Home Extensions 2017 - come along on the journey

[RedRobin1]

Hi just wondered if anyone has recently started or about to start a home extension. Haven’t seen a 2017 thread so starting one here.

Our two-storey extension is due to start on 1st March and we have just started packing boxes. The planning and research has been ongoing for 2-3 years. Had planning permission approved a few years back and completed all the research around what we would like in our new extended and how we would like to design it all - extending the kitchen / dining area downstairs to create an open plan living, dining and kitchen space and an extra bedroom upstairs.

Have two DCs under 4 and need help / advice / tips and general hand holding.

Is anyone else starting theirs soon?

monkey I feel your pain, have started smoking again and drinking heavily. It's all amazingly stressful. It doesn't help that I'm living with my parents who are constantly cross with us for not shouting at our builders more to hurry up. I refuse to do this as a) it won't make any difference b if I do there is a good chance they will get annoyed and just leave.

Fly same here, I'm drinking like a fish & back on the odd cigaret having given up last year!

I'm not exercising nearly as much as I did due to the laundry issues & it's difficult enough just getting up & going to work never mind a gym class!

Am so stressed, put loads of weight on, I know it's not good for my health! It's horrid!

I want my real life back!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh, I am so relieved that you guys are not going to the gym. I feel really bad that I am not eating well and drinking too much and not getting exercise. Seeing the builders constantly working out on the job somehow makes it worse. It's not even like I'm doing anything physical towards all this, it's more like my head is just constantly buzzing with decisions and questions and a kind of generalised, low level anxiety that just constantly washes over me.

Solidarity to all you feeling the same!

Honey, I'm HOOOMMEEE.

Righto. Don't want to talk about me.

Except, yes I've gained almost 20lb. Twenty whole pounds. Wine. Food. Pizza. So just thought I'd put that out there.

rick, how are you doing my lovely?

guilty, we've just fallen out. I've had a poxy little shit extension and you're doing some thing from grand designs. It looks AMAZING. However you figure it out, it'll be great.

tika, any updates? I've sent my 'letter before action' to ex builder, aka cuntychops, but had no response at all. Hopefully you won't have to take the same route

Monkey it was brace of you to get on the scales I daren't! None of my clothes fit me! Meh!

I suppose it's a relief to know others not feeling like hitting the gym either!

They've done loads again today but I feel like I'm dealing with a bunch of idiots!

They have plaster boarded over the wiring for the spotlights! It just goes on & on! 😡

You don't need to feel like you're dealing with a bunch of idiots. You are working with a bunch of idiots.

Don't you DARE pay that extra £2k. If you do I'll hunt you down.

It's endless isn't it. I've started doing finishing bits, like putting in skirting and window sills/curtains. It's now that I discover that walls are bowing and uneven and floors are sloping and it's all, basically, shit.

How are you all planning on sorting out the exterior? I've got so much render crud / mud/ gravel / screws, EVERYWHERE. I don't think my garden or driveway are ever going to be nice again.

You'll laugh when I tell you this monkey we've ordered a skip for the weekend! 😂😂😂

We're going to take the old kitchen out & put the rest of the crap that's hanging around in it too!

At least we'll be in control of when it gets collected!

Yes let's talk about the renovation diet! I had to buy new jeans and work dresses today - I've gone from going to the gym 5 times a week to doing absolutely nothing since our work started. That combined with eating terribly and I'm scared to step on the scales. I honestly can't wait till this comes to an end and I can get my life back again!

Oh thank goodness it's not just me!

it's more like my head is just constantly buzzing with decisions and questions and a kind of generalised, low level anxiety that just constantly washes over me.

Yes yes Guilty, exactly that!!

That's what I feel too. And DH, who isn't as good at coping with anxiety/stress as me (and I'm by no means brilliant).

No real changes to report in diet/exercise here (probably because we're living out) but I'm definitely indulging in more red wine and I've developed eczema for the first time in my life, ever.

I am never, EVER doing this again.

Sorry to hear that some of you continue to deal with very challenging tradesmen. We are yet to break the ground but starting to feel close. Planning approved and party wall agreement should be in place in less than a week. Waiting for builder to confirm a lot of schedule, costs and start date though so could all still go very wrong. He is a close family friend so I'm hoping he will come through for us but do not take that for granted at all!

You have all made me feel so much better! I've put on loads of weight too. I have nowhere to work out and I keep buying biscuits for the builders and eating them myself!

Totally get the low level anxiety too. We can't plan anything as our builder never sticks to the vague dates he gives us and I'm worried about making the wrong decision. Our build was supposed to be 13 weeks - it might well be that in the end but spread over 7 months!! I'm so hoping to be finished for Christmas but as this rate although the build might be finished, we're going to struggle to do the finishing touches. My sister is coming over from Oz at Christmas and I would so love to have it all done.

for you all.

