The Great Council House Transformation

[MmeLindor]

We have bought an ex council house. It is about 40 years old and has not been renovated at all. Kitchen, bathroom, heating, windows - all needing replaced.

We have a renovation budget of max £25k and really want to transform the house.

I think the kitchen will be Ikea, with posh sink and appliances

Bathroom - don't know but no built in units to keep costs down

Gas Central heating (most likely) after a lengthy MN discussion, and several weeks of putting jumpers on and taking them off we have seen the light - electric storage has to go. Quite like the sound of wood pellet, but DH not keen.

Electrics - electrician thinks we will need to rewire

I need help deciding on where to buy the bathroom, tiles, appliances and any advice on colours, decorating etc

We will be going with neutral colours, but I can't decide between going pure white walls or a very light grey.

Love the kitchen Tiz, may have to re visit the Ikea range.

When we ripped up the horrendous carpets we found 1963 newspapers (house built in 62') i have saved some to frame and pop up in the kitchen. It is nice to know only one family lived in our house before us they also had 3 boys of the exact same age gaps as mine. We bought off the youngest son who was retiring to his self build. the wallpapers in the living room were also fab took pictures of evey layer.

I never thought i would love my house so musch as originally saw it as a stop gap but have a feeling we will be here for a while.

Fire - the landing is.

Turn left at top of stairs and there is ds's room, turn left a bit more and there is dd's.

No clawing back any space there. The L shape is the only option we have.

Following this thread with interest - have looked at pinterest too Lindor, some great ideas!

Our house had had one owner too (built 1952) who had just papered, painted, papered for a half a century! So many types of wallpaper - none nice

We found newspaper stuffed in an airbrick, job pages listed as 'Male jobs' and 'Female jobs'

Before and after photos of bedroom Done in a week, although only half done at that point as we just needed one nice-ish room to retreat too whilst we tackled the rest of the house.

yeah we did the bedrooms first gutted and painted then carpet down. just had all downsatirs rewired and plastered so flooring to go down then kitchen. it has been a hard slog with 3 kids and 2 dogs.

Ours had a little coal room whose walls were removed to make a bigger kitchen which was still not really big, we moved the living room to the kitchen and made a huge kitchen dining area in the living room. We ended up with a lovely sunny kitchen and a very cosy living room with views over the garden once we turned door and wide window into a huge floor to ceiling window.

If the budget is limited the trick is to make the

... Place especial by playing with the lighting scheme.

Our coal room will become our utility one day...

We also moved rooms about, we knocked through from the kitchen to the lounge to create the new kitchen and the old dining room became the new lounge. Snug but as we have seating in the kitchen also we don't use it a great deal.

Do you know about the Green Deal? It's all about to be finalised but you may be able to borrow money for all sorts of eco solutions such as good windows, solar panels, insulation etc and it will be added to either your fuel bill or to your council tax bill. As I say it's not finalised yet but will be through very soon. Consider this before you do major renovations.

Board your loft out first so you don't chuck everything in it and can't do it later.

Consider your garden now as it's the messiest job if stuff needs to come through the house.

If you do your own kitchen go linear as it's so much easier to install a worktop that doesn't go round a slightly askew corner (they are all slightly askew). Build all the cabinets yourself, I did one every night and it was done in 2 weeks and I was very proud. (ahem.) You'll need to start a new thread for your kitchen anyway! Don't fall the the 'big name' appliances. Get the basics for now.

If you are putting in new heating, do consider removing rads and putting in underfloor heating. You will gain a huge amount of space and it could be low cost if you get some solar panels. If you go for the green deal you can include the cost of underfloor heating with the energy deal (whether groundsource heating or solar / airsource). A woodburner would give you enough cosiness if you want more direct heat.

Green Deal 28th January 2013

www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/gd_grnlight/gd_grnlight.aspx

I thought you lived in Germany, Lindor?

Ronette
follow away - I will follow back.

I don't think that the floorboards are decent enough to be on show. Might take the carpets up and have a look though.

We are lucky that we bought the house at a knock down price, but have to be realistic. If we spend more than our budget, it takes us over the value of the house.

