Extension 2020 part 2: pandemics, plaster & plumbing

[birdbrained]

Original thread: Extension / loft conversion thread 2020 www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/3783237-extension-loft-conversion-thread-2020

Hopefully during the course of this thread the plaster will be in abundance, the windows will arrive and houses will be put back together...

[UptownFunkYouUp]

@Cchris84 I for one would like to see some of your design ideas if you manage to find out how to post pics!

[UptownFunkYouUp]

@Cchris1984 just realised I got your tag wrong in my post below...

[UptownFunkYouUp]

@Loofah01 and @WhereDoesThisToiletGo the lessons learned are great. Would be really good if any other seasoned extenders/renovators could share their best tips for us beginners!

[WhereDoesThisToiletGo]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/3680823-The-MN-surviving-building-an-extension-thread-of-hints-and-tips?msgid=97924448#97924448
Hints and tips thread, please add anything you feel might help others through the process. We usually add this as a link at the start of any new thread.
Please add your suggestions @Loofah01

[missfliss]

probably crap tips but I found these helpful for decorating decisions which can get overwhelming.

I used my work ppt skills to build mood boards of ideas using images of stuff from the internet to work out if my choices would go together - I found it easier to see and then helped me quickly rule things out if I was getting overwhelmed.

The 70/ 20/10 idea is good when thinking about colour schemes and proportions. I found it worked as a guideline. So I tended to stick to three main colours for walls and decor. In vaguely those proportions.

For example:
Hallway 70% yellow ( walls)
20% grey ( striped carpet / small furniture)
10% dark grey ( woodwork)

Loft bedroom:
70% grayish white ( existing furniture and 3 walls)
20% bold blue ( feature wall)
10% chalky pink ( curtains)

[birdbrained]

Ok the front and side doors and roof light have arrived this morning! Happy dance... rest of the windows are supposed to arrive later today 🤞🤞🤞

[WhereDoesThisToiletGo]

@birdbrained

Ok the front and side doors and roof light have arrived this morning! Happy dance... rest of the windows are supposed to arrive later today 🤞🤞🤞

Major progress!

[Pashazade]

I have underfloor heating installed and a kitchen arriving on Wednesday! Nearly there (vaguely glimpsing light at the end of the tunnel....)

[Loofah01]

Quick pic of the kitchen, taken a bit after moving in and after we finally got the worktops installed, and external of the rear. The left hand bit is the extension, approx 96m2. Last one is the start point...

[Jeb86]

@Loofah01 looking great! I love how much light the kitchen has. You have great gardens too!

Has anyone got recommendations for where to get large (long) shower screens? We need one that’s 1600mm long and 1900mm high.

[WhereDoesThisToiletGo]

@Loofah01 Oh that's lovely. I know you've described the plan before but can you tell us again what you've added now we can see the photos.
So it's a whole new wing plus a bit upstairs too?
The "before" looks like the ideal Project... small house on a big plot

[Loofah01]

@Jeb86 Think you'll struggle for the with on the screen. How about two joined together?
@WhereDoesThisToiletGo thanks. The plot is massive, especially by Surrey standards anyway, so the kids have somewhere to tear up :) The charm of being completely overgrown and gone to seed has been removed but I'll add it back soon enough.
Added extra two bedrooms, bathroom, en-suite, huge kitchen, dining room and widened the hallway by a couple of feet. 2nd stage is for the upstairs when we'll add a master bedroom with dressing room and ensuite plus two more bedrooms and a bathroom! No rush for that though. Loft space is currently huge, ridiculously big. The window in the upstairs bit is just an existing window to the loft.

[WhereDoesThisToiletGo]

@Loofah01 Looks like we are design twins! My kitchen (finished in December) is similar colour scheme to yours... white units with a dark blue island with light worktops. I really fancied doing a section of blue wall like yours but our room is fairly dark so didn't dare. I can see from yours how good the blue wall looks!

[intheningnangnong]

We are up to the eaves.... now for the scaffolding to go over the top and take the old food off

@Loofah01 are you done for now? - until phase 2?!

[intheningnangnong]

Food?! Roof

[Loofah01]

@intheningnangnong

We are up to the eaves.... now for the scaffolding to go over the top and take the old food off

*@Loofah01* are you done for now? - until phase 2?!

More or less! Plenty of decorating to finish and silly little bits (it's quite a list) also a compacted garden to sort - started that a couple of days ago with a trusty mattock! Builders leave all sorts of shite just under the surface, devious little bastards that they are..

[missfliss]

Feb pics @Loofah01 - love your choices!

Our new bed arrived yesterday - cat wasted no time whatsoever in claiming it 😼

[Cchris1984]

I’ve finally worked out how to post photos on here so thought I’d send a few pics of the newly finished ground floor extension. Tiles went down this week. Next job is choosing the furniture (the current sofa and table are way too small!)

[WhereDoesThisToiletGo]

@Cchris1984
I love seeing finished projects and I'm sure those still mid build like to see that one day there CAN be a finished room!
We planned to get new sofas once we were finished but covid intervened and now we've got used to the old sofas in the new room even though they are totally wrong!

[Cchris1984]

@WhereDoesThisToiletGo
We are in a very similar scenario... we had temporarily moved the furniture from the front of the house into the new extension whilst trying to decide what new furniture to buy to fill the new space... but we have got used to the ‘old’ furniture, making it even harder to shop for a new sofa and table

[Loofah01]

Looks awesome @Cchris1984

[Loofah01]

[quote WhereDoesThisToiletGo]@Cchris1984
I love seeing finished projects and I'm sure those still mid build like to see that one day there CAN be a finished room!
We planned to get new sofas once we were finished but covid intervened and now we've got used to the old sofas in the new room even though they are totally wrong![/quote]
I've noticed it makes a big difference if you can get someone else to decorate - it means it's actually complete when you move in! Unlike mine which I might get round to finishing sometime 2022...

[intheningnangnong]

@Cchris1984 love your fire.

It’s great to see, we are just bare walls and a very wet site right now

[birdbrained]

Wow great updates today! Great to see your project @Loofah01 that's huge! Ha... I've probably been relying on this thread for inspiration too much. We will also have a navy and grey DIY kitchen delivered early next week 😂.

Love the bed and floor @missfliss.

Beautiful space @Cchris1984. Love the feature fire place.

Some progress on tiling - took much longer than expected but love it.

[Maddogdav77]

This is our down stairs wc in progress.