Aw, I just wish all you guys had been around when we were going through all this pain last year. Chin up everybody, there will be light at the end of the tunnel, I am sure. You will burn up all those extra calories getting rid of the dust 😀

We are not even close to the finishing touches a year to the day we started fourmagpies - we totally ran out of steam over the summer and just sat in the garden thinking about doing stuff. 😳

That's what worries me whatashower ! If we don't finish it before Christmas, I can imagine us not getting it done. The garden is going to need a lot of work too, it's currently 50% builders yard...

Ah fourmagpies but the bliss of getting your home back and being without builders is something to be savoured and enjoyed. It is not a race and honestly that is the very best bit. 😁

Can I get a quick bit of design advice?

Snapshot of my living room. Patio doors with full length curtains. Next to it, there's the other window. The curtains I have got are only a 54" drop, so the curtain pole will have to be lower than the pole for the patio doors. Will that look shit? I'm not sure whether the poles need to be the same height to 'flow' better, but it will cost £££ to get the new correct sized curtains for the smaller window!

monkey - that's not my extension!! It's a picture from the Chelsea flower show!! Mine is very much lower end! It's just I am having a pond a bit like that one!! I posted it to give a vague idea of the kind of look I was going for, that's all!

I'm so sorry your finish isn't up to scratch. I don't have anything to say except and we are here to support you as you take whatever action you need to.

For y'all worried about your weight - If it makes you feel any better, I have gained 70lbs in the last 4 years. So 20lbs seems like nothing to me. Nothing! Once you have your house straight, and you have your headspace back, you will be able to spend all the time you've been spending making tea, chivvying builders, checking levels, and generally worrying on yourself. The weight will fall off. We should have a post-reno Self Improvement thread! A different kind of DIY!

Tatlerer - oh no re: the eczema. I wonder if it's the dust as well as the stress? I have this amazing stuff called Emulsifying Ointment, which is basically petroleum in solid form (I kid you not) that is unbelievably kind and gentle to the skin as a wash. It's very greasy but replenishes oils dragged out by dust like nobody's business. You can get a huge tub at the chemist for no money at all if it sounds like it would be helpful. I use it after I've been out for a long time in the garden.

whatashower - but your build looks lovely! If that's unfinished, I'd be happy to live with it!!

monkey and fourmagpies For the driveway/garden - it will come right again, I promise. A couple of hours of getting up the worst - not now, when you're done and ready - works wonders. The amazing thing about nature is that it bounces back in the spring, reliably, every year. By June next year you will wonder why you were worried!! Everything looks so dismal over the winter anyway.

rick - you really, really shouldn't have to hire your own skip. But in the circumstances, it's a smart move. You'll feel much more organised afterwards.

Update from here - More blockwork going in here today. I'm having a square patio with a curved edge (if that makes sense!!) put outside the kitchen. Went out yesterday and the curve was totally and utterly wrong. I was freaking out a little inside, but managed to stay calm and have a conversation with the builder about what I wanted - he has put it right without complaining, bless his boots. I can see the rooms and the levels now in a way I couldn't a week ago. I don't know if this is just time standing in the site, or the fact that the walls are that much higher that the spaces are starting to feel like the ruins of actual rooms.

monkey - I think it would probably look better if the poles are in line with each other. Instead of getting new curtains for the small window, can you put the pole for the larger curtains at the level you need the small ones to be, and re-hem the large curtains? If (like me) you're not a dab hand with a needle, you could pay an alterations company to do it, and it would be cheaper than ordering new.

Is that your DS? Cuuuuute! I am totally in love with your grey sofa. It's gorgeous!

There's nothing cute about that school refusing child

I could lower the curtains, but I like having them high as it gives the feeling of higher ceilings (whether that's true or not who knows!)

They do look lovely, I can see why you wouldn't want to lower! Sometimes when I'm making a decision, I find it helpful to get down to the moolah and work out the cost of doing/not doing something -
and then ask "Is it worth £x to me to do this?" I had this recently - I was supposed to have an undercroft bike store under my kitchen on my architecty plans, but just before the work started, I sat down with the builder and we worked out that it would add something like £3,500 to the price. Much as I liked the concept, it just wasn't worth paying that for a bike store. Sometimes it works the other way -
buying some expensive tiles to do my pond feels "worth it" to tie the design together, even though it adds a few hundred. Maybe when you compare the cost of a re-hem to the cost of new curtains it will become clearer where your heart really is?

Your DS looks so cosy in his dressing gown!

Monkey agree it is a straight choice between both lower or both higher, not one and the other. It will cost nothing to lower the curtain pole, have both in the lower position with the curtain hem pinned to fit., so you can see and live with this for a bit. You might be surprised, the generous height that will be above the curtain poles may well emphasise the height even more. Given also that you may be hankering after a complete colour scheme change and redecoration down the line - as you do- say in 5 years time - you will have another chance to change, with an excuse for new curtains to fit, so it's not a forever decision. However if you really hate the lower height, you will feel more strongly and more positively about any additional expense of sorting with new curtains.

I decorated yesterday These are all new walls/colours/curtains!

Monkey I can see that, and is lovely, didn't mean to suggest otherwise. I just meant that you could change your curtain pole arrangements "next time" unlike a structural decision which is forever.

I was teasing. Sorry I have a very dry sense of humour