A very simple before and after. The windowsills in all the rooms were tiled, so cold and drab looking, a simple bit of wood as you can see here made all the difference we repeated this in all the but bathroom and Kitchen as the kitchen.
Photo 1 - Before
Photo 2 - After
Photo 1 - The goods for the house starting to arrive, filling it up very quickly but giving me great fun wheeling over bubble wrap making machine gun sounds affects…
Photo 2 - The plugs started to look neater as the plaster had all set over our Christmas holiday.
Photo 3 - We had regular dinners in the local pub, The Cock which is brilliant and I have made good friends with the land lady, her daughter and Pixie the dog….
Photo 4 - The light socket moving still needed some tlc…
even a simple thing like putting the blinds up which was as much for security as to get them out the way and make more building/mess making space, anyway it made a huge difference and started to make the place feel warm.
Note it was icy cold, the only heat at this time was one little electric plug in heater in the kitchen as the old storage heaters had been removed and the new heating system would turn out to be one of the last things fitted.
the 3rd step seemed to be to destroy the house even more, as well hammed and smashed walls to rewire the lights and plugs, we lowered the lighting switches and raised and tripled the amount of electrical sockets, it would all make living much easier, however for a while it was rather sad watching the place look worse rather than better. Thing about doing it all now was that all the wires would disappear as the new floor would eventually be laid and raised two inches with extra insulation. I learnt a lot about wiring and plastering during this stage of the process and also that a simple wire clothes hook is a very useful DIY tool!
2nd step this was rather boring to me as I could not see any work being done and though I benefit as I gain a huge storage space and I sure have lot’s of stuff I will never be able to go up here.
My dad spent 2-3 days boarding out and putting electrics and lights up into the attic so I know have a giant and safe storage space above my head.
1st step take out the old giant night storage heaters and eventually with the work will come a new wireless thermostat system and electric heaters, hopefully making the place warmer and most green as well as cost efficient. People may wonder why I did not put in central heating, simple answer there is no gas in Headley!
Photo 1 = the hallway as it looked when I got the keys to the property with its massive old storage heater and horrible brown doors that made it all dark.
Photo 2 = My Library, which for a long time during the DIY process was the tool and junk room, I could not get into it very often at all, as you can see its pretty small so was no good to keep as possible spare room and thus my library idea was born.
Photo 3 = I was looking round homebase (another UK chain DIY store) and found this amazing Bamboo solid wood flooring at 60% off and at that point I knew it was my lucky day and had found the floor for the rest of the house (i say rest as I had already found my kitchen floor at this point). It was going to be great to have a wood floor rather than carpet and no longer feel like I was wheeling around on mud all the time.
Photo 4 = This is my kitchen floor choice, Cath Kidson Cowboy tiles that are amazing and fitted 100% with my idea of turning or trying to turn my kitchen in a retro American diner feel, and also they are just all round great and very me, so even though they were not cheap I had to have them, to make the edges of the kitchen look better we created a panel around the edge and for that I found these cool metal looking tiles that fitted the theme
Photo 5 = Test paint and paper for the Lounge
Photo 6= Test colour for the Kitchen
Photo 7 = Bedroom testing, I went with the light shade on the right as it was softer for a cosy bedroom feel.
Then came a trip to Ikea, where I found 1st - a great shelving system that if i bought two and stacked them on top of each other would take not only general bits and pieces but fit my record collection in perfectly so it could now be on display and easy to locate. 2nd - i stumbled upon this dressing table and new I somehow had to fit it into my bedroom design, I have wanted a dressing table since my dolls house had one as a child (the middle folds up as a mirror with space for your make up under it, and also when flat down can be used as extra desk space. 3rd - and last I found this lamp and new it would be perfect in my lounge which by now was going to be a lounge/cinema style surround sound system room experience.
Before I had even signed the contracts on the bungalow I had already started plotting it out in my head. Decoration, placement of things, having a clean out, new things all sorts…
I took a trip to B&Q (UK DIY store) and within a few minutes I had the wallpapers for feature walls chosen, strips of different colour paints and shades and also a lamp shade.
I took some spamples and photo’s sat in the cafe, got a coffee and starting plotting things out on paper and making “to do” lists…
Photo 1 = Lampshade for the Libaray
Photo 2 = Wallpaper for the Lounge
Photo 3 = Wallpaper for the Bedroom
Photo 4 = Wallpaper for the Library (I should state its probably called a box room, or large wardrobe to many, but I instantly saw the space as storage for my many and growing books and films as well as just enough room for a comfy chair, thus is became my Library, don’t go thinking the place is that big)
I took these on my first veiwing of the property. I fell in love right away, even though it was a dirty shell of a place, I could see potentical. It had a homey feeling to it. It felt safe. It was bright even on a dull wet day. Even through the dirt I could tell it was going to help improve my life and that I could with help turn this dirty shell into a happy home.
Photo 1 = The Kitchen
Photo 2 = The Bathroom (the only room to be still waiting for its big change now)
Photo 3 = The lounge that I knew I would turn into my bedroom
Photo 4 = The bedroom that I knew I would make my lounge
