Renovations: An Update

Friends who’ve visited our house have commented on how it looks almost complete now but I feel like there will be at least another year to go when it comes to our renovation plans and even more when we finally extend from 4 to 6 bedrooms at some point.

I wanted to share an update here as it’s felt like such a long time since I’ve even mentioned our forever home: what we’ve achieved to-date and what exactly is pending. I’m so busy with three children of different ages and everything they need from me, work, a school book tour and truthfully trying to retain the remaining threads of sanity I have left, that the house has taken a back seat in my list of priorities. It’s climbing back though as we have more work planned over the festive break. 

So far, the entire house has been painted in mostly rose, lilac and cream (yes I owe gratitude to my husband for begrudgingly agreeing to my colour scheme), the kitchen re-tiled, solid oak floors installed downstairs, cream carpets upstairs and a more robust carpet for the stairs (I’m already regretting the cream carpets, even with the shoes off rule). The exterior brick of the house, and roof was professionally cleaned along with the gutters and our garage gym conversion is halfway there! There is however lots pending, which I’ve listed below (more for me than you)!

1. Our garden envelops the house with an orchard comprising of pear, apple and plum trees but it requires a complete makeover: new gates, fences, paving, pulling the patio right back, hedges, and fixing the area where there’s either a vast sunken dining area or abandoned pool we discovered which needs boarding up and covering with grass. There’s room to add an outdoor pool on one of the sides but the husband is rightly cautious as it’s a lot of work and expense for only a few months usage a year. We were both lucky to grow up with pools (him, an outdoor pool as he lived in a hot climate, me, an indoor one) but we both know the energy it takes with upkeep and keeping it safe. 
2. Paintings, mirrors and framed photos need to go up on all of the walls as only a few are up and we require brackets for our TVs too (opting for a 55 inch tv bracket for the lounge) which are currently all on tripod style legs. This will expose the pretty fireplace in the lounge, limit clutter and will ensure the house feels more polished. We also have sliding doors which need fixing between the lounge and dining rooms now the rooms are painted.
3. The upstairs has a bathroom with a bath and sink, and then across a small landing, there’s a shower room with toilet. Both of these, and the downstairs loo could do with touch ups whether that’s a declutter, or more structural changes respectively. 
4. A new kitchen. Whilst the white tiles are in, we are either going to opt for a completely new kitchen or perhaps just new table tops and cupboards, and ditto with our utility room. The cupboards in there require a repaint and new door knobs. I would ideally like to replace the old fashioned (not in a good way) doors in the kitchen and utility room too. A wooden recycling area to hide our current plastic bins is in the works too. 
5. Painting the insides of clothes cupboards. Whilst these were scrubbed clean, I would like them painted on the inside too but it’s one of those niggly jobs we never got around to having done. 
6. Electric gates outside the house. Potentially a new drive and large hedges surrounding our house as aforementioned for greater privacy. 
7. Long curtains in the lounge. We have brilliant sets of blinds but I would like some swooping curtains in the lounge for elegance and a touch of drama. My husband would disagree, ha. 
8. A big declutter. Whilst I’m pretty organised day to day (I hate mess), we still need to go through storage items missed in the unpacking/ currently residing in the garage. We also have a large granite table in storage which needs to relocate into the lounge and we require 6 new chairs to suit its style. I’m hoping to tackle all of this over the Christmas holidays. Wish me luck!