded all the walls ready for the plasterboard and plastering.
They've also removed the inner glass windows, and once the skip arrives and we have some more space out in the garden again, the outer ones are going, to make room for the new doors! They're going to fill the entire space once the wall is removed under those side windows.
So considering we're only one week into the work, so much has been done!! Next week sees the electrics and plumbing being sorted, and ideally by the end of the week they hope to have the new window installed and the door and window blocked in the kitchen, and the ceiling done in the kitchen. I'm on a course from the end of next week so week 3 will be updates from my husband :)
xo
Tuesday 15th September: Day 2
This morning, I walked into my bathroom and I gasped. I could see my kitchen through the floor. But instead of sheer panic, I breathed a sigh of relief - it's day 2 of the building work on the kitchen and it means that they're sorting out the plumbing!
I probably mentioned before, but this house is mega old. I will find out exactly how old, but basically my Grandparents who are now 80 bought it, when they had my Dad, for £2000. It used to be surrounded by farmland, until they built the dual-carriageway at the back of our houses in the 1920's.
So it goes without saying that it's been in need of this re-vamp for a while. If you watched the video on my previous post you'll remember how each room looked prior to the building work starting.
Well, here's how it stands as of today!
It's so funny looking back two years to when we first moved in. Looking at the dining room makes me chuckle, it was so old fashioned yet still had a lot of character. I noticed that I never got round to getting photos of the kitchen, and I think that was me unconsciously forgetting to because I didn't like how it looked.
So what have they done so far?
Well yesterday they ripped out the entire kitchen. It took a while and they took off the plaster, ceiling tiles, etc also.
Then today, they knocked down the wall that separates the rooms.
Originally, it was thought that the wall where the fridge was was a weight baring wall, so being taken down would mean an RSJ would be needed to add support to the ceiling and stop upstairs from becoming, well, downstairs!
As it happens, it turned out that even though it's a solid wall, it's not weight baring so we can get away with just putting an extra beam in instead, happy days!
Tomorrow is exciting - they're going to block up the existing kitchen door (interior) and make a start on blocking up the kitchen window spaces.
I have so much on at the moment with work [did I mention that I have an AWESOME new job?! I'll save it for it's own post, but I'm so happy!] that I will try and update you every week or so on what we've achieved! I just can't wait to post that it's all finished and show you all what can be done with an old, dated space :)
Saira xo
Today has been a big, BIG day!
It started off with 5 hours of work - I promise I'll tell you all about my new job just as soon as I've passed all my training! I was knackered but working from home today, so that was nice (and made 10x better by the constant cups of tea from hubby :) ).
The plastering is FINITO! The two rooms now properly look like one, and it's amazing to see. It was so hard to picture it at first, but gradually it's just come together and morphed into this incredible space.
We had a meeting with the kitchen designer to finalise our plans today. We changed a few small details - we picked out the exact flooring that we wanted (below), as well as deciding that we would sell our fridge freezer and get an integrated one instead (something that we are still apprehensive about as it means downgrading, and we love our water & ice dispenser!)
We also decided to go for the standard height wall units instead of the extra tall ones - we are both 5'6'' and realised that we would have really high shelves that would barely ever get used. The price difference was the price of the flooring so that was a no-brainer ;)
 |
| Revised design |
 |
| So odd to picture! |
 |
| Not long now! |
 |
| Flooring - light grey oak |
We've also been out buying a few extra bits - we decided to move the 'dining room' radiator from next to the doorway over to the wall between the alcoves, under where the TV will be mounted. We have a new radiator and radiator cover which I can't wait to put up and decorate with some frames and new pieces!
We also needed to decide on lighting - we originally wanted spots, but actually they are more trouble than they're worth, so we picked two matching spotlight bars from the current B&Q range (they've just started doing clubcards, sign up and get a £5 voucher for nothing!)
So we're looking at the kitchen being delivered by the end of next week, unless the manufacturers are able to speed along the order which they're going to try. The builders will be painting at the start of next week and using the time before the kitchen arrives to do things like the skirting, the radiator and those little fiddly bits.
We just sat in the room in shock earlier, unable to believe how fast everything's come together and how lucky we are to have been able to do this. We burnt a lot of the wood in the garden to save removal costs - perfect ending to a brisk Autumn day :)
xo
Saturday 3rd October: Day 20
I've been away on a training course for 8 days and only got home late last night - one of the first things I did was have a look at the kitchen progress, of course!! My husband has been keeping me up to date with what's been going on, when I've had a chance (it's been one intense week, let me tell you!)
