Making a House a Home – Our New House
- March 31st, 2010
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The market has been steady and consistently still lately, there may be signs of it picking up. I want to show you our new house and tell you a little bit how to transform a house into a home.
We bought this in March 2010 and anticipate getting the keys by May 2010, where work will commence. We are currently waiting for the survey results but already think we know the full extent of what needs doing. On first inspection of the property I was put off by the house, dont ask me why I just didnt like it! this wasnt the opinion of my girlfriend who absolutely loved it at first sight. Wanting to start off on the right foot with my girlfriend I took her opinion on board and being the true gent I said we should go and see it because she wanted to.
After viewing the house I felt even stronger about the fact that I didnt like it. However being inspired by my girlfriend and taking the time to actually think of the potential of this place we would be fools not to take this house on. Note to self one of the big mistakes people make is to take the house at face value and not think wide enough to what it could be and how you can see yourself there when it is exactly how you want it, all for a bit of hard work!
At the moment the front of the house has a concrete path and driveway which we intend to take out and make it a bit more attractive and give it a bit more curb appeal. Our ideas are to go for a more country cottage style house with warm, classy features. On the front we intend to knock down the block wall and go for something like below but higher, I think the old rustic railway sleepers make a good effect in the garden and would cap off the end of the drive well, gravel in front where the cars are going to be would again be more appealing. An idea here is to also incorporate some nice lighting (LED) within the sleepers to supply light to the path and stone steps that will take you from the drive up to the house itself.
Our intention with the back garden is to build a log store as we are going to have a multifuel burner in the living room with logs stacked either side of the burner in the recess with a nice solid oak beam above the stove that stretches nearly the length of the chimney breast, similar to the below image.
Other improvements that we intend to do for ourselves when we live there and to add value are:
Rewiring
New Boiler and Heating System (Worcester Boiler due to reliability, and possible 10 year gaurantee that is now offered)
New Carpet throughout
New Plastering in places
Rip out old kitchen and replace with new kitchen suite including Belfast Sink
Kitchen work includes ripping out old pantry and creating another 6.7ft x 4.6 ft of space for 2 seater sofa/chair, we also intend to make a feature wall here by leaving exposed brickwork and adding an oak beam midway up the wall
Breakfast area in kitchen to also have new flooring throughout and 6 seater wooden table and chair set
New bathroom suite
Add a downstairs toilet under the staircase which will be accessible straight off the hallway
New faciers and soffits
Joinery work will include, all new doors, frames & skirting boards
General decorating will include paper and paint throughout
External work will include work described above for the front garden including a dividing fence on each side to modernise the front space and add privacy. We are also going to create off road parking for 2 cars, which will really add appeal and value to this house.
Rear garden will house a shed, veg patch for that cottage feel and because there is nothing better than ‘growing your own’! we will also build a pagola and seating area at the top of the garden, the slabbed patio near the house (at the back) will just need a quick pressure wash to clean up the sandstone slabs, this should be a really nice space for entertaining, bbq’s and just relaxing in the peace and quite, if we’re lucky we should be able to see the fields too for that country view!
I hope to get some pictures up here of the actual work that takes place, some befores and afters too and all the tips and thing to watch out for when doing certain works, i.e installing kitchens, bathrooms, oak beams, log burners, heating systems, boilers, radiators, plastering, laying carpets, rewiring etc…..
