If you have done major house refurbishment - what worked well, and what do you wish you hadn't bothered to do?

[TheEternalOptimist]

We have bought a small terraced house in Scotland. It is in pretty good condition but does need a fair bit of work.

1. New windows - anyone got a recommendation?

1. New boiler - currently electric storage heaters. Possibly interested in wood burning stove in living room, and gas central heating

1. New flooring - real wood for living room and hall. Tiles for kitchen. Again looking for recommendations.

1. Bathroom and kitchen - any recommendations?

1. Remove wall between dining and living room, make one double door instead of 2 individual doors.

1. Garden - needs completely redone. I would like dry stone walls, but not sure if they are going to be really expensive.

One thing we were wondering about, is whether there are any kind of grants available when installing new windows/gas heating etc (energy saving).

We are hoping to do most of the work next year and then re-mortgage at some point to spread the costs.

If you have already done major work on your house - what do you regret? What works really well, and what was a waste of money?

Feel free to share bright ideas :o

oh, and solar panels - they seem quite expensive. Is it worth getting them?

Wrt to 2, will it mean that you will have to have wood burner on the whole time to gave hot water? Also, DH (plumber) put one of these systems in for a nightmare of a woman and she got the right hump that he had to use a whole load of wood to fire up the system to test it. Just saying!

Maybe whatever you system you go with, consider an electric towel drier in the bathroom.

And definitely go for underfloor heating in the kitchen and bathroom if tiling.

HTH!

Flossbert
From what I understand (and correct me if I am wrong) I have to decide on woodburner just to heat one room and look pretty and one that heats the rest of the house through radiators?

I am much too lazy to fire up a stove every day. We had an open fire in one of our houses, and I loved putting it on when it was cold outside. Don't want to have to do it to be able to shower!

1. Use local firm not one of the nationals. Don't even ask the nationals for a quote as you will never get them out of your house except by throwing them out of the windows.

1. Proper heating is masses better than storage. Get woodburner - great on cold evenings - but to supplement main gas CH/hot water system.

1. Worth spending the time on design & layout. Don't just say yes to the first idea suggested - get it so it works for you.

1. Ditto 4. Garden design isn't expensive and even the heavy work less than you might think. Am delighted with mine - but not local to you so cannot recommend person.

Idoit
we have lived in loads of houses over the years, so have a clear idea of what I want in the kitchen, but not how to fit it all in.

Good idea on the going local. I think local companies will be cheaper too, cause Scotland is less expensive.

Definitely get gch.

Garden - just don't get slate look stone flooring. It looks rubbish all the time.

Structural work worth doing. And removing walls not that expensive in the scheme of things but people get put off by the idea of it.

Not sure of the details - am sure it's possible to have separate cylinder for heating water or something, but it was just something that this particular client had insisted on, not realising how much of a faff it was to build a fire.

Get all the basics done to the best spec you can
A really good plasterer and decorator will change the whole feel/finish and it lasts a lot longer than DIY.
Don't compromise Wait! So if you really want something save rather than get the one thats ok as you always regret it.
Don't be afraid to contact local carpenter for a kitchen rather than high st
Decent wood stone carpet etc is always worth it rather than cheap/fake which will need replacing
Move out!

What is an upstand, Reality?

I love odd sized tiles for kitchen and hall.

DH is set on real wood floors, not laminate.

Wanky fridge - not sure about the size of the big wanky fridges, cause the kitchen is not huge.

We have a guy doing the bedrooms first, Noddy so will see how he does and if he is good then get him to do the downstairs.

May never move out once we have it how we want it.

Whereabouts in Scotland and the collective Mumsnet resource network can see if they have recommendations for glaziers/plasterers etc?

Don't get fitted fridge freezer. Huge regret of mine!

Downstairs loo - best thing we ever did with 3 small kids.

Do windows first, affects all the decoration. I'd go PVC. We got wooden, but more maintenance and more expensive.