Rhubarb
We are lucky that the bedrooms are good sized. There was a cupboard in DS's room that was taken out before we bought the house, which turned it from a v small room to good sized.

We've looked at Wren, Scarlett but they don't do the front that we want - we are looking for plain white non-gloss front. They were a good bit cheaper than Howdens, but more than Ikea.

Pofaced
He thinks that a plain gas boiler would be better for selling - if and when we sell. I like the idea that it is decorative and functional, and we had thought about a wood burning fire anyway.

Raindrop
Putty sounds interesting. Am going to look.

Biscuit
ooh, never knew that about Tesco. Thanks, will have a look at that.

Tiz
That is lovely - similar to what we want. Love the bedroom. Our house was only one previous owner. Must upload some pics

Jules
I know what you mean, but follow away. I will follow back. We'll get DH down to see our house when it is done and it will blow him away.

HerRoyal
the noise of laminate is what I am worried about

achillea
Green deal looks very interesting - I knew something along those lines was coming, but will have a closer look.

Underfloor heating def a no no. We have it in DH's flat in Germany and it horrible. The flat is either too hot or too cold. He is based here and me and the DC are in Scotland.

Decent appliances in kitchen - must be Bosch, Siemens, AEG or Miele ... Made in Germany, like DH and the DC :)

Garden can be done without coming through house, and will only be done if we have money left.

The Green Deal thingy is interesting. We've got an ancient old back boiler (and a vile gas fire fronting it). We can't afford to replace the boiler, and it works and they are apparently very very reliable if a bit inefficient. I could like with the boiler, even though I haven't got a clue how to work it. But the hideous gas fire I would be overjoyed to see gone. It's the exact same on that is in every single Homes Under the Hammer before they get sold at auction

achillea so were your units flat packed?

Sorry mmeLindor I'm being no help, I've got loads of questions but nothing constructive to add

I hate it. I don't think it can be disguised. To replace it with one that is only very marginally better looking is £££. I think until we get a new boiler we're stuck with it

ronette
Don't be daft - it is interesting to hear other's experiences.

added some photos here

Ah your photos have reminded me I need to check ebay for 4 panel doors. We have original doors upstairs but have two doors downstairs that are cheapo replacements.

Your doors are lovely!

Now I'm not one to recommend other forums obvs but I've seen very helpful comments on kitchen layouts on loneysavingexpert, on the DIY section. Things I'd never have thought of in a million years

Snap tiz. I've got a few on my watch list on eBay currently £20. We need one downstairs. Upstairs we've got nice 'period' ones

Never thought of eBay - will have a look

I love the doors, they were expensive but totally worth it.

Have put more photos on. Just noticed how untidy the house was, and how often the dog sneaked into the photos

Where are your doors from? Do they do a non-glazed version?

Snap tiz. I've got a few on my watch list on eBay currently £20. We need one downstairs. Upstairs we've got nice 'period' ones

They are from Howdens. Yes, we have non glazed for the cupboard in the bathroom where the washing machine and drier will go.

They are lovely.

Just joining you all.......Tiz Love your kitchen - Really £300 sounds amazing for your counter tops - where or what sort of place did you source those?!!! Looks great so far. Had an ex council flat once and I loved it.

what a great space, makes total sense the corner window in the kitchen would give you so much light and a contempary twist.

Mine is a south facing mid terrace so front door in middle with kitchen/diner on one side lounge front to back on the other. Stairs in the middle Master bedroom and bathroom one side, 2 smaller bedrooms other side.

Putty has worked really well beacuse the house is south facing and we get the sun all day it is a bright space so Putty softens the glare which could be quite cold with white.

i am desperate for a porch but have yet to see anythign i like want it to have the same efect your corner window would. contempary twist but needs to fit. hard one.

Worktops came from worktop express which I'd seen recommended on another forum. Our layout means no joints and we did all the cut outs ourselves - nerve wracking!

Rain
Sadly the corner window looks like it will be too expensive. We are looking into keeping right hand window and putting glass blocks on left wall - the porch would be outside that wall so would let in light.

Kitchen is being replanned - again - we considered a range but changed our minds. Going for induction and chest high oven.