Extension Thread 2022....plaster, panic and pics

[Callmejudith]

Slightly naff title but I haven't had enough coffee yet

@GardensandGrandDesigns

DIY kitchens Norton range.

Snap!

Great taste 😊 We are going with bespoke studio green. Hoping it won't be too dark but the room is South facing and we have 6m sliding doors to bring in lots of light. Which colour have you gone for?

@GardensandGrandDesigns

Great taste 😊 We are going with bespoke studio green. Hoping it won't be too dark but the room is South facing and we have 6m sliding doors to bring in lots of light. Which colour have you gone for?

Cashmere for the L and paean black for the island. I love green for a kitchen but I will be having a green living room so it might all get a bit botanical!

We have just finished DIY Linwood shaker in dove grey. Looks good if I say so myself Very pleased with the quality and their response to a couple of door fronts that arrived scratched. My tip is to buy an extra handle or two as the postage costs more than the handles and we decided to use the same handles on the cupboard doors in the toilet next to the kitchen. I also miscalculated in my additional adding up with a mixture of pulls and handles - so many units and drawers !

That is going to look so good!

I love the dove grey too so I've picked that for our utility. Bet your kitchen looks incredible and thanks for the tip!

We have also planned these units for the entrance hall plus a tongue and groove back panel for the back to drill coat hooks into. It is coming out at £1800 in bespoke colour. Do you think a carpenter could create to fit our exact space for the same price?

@GardensandGrandDesigns

We have also planned these units for the entrance hall plus a tongue and groove back panel for the back to drill coat hooks into. It is coming out at £1800 in bespoke colour. Do you think a carpenter could create to fit our exact space for the same price?

Not where I am. Bespoke carpentry is expensive here and trying to get someone for a smallish job would be difficult. Maybe it might be worth ringing a few to see what they would say? Trades are just so in demand that they can pick and choose jobs.

@Sluj

We have just finished DIY Linwood shaker in dove grey. Looks good if I say so myself Very pleased with the quality and their response to a couple of door fronts that arrived scratched. My tip is to buy an extra handle or two as the postage costs more than the handles and we decided to use the same handles on the cupboard doors in the toilet next to the kitchen. I also miscalculated in my additional adding up with a mixture of pulls and handles - so many units and drawers !

Sounds lovely!

My utility also have grey cabinets but in gloss slab (like Luca). I will be painting the walls in Babouche when we're finished as we are no longer remodelling the hallway.

For those that have purchased a DIY kitchen. Did you upgrade the drawers to high sided or glass?

We went high sided, functional as I don't think having glass adds anything? They just hook over and seem strong

@GardensandGrandDesigns

For those that have purchased a DIY kitchen. Did you upgrade the drawers to high sided or glass?

I didn't because I didn't see much need for them in my plan. But it depends I guess what you are planning to store in the drawers and if it would be helpful to have the high sides.

Gone with high sides just in case!

Our builder has gone a bit quiet. Meant to be starting beginning of April (was originally meant to be mid-late March...) so I'm expecting him to say it'll be mid April now.

Baby is due 2nd June, I'd hoped we'd have the dustiest jobs done by then and they'd fitting the kitchen by then but looking v unlikely now.

I'm having a massive wobble & wondering if we should say can we move down his job list and start in July instead. I don't even know if that's possible. Argh.

@AwkwardPaws27

Our builder has gone a bit quiet. Meant to be starting beginning of April (was originally meant to be mid-late March...) so I'm expecting him to say it'll be mid April now.

Baby is due 2nd June, I'd hoped we'd have the dustiest jobs done by then and they'd fitting the kitchen by then but looking v unlikely now.

I'm having a massive wobble & wondering if we should say can we move down his job list and start in July instead. I don't even know if that's possible. Argh.

Totally up to you. Is it your first? As someone who was due to be building during birth / then new born, I would honestly get it over with. Sleep has been very tricky with an 'older' baby at 6months and they need so much less room the younger they are. In that time, prices also increased by 20% so if you can I would bite the bullet and go ahead.

Yes, first baby. I was fine with having the tail end of it after baby arrives but getting anxious in case I end up on bedrest or something, or if baby arrives and they are knocking through and creating loads of dust.

I'm only a week into third trimester and it's already a bit of a nightmare, I've got a PEP rash from chin to ankles & the antihistamines they prescribed are making me so sleepy.

MIL said you can't use any paint in the house with a newborn but I'm not sure that's true?!

@AwkwardPaws27

Yes, first baby. I was fine with having the tail end of it after baby arrives but getting anxious in case I end up on bedrest or something, or if baby arrives and they are knocking through and creating loads of dust.

I'm only a week into third trimester and it's already a bit of a nightmare, I've got a PEP rash from chin to ankles & the antihistamines they prescribed are making me so sleepy.

MIL said you can't use any paint in the house with a newborn but I'm not sure that's true?!

They may be able to delay knock through or very messy jobs when you give birth. It might be worth talking to the builder. Is the entire house being affected?

You need to ventilate well and I believe there are now non toxic paints that you can use.