Don't get porcelain tiles in bathroom, not worth it, but it is worth it for kitchen floor (very hardy). Lino in kitchen could also be an interim measure as putting down tiles isn't a job which makes a lot of mess and could be done in the future.

Can you sand floors as an interim measure as wooden flooring could be a lot.

I wish I'd put a bigger radiator/towel dryer in the bathroom as mine gets v cold in winter (and the towels don't really get 'warm', just get the edge taken off them).

Frivolous items not really worth the money: granite worktop, shutters instead of curtains. Still love them, though.

You used to be able to get money towards loft insulation - still costs around £200 even with the subsidy though. Definitely worth doing though as it should save money on heating bills and improve the energy rating of your house.

Solar panels are worth doing only if you have a south facing roof and are planning to live there a long while.

Eternal if you get it done properly at the start you can re do yourselves in future and get a good finish again.

I had real wood floors. Not solid - they were like laminate in structure, uniformity and ease of fitting, but had a thickish layer of oak on the top. The natural grain showed 'real', plus the wood was thick enough to sand if needed. They were beautiful.

An upstand is the little extra bit of worktop that goes against the wall, at right-angles to the work surface. It adds a quality look and improves hygiene. I love natural worktops, but wouldn't have them again. Stone shows every bloody mark, so does metal, and wood has to be vigorously rubbed with stinky fish oil! Plastic all the way in future :)

Garden - depends what you want, really. I've had great success with getting local brickies to create different levels, beds and seating areas. Use local 'stock' brick, second hand if you can find a source. I may have been just lucky, but found the guys to be full of brilliant ideas if I let them!

I only ever use wood and have never used any stinky fish oil ! I love oiling them therapeutic! Would get recycled glass otherwise it really looks beautiful.

I wouldn't scrimp on radiators at all - if in doubt, go for bigger. Especially in Scotland. Second plastic windows. The price differential's an absolute joke and, unless you're in a listed historic building, won't really notice (or rot!)

YY to old glass, Noddy :) Never been able to afford it, but would have a whole house made of it if I could!

I always put a proper rad in bathroom towel rails no good at all. Agree about removing walls etc big gain for not much outlay and although teh mess is a pain you can transform an average house into something special with just a little tweak.

Old glass what?

Have looked at that kind of flooring - hope I can persuade DH to go for that as alternative. Don't think we can sand down the floorboards.

Radiator for bathroom - my parents have similar house and the radiator is ok but not enough space for all towels.

There is a downstairs loo, and I am seriously considering having a shower installed. Will have to be v small shower.

We do hope to stay in the house quite some time, so want it done to good quality. Will have to rein in my DH cause he is one for going for top notch everything and we may run out of money if I let him.

Optimist, where are the stairs in your house? If they run up the middle, they eat space and light.

In one I renovated, we moved the stairs so they descended down the side wall instead, opposite the front door. We put a half-turn in so that we didn't have to move the top part. After knocking out all the connecting walls on the ground floor, the stairs were only slanted over about 4ft of the ceiling and we built a cupboard underneath.

My house now (rented) also has them. Next door has been cleverly altered without moving the stairs. They've removed the wall & door between the back room (to one side) and the stairs/lobby, put a beam over the missing wall and tiled the newly-opened room into the lobby area. It's only a gain of about 4ft, but makes the whole space feel much bigger.

Think about order of things. Get the basics right - electrics, boiler, wall removals first. If removing walls, make sure floor is level before fitting kitchen .

Live in it for a month or so, write down everything that annoys you with current layout (really think about location of sockets for example).

Tiles - wallandfloortilewarehouse.co.uk - send samples and very cheap

LOL at "wanky fridge" (sorry!)

We have a solid wood dining table and I oil it with olive oil. No smelly stuff here. Not sure about worktops. Mum has plastic and one of them has a chip right at the front of the worktop where it is difficult to hide.

Anyone know if you can get [[http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-give-your-wall-outlet-a-usb-upgrade-165394 this] kind of thing] here?

Is it an old house? Old column radiators dry a towel in minutes and then you can hang them up on a lovely peg rail. I hate wet towels can you tell? these