I’m a little late in writing out this post – sorry! We’ve had the most perfect Christmas and New Year followed by a few days of holidays, and I’ve really tried to embrace being away from technology and spending time with my family. It’s been amazing. I can’t say I feel especially refreshed, but I feel a bit brighter and like I’m itching to get started on a new project in the house. I’ve got goals for the house in 2020!
Unfortunately for me, I have a huge tax bill due at the end of January. Once this is paid, I can start saving for the next job. That’s the trouble with not having a bottomless pit of money! Our renovation is taking place at a snails pace, but do you know what? I’m OK with that. This is our forever home, so if it takes forever to get it how we want, it doesn’t matter.
Last year we overhauled the bathroom and painted the kitchen as a short term fix. The whole house had a lick of paint and we panelled the bedroom wall.
This year I’m going to accomplish three jobs in the house (and hopefully more, but if I only say three it’s not that big a list).
Firstly the back wall of the house needs repointing. This is a rubbish job, and we’ve had some sky high quotes in for it as it’s quite labour intensive (and rubbish). It’s not an overly skilled job, so Mr R is going to tackle this with his builder friend on hand to give advice and help out. It’s a job for warmer weather though, so will have to wait until Spring for this.
In conjunction with this rubbish job, we need to resurface our back yard and install a french drain between the yard and the house so all the water from the wood runs away rather than soaking up into the stone. We’ve got damp on the back wall and installing a drain and a more permeable yard surface should help alleviate this. Some previous owners have made effectively a concrete ramp, which soaks up the water and draws it onto the wall of the house like a sponge. It doesn’t help that we get all the water from the wood at the back, or are so near the river (it’s why our cellar floods and we end up with frogs down there!).
This job also impacts on the big job number two, which is flooring in the kitchen. At the moment the damp on the back wall would ruin any wooden flooring we put down, so we need to wait until the damp is rectified before we can install flooring. I’m going to use parquet (perhaps reclaimed, if I can be bothered with cleaning it all up and it’s significantly cheaper!) throughout the kitchen and dining area, so will remove the existing quarry tiles. They’re not original to the house, so I have no qualms about that! This will hopefully make the room seem warmer and lighter. We currently have a temporary painted concrete floor which is, to be frank, ugly AF.
I’d also like to give our hallway a makeover. We started to panel the walls (by adding a dado rail) but need to finish this off, give it a lick of paint and get a new stair runner and landing carpet. I’ve got a Pinterest board full of inspiration for Victorian hallways, but can’t decide whether to leave the floorboards as they are or to tile the hallway with Victorian style mosaic tiles. More pinning required!
I also want to change all the door knobs, light switches, plug socket covers and radiators, and have the one in the lounge moved to the centre of the wall. Who would put a radiator off centre on the wall?!
So those are my plans for the house for 2020. I’ve got 12 months to make them happen, and now I’ve written them down I need to!
Have you got any goals for 2020?
Wow! A lot of work but the results is precious 🥰
Ah I never make house goals but after reading this I want to!
I like to make goals, but whether I stick to them or not is another matter! Have a great day 🙂
Home renovations can take a long time. And yikes, frogs and water all in your backyard. That doesn’t help at all. Our house was fully remodeled when we bought it so we don’t have much to do but we do have some things that started falling apart as if they were not put in correctly in the first place. At this point, we have not fixed any of it yet. Like you mentioned, saving for projects and not having enough money to do all the things all at once is real. Slow but sure you’ll get there. As it is your forever home you can decide how you want things to be done and attack them one step at a time. It’s good to have a friend who can help you out, too – we had one with our first fixer upper house. Super helpful!
Definitely! It’s a slow and steady approach that we’re taking, and it’ll all get done eventually 🙂 x
Hi!
Your home is so cozy with loads of potential. Here is the thing when you take your time to renovate it actually ends up being a masterpiece. Sadly we don’t all have pots of gold at the end of rainbows to steal from or all of our homes would have been posh..🤣so don’t sweat the small thing love..wait it out patiently if you must for now but in the end you will be stunned at the remarkable haven you created. Enjoy every bit of space which you work on. Thats where the excitement lies, in planning, messing up, re doing and finding the best look that works for you…best wishes! P.S If I had a million bucks I would have dropped it on your doorstep so you could create your little piece of heaven ASAP.
Ah thank you! Thanks for reading x
Those sound like great goals! You are so right that it is a forever home so you want it to be perfect for you. Good luck and can’t wait to see the end result of each product!
Ah thank you so much! X
Writing down your goals will make them real and add importance to them — and will help you get your renovations done bit by bit. Look forward to seeing the changes you’ll make!
That was my thinking behind the post – if I’ve written them down I’m halfway there! X
That’s a big list! I can’t wait to see the results! I have a home to do list too. My big one is a plant wall installment with lighting so I can have indoor herbs (and all my little plants) in one spot
A plant wall sounds amazing!