It will be a real adjustment with your first baby (we just finished renovation works with our first dc but had snagging remaining), but I wish we had been able to start the build earlier with our second.

Urgh hives/rashes are the worst - I'm sorry! I remember going to the loos at work and stripping my tights to splash cold water on my thighs.

It's the hallway & landing (having stairs opened up and new bannister & spindles), dining room (which is where we currently work so will need to relocate our desks to... somewhere!), kitchen and downstairs bathroom (not really an issue as we have an upstairs shower room).

Hoping to get baby's room finished before work starts, & then put all baby stuff in there and tape the door shut to keep dust out! Obviously baby will be in with us for 6 months but need somewhere to put all the stuff while work happens.

Have already asked builder to do the stairs & remove chimney breast, replace ceiling in dining room first, then hopefully the rest of the work can be confined to the back of the house after that (kitchen & bathroom).

Phew! Spoke to the builder today & we are still on for beginning of April. His admin person is off sick hence the silence.

Need to find a kitchen fitter now - looking at the DIY Kitchens Norton range...

@AwkwardPaws27 I've done a reasonably size project from 5-9m pregnant and it was horrific. We finished a matter of days before I went into labour. I ate microwave dinners and washed up in the bath for the final 3m of pregnancy. There are paints you can use, or go stay elsewhere for a bit which in all honesty would be the better option.

I'd still rather that that what we have just done with two toddlers 😂

3rd spark of the week here today. He's nuts and won't stop going on about how beautiful the circuit board is but frankly if he can sort out the atrocious mess left by the first arsehole, I don't care. We have heat, doors, everything except floor and fully functioning leccy, so keeping everything crossed today is the day. Will update with some pix once they tidy up.

@RinklyRomaine thank you. Unless baby is very late we won't finish before he arrives, but hopefully we'll be at the stage of having the kitchen fitted rather than ripping down ceilings and knocking through!

So many decisions to make. A bit worried I'll rush it and choose the wrong things. Have scrapped some ideas - boiling water tap for example. Too much money & we need the cupboard space. I'd rather put it towards getting a better quality floor (LVT rather than sheet vinyl). It's hard as so many threads saying they are a "must have" but I'm guessing that's in £40k kitchens, not £15k ones!

[quote AwkwardPaws27]@RinklyRomaine thank you. Unless baby is very late we won't finish before he arrives, but hopefully we'll be at the stage of having the kitchen fitted rather than ripping down ceilings and knocking through!

So many decisions to make. A bit worried I'll rush it and choose the wrong things. Have scrapped some ideas - boiling water tap for example. Too much money & we need the cupboard space. I'd rather put it towards getting a better quality floor (LVT rather than sheet vinyl). It's hard as so many threads saying they are a "must have" but I'm guessing that's in £40k kitchens, not £15k ones![/quote]
We came to the same conclusion with the hot water tap. It's a nice to have, but when you see what £1000 can buy elsewhere it made the decision easy for us.

I'm in peak decision phase at the moment. Try and make as many decisions as you can as early as you can so you can spread the load. We did a huge list of everything that was being replaced and then starting working through it. I think I'm ordering 1 or 2 things daily at the moment but it's been a bit easier than it could have been as I have done all the research for most of it and am just checking it before pulling the trigger. It's toilets tonight

I can't wait for our bathroom to be done. I hate ours. I hate it. I hate it. Just ran a bath for DD and I had to run the hot water tap super slow to get hot water (shit boiler) and because the bath is crap it gets cold as it's filling up. Urgh. We are having to kneel in it to shower at the moment as it's not even remotely attached to the walls and leaks. 1st world problems.

We've scrapped the American style fridge freezer too, in favour of an integrated fridge freezer. The room is just too small (about 4.5m²) to squeeze in that and a little island.

I've got my Drench basket ready to go for the bathroom, all decisions made for that thankfully!

Looking at kitchen cupboard/drawer handles and sockets next.

Can we talk toilets?

I have put in two new bathrooms in recent years and have to choose another toilet for the downstairs loo.

Loft bathroom has a more traditional looking but modern loo.
First floor bathroom has a modern wall hung loo.

Neither work well in terms of poo. Sorry tmi! We used to have an old one downstairs that worked perfectly well. The wall hung loo has a shelf effect that apparently the Germans like as they can examine their output - so I’ve been told! 😂

I basically want the old loo we had before, very few skid marks, no shelf, easy to clean, etc.

Has anyone fitted one recently that works?!

@LivingInaBuildingSite

Can we talk toilets?

I have put in two new bathrooms in recent years and have to choose another toilet for the downstairs loo.

Loft bathroom has a more traditional looking but modern loo.
First floor bathroom has a modern wall hung loo.

Neither work well in terms of poo. Sorry tmi! We used to have an old one downstairs that worked perfectly well. The wall hung loo has a shelf effect that apparently the Germans like as they can examine their output - so I’ve been told! 😂

I basically want the old loo we had before, very few skid marks, no shelf, easy to clean, etc.

Has anyone fitted one recently that works?!

I'm on the hunt for similar so following with interest!