Novice house renovators - wow what a year!

parisdisneyfan · 16 Oct 20, 01:52 PM

DH took today off to celebrate (? ) 1 year in the house! He is still a bit down about how little he feels we have achieved. I have refrained from saying it is because he hates making any decisions and instead just gritted my teeth and smiled and said yes we have and once it’s decorated you will realise what we have done. It was always a hard decision as to whether to do all of one type of job or do it room by room. Hopefully we did it the most cost effective way but it has meant that no rooms have been finished yet! However the views and area are just what we wanted, the house will come in time!

So what has happened this month – we have taken down next doors laburnum tree where it overhung our patio and conservatory as well as cutting back the jasmine. The conservatory is so much lighter now.

We also hope that the gutters won’t fill up with leaves so quickly now and that will be the solution to the leak into the conservatory. I cleared them out a couple of weeks ago when we had a major indoor water feature and they have been alright since then which was what prompted the removal of the branches. We had a sad occasion with a sparrow hawk attacking a pigeon and proceeding to pluck and eat it in front of our window.

That didn’t really bother us we are in the country after all. However when the hawk was spooked and took off we realised the pigeon was still alive! We left it for a couple of hours thinking the hawk would come back but then we called the RSPCA who said take it to the local vets. We boxed it up and took it there and I assume that they put it to sleep, can’t imagine they would have tried to save it. They did ask if I wanted to be informed what they had done for it but said no thank you, its not like I wanted it back if they had saved it.

As well as the sparrowhawk we have had pheasants regularly visiting and I also rescued a newt while clearing the greenhouse out.

Luckily there is a pond just up the lane so I took him up there! Our rose patch seems to like the cooler weather is is full of buds and blooms which I am picking for the house

Our local farmshop had a "goat" day and we decided to try some little chops as well as goat halloumi and butter. All were very nice and I will probably buy it again.

DS graduated with a zoom graduation which we all watched online. We are very proud of him. He also starts a 3 month temp data input contract on Monday working from home, hope our internet can cope with him and dh working from home!

We looked after our niece’s dog which we enjoyed. He seems to like coming here and enjoyed a walk and playing with boxes that I hid a treat in!

The decorator came round this morning and will be starting on Monday, a month later than he said but he is also going to have 3 or 4 people working on it and hopes to do the majority of the house in 4 weeks! As we haven’t finished the building work on our bedroom, the lounge and hallway he is just going to do the prep work for those rooms, so they will probably look worse than they do for a few months until we are ready to decorate. Thanks to Mr TM’s history knowledge we will be taking down all the battens above the windows and not replacing them which will make choosing and fitting the curtain rails easier. At present we have one room sort of empty which will be done first. We can then move the furniture around as necessary to get everything sorted as we would like it, well until the carpets are ordered and need to be fitted – then it will be everything out again

The kitchen plans are all finalised and have been submitted to building control. The inspector visited a couple of weeks ago with our builder and architect and he was unhappy with the wall we want to take out as it had previously had work done to it when our bedroom was added. Therefore we need to have a structural engineer’s report done. Apparently we will probably still be able to take the wall out but it will just need a bigger steel and cost more! Our builder still thinks it will only be a 6-8 week job. Actually think it will be quite nice to have it all done by spring next year and then can enjoy it all.

We started our year here with dh removing this horrendous bookcase on the half landing and he did some more demolition today! The wardrobes had annoyed me from the start with beading filling in gaps and squint doors! We have decided we like the space in the dressing room now and once it is replastered and decorated will just put a chair or small unit there instead of new wardrobes. Oops really thought I had a photo of them but turns out I don’t! However bad you think it looks now it was 10 times worse.

Hopefully will have some finished room pictures to post next month, keep safe everyone.

BarryandCaron · 16 Oct 20, 01:59 PM

That’s gone by so quickly! Love to read your updates 👍

**Michyloulou** · 17 Oct 20, 12:09 PM

Love a good home renovation. I feel for your husband, as 14 years since moving in & we’ve still got rooms that need decorating. Sometimes the work seems insurmountable, but it’ll be worth it in the end. The views you have are just stunning!

jdouds · 17 Oct 20, 02:25 PM

Hi the sparrow hawk is a bonus not a negative

parisdisneyfan · 17 Oct 20, 04:21 PM

Originally Posted by Michyloulou

Love a good home renovation. I feel for your husband, as 14 years since moving in & we’ve still got rooms that need decorating. Sometimes the work seems insurmountable, but it’ll be worth it in the end. The views you have are just stunning!

