Diary of a house renovation in Scotland (month 1)
Question 1
What parts of the house have you been renovating this month?
Main Bedroom – painted walls-(3 coats to cover bad pink stripped wallpaper) We painted the wall behind the bed in a suede effect paint (Crown £19.99 2.5l) -tan colour and remaining 3 walls neutral cream colour. (B&Q own brand) Replaced brown shag pile carpet with oatmeal coloured carpet 100% wool very soft underfoot and only £139 from ‘Carpet-right’.
Installed new UPVC window. Removed old curtain & fixing’s put up new curtain & fittings (laughing plaster walls which is always good fun to work with) I put glow in the dark stars on the ceiling that we picked up for $5 dollars at Chicago planetarium (silly but fun, small reminder of our hol!) I am planning to make a long narrow bench for the end of the bed and I’m going to try and clad the top in leather. I plan to make a patchwork effect with the leather scouring charity shops for cheap leather clothing that I can use. I am planning to use railway sleepers or similar for a rustic edge and any in-perfection’s in my wood working skills (which are almost non-existent) can be called – rustic effect!!
Living-room – Installed new UPVC windows, stained wood surround on windows (Ronseal Walnut varnish.) Had coal fire replaced. Painted walls, (4 coats this time) painted ceiling (3 coats to hide smoke yellow colour), glossed cornicing/doors/skirting boards. Brought up door handles using coke-cola (great for brass) The door handles are black with an ornate rose centre in each (original Victorian as with the doors) The carpet goes down this weekend (02/10/04) same carpet as the bedroom.
Cleaning tip: Use coca cola for cleaning brass. Use coca cola for cleaning brass.
The electrician is coming this weekend also to replace the live, unearthed light fitting in the ceiling. We can’t touch it as it has a live wire running down the centre of the light fitting and connects with the metal rim of the lamp. We haven’t found the perfect light fitting for the living-room so will put up a basic up-lighter shade until we can find something we really love. Still scouring the internet/local shops. Looking for something to tie in leather & wood which is the main materials in the living-room.
New curtains which had to be custom made due to the drop, we have picked a cream square pattern with brushed-chrome eyelet tops to add a slight modern twist, they were £209, fully lined, from ‘Remnant Kings, Harbour Rd) Still hunting for tie backs / hold backs that we really like.
Question 2
Have the areas you’ve finished so find come out as you planned or did you have to make modifications along the way?
We had never planned on installing new double glazing so this put back our schedule slightly as we couldn’t paint until they had finished. We had to purchase new double glazing as the previous windows were double glazed but very old, very draughty and let in a lot of noise. Living near town centre this was a big issue for sleeping!
The bedroom has turned out better than I expected, I find it a very warm tranquil space, lots of warm wood and soft colours. It’s a great place to escape the remainder of the house to. The suede effect paint didn’t turn out as good as I’d hoped it’s a bit flat on the texture side I had expected slightly more. I don’t think I would buy ready made textured paint again instead using sharp sand I would mix my own to achieve greater texture.
Decorating tip: Play sand is very good for creating texture in paint. Try the early learning center for small bags.
Question 3
Have there been any major difficulties or did anything take much longer to do than you anticipated?
There have been no major difficulties as such so far, but saying that the gas fire that was installed in the dining room is still not completed. The black marble for the surround arrived at the store and had not been sanded to smooth the edges, we are still awaiting this 6 weeks later but thankfully it isn’t a problem as we are not working on the dining room.
We only have the weekends for painting (natural light) as it is starting to get dark by the time we both finish work (Scottish Highlands for you) natural light shows all the parts that you have missed better. The living-room took 2 weekends which was good going as we expected it to take longer to cover the wallpaper!
My Dad is a carpet fitter so I am ever so grateful for when he can fit us in so I don’t have a schedule for getting the flooring done. ( Thanks Dad! )
Question 4
Any hidden surprises, like things hidden under layers of wallpaper?
The 2 rooms (Bed-room & living-room) have had the wallpaper professionally fitted previously so we have been lucky in that we can paint straight on top of what was there. The wallpaper covering the bedroom floor underneath the carpet was a little bit of a surprise and the newspaper page 3 girls that line our loft is very funny – they are from the 70’s!!
Question 5
How’s the budget going, any unexpected costs or savings?
Double glazing! £2150 that we hadn’t planned to spend. This took up our contingency and a lot more. The whole budget was only £7k. We definitely needed it though for noise & draught reduction.
The bathroom will now have to wait until after Xmas. We plan to install an electric shower still but leave the rest of the bathroom, tiling, flooring, re-enamelling bath, removing partial wall & furnishing’s will all have to wait. To replace our mixer shower with an electric shower we have to get the 10mm cable from the bathroom to the front door (25m of cable) where the electric’s panel is situated. This is costing £85 (Screwfix direct.com) for all the parts alone, we then have to purchase a shower on top of this, but the current mixer is very poor, I think I would get a better wash in the kitchen sink! I have a glass shower screen that was given to me free of charge which we’ll also install. The shower screen is very good for the budget!
The total cost of paint was what we expected, we splashed out a little on the suede effect but made up for it using B&Q own brand for the remainder of the bedroom, the living-room colour is paint we have previously used and knew what the cost was. The curtains came in under budget, I had expected to pay a lot more for the size of them, we had priced them on the internet and found them cheaper in a local store which is unusual as it is usually the other way round. The carpets came in slightly under budget also as it was 10% off month when we purchased them. But what we saved there might have to buy my Dad a present for his help to date and to come!
Question 6
What are you going to tackle next?
Possibly the 2nd bedroom, this has a smaller amount of work to be done. The wallpaper was again professionally fitted and is not too bad (ie not 70’s) it is a lilac colour and almost plain. It is not our choice of colour but as we are trying to salvage the budget it would be a shame to replace immediately. The carpet needs replacing and this will be the same as main bedroom and living-room. We are having the same carpet through-out to add to the flow of the house. The sliding doors above the fitted wardrobe need replaced as does the airing cupboard door and we have not yet decided what we would like. They are currently a veneered wood which is not a good colour and they weren’t made very well so don’t open/close well. Possibly a slat door for the siring cupboard to add a touch of soft wood to the room to match the wood window surround which we’ll clear gloss to protect.
Special thanks to Peter for his help with the photography.
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