Support thread for House Renovators/DIYers

[LPlateFlyer]

Was wondering if anyone wanted to join me in a support thread for all of us doing lots of renovating, odd jobs, diy etc. This can be somewhere we can do some well deserved bragging on a job well done!

I have sooooo much DIY that needs to get done.

I almost finished the downstairs loo yesterday. All that needs to be done is a second coat of paint on the door and a towel rail and toilet roll holder to be put up.

Yesterday's Tada list:
Painted skirtings in loo 2x coats
Painted door frame in loo 2x coats
Painted door in loo 1 x coat
Put together and installed a small bathroom cabinet

I'm about to start putting together an Ikea book case so that I can get some of the books out of storage!

Can I join please. I seem to fi your criteria of being a house renovator and DIYer.

3 bed semi which was last totally renovated (by me) 23 years ago and now needs doing again. I know every inch of the place intimately now.

Have completed hall stairs and landing - painted walls and woodwork and recarpetted. Just have loft hatch to gloss).

Have also completed Living room - engineered oak floors, painted walls and woodwork, renewed all furnishings.

Now moved onto the kitchen / utility adjoining, which runs the length of the back of the house. 3 sets of doors into this room which were varnished in mahogany varnish and are going to be brilliant white. So far each as had 4 coats of undercoat and are only now ready to gloss. Have painted utility ceiling and half the walls. Reckon I have another day's worth of undercoating, one day of wall emulsioning and one day of kitchen ceiling emulsioning left to go. Am waiting for quotations for new kitchen. Also need new flooring in utility as laminate has got wet over the years and is lifting. I want to tile it (15 sq metres).

When that's finished I'll do the porch (tiny) and downstairs will be complete. Then I'll move onto the big elephant in the room - the bathroom. I really DO NOT want to do the bathroom.

We've continued hacking back the jungle around the house. I've scrubbed as much of he graffeti off as I can and this weekend we'll be applying basecoat to get rid of the orange and graffiti covered walls. I've been filling the million holes.left when our vendors took out all their picture hooks. Need to sand over to make sure its all smooth to crack on with tomorrow

Nearly ran out of oil this week so given the amount the aga guzzles we're 99% sure that we'll get rid of it on the spring and re do the kitchen. We hadn't intended to do it so soon but 'should' be fairly easy as we just want one run of base units and an island ad we already have a walk in larder and a Welsh dresser.

But big problem is heating in the kitchen once yhe aga has gone....

Hi wetaugust

you're very welcome! We are in a relatively new-build (less than twenty years old, gulp), wanted a period property but this one is huge and in just the right location for us so we compromised: I'm in the middle of a million small jobs which will probably take 23 years to complete! We've got three youngish DC so it's slow work but the whole place is fine to live in so no rush....

Room for another one?

I am not any good at DIY. I am renovating though. I am working on my list of priorities.

There's always room for another Rose!

Wish I was just directing

Hello all, and welcome WetAugust and RoseFlowerFairy.

Just had BIL finish the electrics in DDs room, so we can now crack on with it in the evenings as we have light. DH is just masking the walls so he can paint the skirting boards while I finish off the last coat of the built in cupboard this evening. I've been exhausted this week, so very little done otherwise. I still need to cut up the mdf for the bed, but at least we're nearly finished with the actual room. If we manage to get the woodwork finished tonight, we might be able to get the carpet in next weekend.

hinky, is it a big kitchen? Ours is fairly tiny, so we didn't bother heating it. It only has one outside wall, and is always a fairly nice temp, unless the entire house is freezing cold.

Liara, it will be a smallish patio, just enough for a seating area to eat outside. I think we'll ask our gardener if he'd be interested in digging it for us, would be money well spent.

Well that's the last of the undercoating done and 2 of the 4 doors have been glossed both sides - quite pleased with progress today.

Deserve (have earned) a night off (rather than emulsioning kitchen ceiling as planned)

Have awarded myself a

Kitchen is ridonculously large 8m by 4.5m with 3 external walls with 2 external doors (which rattle like fuck) and buckets of windows too.

Basecoat on graffetti room 1 walls today so they are a bit better but some shows through so we'll either have to do more coats or something else that covers it up. curtain rail up in spare room as sil coming to stay next week.

Atrocious behaviour from ds' today so feeling pretty pissed off about that needed me thinks

I covet the size of your kitchen Hinky

When I was doing up the house after we moved in I had trouble covering black gloss paint on DS's bedroom wall and used oil based undercoat then emulsion. Worked very successfully.

Who on earth allows their kid to paint their bedroom walls gloss black?

Well done to everyone for what they've achieved so far! Recently moved to a 'project' 1960's house. Got architects coming round this week to give us ideas, but we know.

New boiler and central heating
New windows
Decorate EVERY room
Hack garden back and change where driveway is
Extension for kitchen / diner
Eventually a new oak/glass staircase

Going to take about 5 years we reckon!!

We did some of the garden today, and tidied up. Still trying to put boxes away after the move. Any advice on where to start? Or good places for windows? I'm thinking I'd like aluminium frames, nd also a megaflow boiler. Anyone have experience of those?

Ni idea re windows I'm afraid or where to start. I guess new boiler before winter if poss so you don't get stuck in snowy weather with no heating.

Hmm looks like the aga is packing up. It's core temp is well down and still eating oil. Will be moving up the new kitchen up the to do list. But got to get some boring urgent roof and window quotes ASAP so we know the budget for the rest.

The painting is finished! Just need to get the carpet in, then the furniture, make the bed and curtains, and move all DDs stuff in. Hooray!