Gosh I feel for you, 14 months will be bad enough 😳

parisdisneyfan · 17 Oct 20, 04:24 PM

Originally Posted by jdouds

Hi the sparrow hawk is a bonus not a negative

Well you can tell how we feel as got the camera out instead of scaring it off😉. Wood pigeons are better than town ones and no problem with nature just didn’t like it flopping round the garden until it died!

16 Oct 20, 01:52 PM	#1
	16 Oct 20, 01:52 PM parisdisneyfan Imagineer
parisdisneyfan Imagineer Join Date: Feb 08	Novice house renovators - wow what a year! DH took today off to celebrate (? ) 1 year in the house! He is still a bit down about how little he feels we have achieved. I have refrained from saying it is because he hates making any decisions and instead just gritted my teeth and smiled and said yes we have and once it’s decorated you will realise what we have done. It was always a hard decision as to whether to do all of one type of job or do it room by room. Hopefully we did it the most cost effective way but it has meant that no rooms have been finished yet! However the views and area are just what we wanted, the house will come in time! So what has happened this month – we have taken down next doors laburnum tree where it overhung our patio and conservatory as well as cutting back the jasmine. The conservatory is so much lighter now. We also hope that the gutters won’t fill up with leaves so quickly now and that will be the solution to the leak into the conservatory. I cleared them out a couple of weeks ago when we had a major indoor water feature and they have been alright since then which was what prompted the removal of the branches. We had a sad occasion with a sparrow hawk attacking a pigeon and proceeding to pluck and eat it in front of our window. That didn’t really bother us we are in the country after all. However when the hawk was spooked and took off we realised the pigeon was still alive! We left it for a couple of hours thinking the hawk would come back but then we called the RSPCA who said take it to the local vets. We boxed it up and took it there and I assume that they put it to sleep, can’t imagine they would have tried to save it. They did ask if I wanted to be informed what they had done for it but said no thank you, its not like I wanted it back if they had saved it. As well as the sparrowhawk we have had pheasants regularly visiting and I also rescued a newt while clearing the greenhouse out. Luckily there is a pond just up the lane so I took him up there! Our rose patch seems to like the cooler weather is is full of buds and blooms which I am picking for the house Our local farmshop had a "goat" day and we decided to try some little chops as well as goat halloumi and butter. All were very nice and I will probably buy it again. DS graduated with a zoom graduation which we all watched online. We are very proud of him. He also starts a 3 month temp data input contract on Monday working from home, hope our internet can cope with him and dh working from home! We looked after our niece’s dog which we enjoyed. He seems to like coming here and enjoyed a walk and playing with boxes that I hid a treat in! The decorator came round this morning and will be starting on Monday, a month later than he said but he is also going to have 3 or 4 people working on it and hopes to do the majority of the house in 4 weeks! As we haven’t finished the building work on our bedroom, the lounge and hallway he is just going to do the prep work for those rooms, so they will probably look worse than they do for a few months until we are ready to decorate. Thanks to Mr TM’s history knowledge we will be taking down all the battens above the windows and not replacing them which will make choosing and fitting the curtain rails easier. At present we have one room sort of empty which will be done first. We can then move the furniture around as necessary to get everything sorted as we would like it, well until the carpets are ordered and need to be fitted – then it will be everything out again The kitchen plans are all finalised and have been submitted to building control. The inspector visited a couple of weeks ago with our builder and architect and he was unhappy with the wall we want to take out as it had previously had work done to it when our bedroom was added. Therefore we need to have a structural engineer’s report done. Apparently we will probably still be able to take the wall out but it will just need a bigger steel and cost more! Our builder still thinks it will only be a 6-8 week job. Actually think it will be quite nice to have it all done by spring next year and then can enjoy it all. We started our year here with dh removing this horrendous bookcase on the half landing and he did some more demolition today! The wardrobes had annoyed me from the start with beading filling in gaps and squint doors! We have decided we like the space in the dressing room now and once it is replastered and decorated will just put a chair or small unit there instead of new wardrobes. Oops really thought I had a photo of them but turns out I don’t! However bad you think it looks now it was 10 times worse. Hopefully will have some finished room pictures to post next month, keep safe everyone. __________________

16 Oct 20, 01:59 PM	#2
	16 Oct 20, 01:59 PM BarryandCaron Imagineer
BarryandCaron Imagineer Join Date: Jan 03 BarryandCaron's Reviews Hotel Reviews: 2 Restaurant Reviews: 1 theDIBB Guidebook Guidebook Photos: 15	That’s gone by so quickly! Love to read your updates 👍 __________________