So what's been going on? They've finished plaster boarding, the plastering has started, and it actually looks now like a proper room! SO impressed! Next week will see the plastering finished and the double doors replaced. Then it's full steam ahead to get the painting done and kitchen fitted!
Wednesday 22nd September: Day 10
I'm so impressed with our builders - they're so productive, every day I go into the room to see what they've done and there's some huge difference!
Its not until I look at my last update to you guys that I realise truly how much has been done since then!
This week, so far (as I won't be able to update you until the end of next week now!) we have had the plumbing re-routed so it is hidden and doesn't need to be boxed in anywhere obvious. We've also had the door bricked up, the small window removed and the new kitchen window installed!
We stood in the window this morning looking out at the garden thinking how amazing it'll be to have such a lovely view when I'm doing the dishes, and hubs is 'supervising' hahahaha! He's so cheeky.
It looks so mad outside - when the kitchen was designed, the drawings didn't take into account the fact that the kitchen half comes out further into the garden than the dining room half does, so actually we realised we have far more space than we originally designed for, as the units by the new window will appear to be sunk back into the wall. Happy days! I'm slowly beginning to picture it in 6-7 weeks time!
Right now they're rerouting all the pipes and electrics so I'll get in there later for photos and my final update before I am on hiatus for a week ;)
xo
Sunday 20th September: Day 7
Our builders are only here Monday through Friday which gives us a nice break at the weekend for some downtime and peace and quiet, which I'm very grateful for!
It also gives me an opportunity to update you guys!
  |
The kitchen door has been boarded and looking at it from the hallway side, I'm beginning to be able to envision the finished product. I'm looking for ideas to decorate it - let me know what you think would look good! There's a small mirror you can just see on the right, so I'd like to utilise the whole space instead - frames, mirrors? Thoughts!
Below,
you can see they've taken the ceiling off, so you can see the beams
(between which the electrics and plumbing runs), and that diagonal line
in the far top left side is the side of the stairs. We originally
thought this wall was holding them up but it turns out they're not, so
no RSJ needed :)
|
It's really hard to portray the size of the space in a photo, even a panoramic one. I've made another video below to show you :)
On Friday, they bricked up the driveway window. If you recall the plans, this is where the stove and extractor are going. They then studded all the walls ready for the plasterboard and plastering.
 |
| Wooden area on right is the old doorway now boarded up. |
They've also removed the inner glass windows, and once the skip arrives and we have some more space out in the garden again, the outer ones are going, to make room for the new doors! They're going to fill the entire space once the wall is removed under those side windows.
So considering we're only one week into the work, so much has been done!! Next week sees the electrics and plumbing being sorted, and ideally by the end of the week they hope to have the new window installed and the door and window blocked in the kitchen, and the ceiling done in the kitchen. I'm on a course from the end of next week so week 3 will be updates from my husband :)
xo
Tuesday 15th September: Day 2
This morning, I walked into my bathroom and I gasped. I could see my kitchen through the floor. But instead of sheer panic, I breathed a sigh of relief - it's day 2 of the building work on the kitchen and it means that they're sorting out the plumbing!
I probably mentioned before, but this house is mega old. I will find out exactly how old, but basically my Grandparents who are now 80 bought it, when they had my Dad, for £2000. It used to be surrounded by farmland, until they built the dual-carriageway at the back of our houses in the 1920's.
So it goes without saying that it's been in need of this re-vamp for a while. If you watched the video on my previous post you'll remember how each room looked prior to the building work starting.
Well, here's how it stands as of today!
It's so funny looking back two years to when we first moved in. Looking at the dining room makes me chuckle, it was so old fashioned yet still had a lot of character. I noticed that I never got round to getting photos of the kitchen, and I think that was me unconsciously forgetting to because I didn't like how it looked.
So what have they done so far?
Well yesterday they ripped out the entire kitchen. It took a while and they took off the plaster, ceiling tiles, etc also.
Then today, they knocked down the wall that separates the rooms.
Originally, it was thought that the wall where the fridge was was a weight baring wall, so being taken down would mean an RSJ would be needed to add support to the ceiling and stop upstairs from becoming, well, downstairs!
As it happens, it turned out that even though it's a solid wall, it's not weight baring so we can get away with just putting an extra beam in instead, happy days!
Tomorrow is exciting - they're going to block up the existing kitchen door (interior) and make a start on blocking up the kitchen window spaces.
I have so much on at the moment with work [did I mention that I have an AWESOME new job?! I'll save it for it's own post, but I'm so happy!] that I will try and update you every week or so on what we've achieved! I just can't wait to post that it's all finished and show you all what can be done with an old, dated space :)
Saira xo
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