Carpet is now in, so I have a bed, wardrobe and shelving unit to make up. So glad we're nearly finished! How is everyone else getting on?

Dear god, I'm tired just reading this thread. I'd like to join, but I'm not nearly as good at getting it all done as you all seem to be!! I will have to do the bulk of my work either during school hours (between 3 school runs) or at night after the DCs go to bed.

But I have tons to do. I've already started, having put down some flooring in the downstairs bathroom.

waves

Bought our first home a few months ago; previously occupied since new by elderly couple, who appeared to have had no work carried out since.

• Knock down kitchen pantry wall to extend kitchen (currently is an L shape, this will make it a nice big square shape) as pantry is near useless
• Replace all internal doors - 12 of the buggers
• Electrician to repair two fans, and remove two light fittings in WC and bathroom which have weird heat fan things on them
• Replace floorboards upstairs
• Decorate x a million
• New kitchen
• New bathroom (currently a grey shower room)

Theres probably tons more, but that is making my eyes water already

oh and they'd glossed some of the walls and ALL of the ceilings

They glossed the ceilings?!? DH has just said that he hopes they're not artexed.

Out of all the jobs you've listed, that's the bit that I'd hate to have to deal with! :( Slightly jealous of your pantry removal / kitchen extenstion. Our kitchen is pokey, and has a tiny pantry in the hallway, which we've had to store the fridge in.

As for replacing the internal doors, at least if you're replacing you won't have to sand down the existing ones? I seem to have developed a serious aversion to sanding down gloss paint! Must be because this house has so much flipping woodwork in it.

One last trip out to B&Q needed for DDs bed room, as the new runners don't fit the curtain rail, so we either need bigger runners or a new rail. Then just got to fix the wardrobe to the wall, put a light bulb in the flower light over her bed, and make the bed up! We got all the flat pack made up (bed, wardrobe and drawers, shelving unit) got the under bed lighting in, the wall stickers up, and the flower light fitted. I still haven't managed to find time to finish cutting out the MDF to turn the bed into a castle, but I'm hoping we might get that done this afternoon.

Hello everyone! And welcome!

I can go one better than gloss paint on ceilings - we had silver paint.

Yes. Silver paint on the ceiling.

The worst of it is that it was a beautiful, old, traditional wood and plaster ceiling. So we had to paint strip the whole thing, then paint the plaster bits white and then limewash it all. Took days, just for one bedroom.

We've been doing yet more work on the garden, trying to get everything set up for autumn planting. One bedroom and bathroom got finally finished, literally the day before guests arrived to stay there! Still have to make curtains for it, that's coming this week.

Have also built another pantry, as the one we had was too small for the millions of preserves we are in the middle of preparing. Finished plastering the walls today and have laid the floor. Now it only has to dry for 4 weeks..... Then I'll be able to have everything nice and tidy!

Hiya all, I have finally started a minor clear-up job on the family bathroom: sealanting the edge of the laminate where it was unsealed and with an untidy inch-wide gap at the side opposite the bath

Pantry envy! Our kitchen re-do is on hold til next year so we can save to upgrade some of our appliances at the same time... Would love a full size pantry but it would never fit!

How's everyone else doing?

Going well here. DDs room is done, but still not made her bed into a castle. That's a project for mat leave. The nursery wall hole is fixed, sanded and repainted. It looks nice, so we don't have to repaint the whole room. New curtain rail is up in the landing, cot is built, and almost all the toys and clothes have been sorted out. Still need to finish putting the storage into the conservatory and dining room, then I think we'll stop for a bit and plan the next project.

Right have three days off work with the children in full day childcare and the aim is to paint the boys bedrooms. One already has graffiti scrubbed off and a layer of base coat. The other has graffiti, blutack, holes and general crap to sort before I can even get a base coat on the walls oh and its currently orange...

Should be enough time to do though I have delusions of having enough time to get out in the garden ad well to continue the discovery of the kitchen garden which is massive and has been overcome by nettles and brambles which are so thick people don't believe there is a greenhouse in there.

Good luck hinky, hope the weather stays dry for you. And perhaps pours down once the greenhouse is revealed so it gets a good wash down!

Ooh can I join in? You're all so inspiring with how much you are managing to achieve!

We bought our lovely old house 2 years ago. It was totally 80-fied with Artex ceilings everywhere and wood chip pattern wallpaper, new bathroom but with a hideous p shaped whirlpool bath and tiled floor to ceiling, kitchen is liveable do we are focusing on the rest of the house. Luckily it had been well up kept, although it has had a large conservatory added that is open plan to the kitchen, an arch door to the rear reception also open plan to the kitchen (so we freeze in winter!) and original door blocked up. My plan is to reinstate the original door and block up the arch to give us winter heat.

So far we have decorated 2 bedrooms (harder than sounds as walls needed a lot of work), renovated the hall (looks amazing!) and redecorated front reception after treating for woodworm and replacing floorboards ;( we've also fitted a woodburner.

We are now out of cash so everything is on hold bar the small jobs.. To do list -

Fit fireplace in front room so I can be warm while working from home and not paying for gas (we get free wood)
Build a window seat for my filing
Board out and skim the hole under the stairs
Build shoe storage
Make thick curtain for hall
Move water butt in garden
Artex fix the last bit of hall ceiling (its good stuff for small patches! We are going to overboard the remaining ceilings)

Start saving for our main reception space!
Nice to meet you all

Definitely not going to be enough time to get out in the garden thus week. Got a basecoat on the walls but still some edging to do including buckets of books, crannies and pipes all of which are orange.

Graffiti scrubbed off apparently elodie's 16th birthday was wild and unforgettable and Sophie is a fat vie [hmmm]