A bathroom refresh update

Back in January I shared our plans to refresh our bathroom which was booked to take place in February. On the day our plumber arrived, but only to ask if we would allow this to be rearranged. It was one of the snowy days in February, and many of his other clients were suffering broken boilers. It was a cold day and not the day to be without heating or hot water, and so we rearranged, knowing that we would want other people to do the same for us.

So last month the plumbers returned and the work could start in earnest. But first a couple of before photos:

The sink, the toilet and the shower were all being replaced. The tiles on the floor and walls, the cabinets and the shower enclosure were all staying. This may have made it trickier but we’re not ones for replacing things that continue to work perfectly well.

Like many refurbishment projects, quite often it gets worse before it gets better. And ours was no different. This was taken at the end of day 1:

The day hadn’t gone well. The sink refused to come off the wall. It had been glued and bolted to the wall, this could have been a contributory factor to the stress veins in the photo above. In the end a rather large hammer was taken to it - at one point the second plumber asked his boss, if he needed a bigger hammer. Yes, it was that kind of day.

The replacement shower had different fixings, even though it looked as if they were the same, and that wasn’t easy to remove either. They were loathed to smash the tile until they were sure we had a replacement tile. We did, and I knew exactly where they were - in our gabion baskets of course. Thankfully not under the pizza oven, but in the seating alongside it. Not in the shed like normal people! Though that’s unfair, they had been in the shed until we put these together and in an attempt to clear the shed some more, we used these until the slabs in the smaller baskets. That did mean one was easy to rescue, and I think the plumbers were slightly bemused by the fact too.

But it did mean they could do this.

They left for the evening, and after an afternoon of hopping about waiting to use our second loo (which they thankfully did sort for me) you’d think things couldn’t have gotten any worse.

And then they did.

The second loo, our spare loo, failed. It wouldn’t stop filling up and so they came back. But the mechanism failed and so overnight we didn’t have a flushing loo, one of the most stressful nights we’ve had in a while, I can tell you. By now I was making contingency loo plans, trying to work out where my nearest loo would be, apart from our neighbours, and in a pandemic.

But thankfully it wasn’t needed, as at the end of day 2 it looked more like this. It needed a clean, but it all worked, and so did our second loo. Phew.

The shower and the replacement tile were also in place and working. There had been much discussion amongst the plumbers on which colour grout to use, which was entertaining and welcome, as it showed the pride they had in their work and in doing a great job for us.

We’ve a few more things to do, including painting the shelves and built in useful cupboard, but it’s good to see the changes so far, which have brought it up-to-date, provided extra storage and reintroduced hot showers!

More to follow, but first I need to find paint to complement the very dark navy of the unit above, to transform our dark brown/almost black handy storage cupboard, and then to buy it and finish the job. Small steps, and all that.

A bathroom refresh

It’s been a fair while since we’ve done much work on our house, but we’ve been pondering a bit of a bathroom refresh for a little while. The last time we went to Grand Designs Live - that must have been May 2019, quite a while back! - we saw the most beautiful wall hung vanity unit. I’ve kept the photo, looked at the catalogue and now we’re at the point of actually making it happen, realised I don’t like the price anywhere near as much. Thankfully it was also too big for our space, and a pale blue which isn’t really our colour, though it would kind of work with the wallpaper that we’ve used as a continuing feature.

But the idea of a wall hung vanity unit was sown. And one that hasn’t gone away. So another one was sought, and found. And has since been delivered. Along with a new toilet and a new shower - just the shower bit, not the surround. The shower is no longer as hot as it once was, or should be and therefore is being replaced. We’ve a suspicion that the toilet is slowly leaking at the base, and our current basin, well it still works as a basin should (though sometimes it drains very slowly), the porcelain is starting to crack and it looks as if it has many veins appearing. Some porcelain just goes like that, but as all of this was put in in 2007 we’ve had good use out of all of this and so replacing the bits that are starting to ‘go’ isn’t exactly extravagant.

The other day it all arrived, on a pallet. We got our delivery slot - one of those all day slots, though being home based that’s less of an issue than it would have been if we were office based - and they were knocking on the door a good five minutes before the slot started. So that was a very good start, and before breakfast - we’ve got very bad at getting up since it’s been darker in the mornings and especially as we don’t need to get anywhere other than the dining room table - MOH was out in the drive unpacking the pallet. I was called for a bit of ‘to me, to you’ to bring the heavier items in, and then later up the spiral staircase. Since then our plumber has visited to check we have all the right bits, and so he can get what else is needed - we passed, phew - and now we’re booked in for a week or so’s time to have it all fitted.

Now it’s here, I can’t wait - though as luck would have it, the day it’s happening is one that I have booked off work. Not that it really makes much difference at the moment as it’s unlikely that I’ll have grand plans to go anywhere much. So by the middle of February our purchases should be installed, and I’ll be setting MOH some tasks mostly around painting - refreshing the woodwork and giving the ceiling a lick of paint, which to be fair he’s identified too. The final job will be to paint a cupboard we have in there - it’s currently a very darkly stained MDF custom-built affair. It works with what is in there now, but with our new unit being matt navy blue, I’ve a feeling it won’t work quite so well, so my plan is to have MOH repaint this a similar colour. I know it won’t take much to persuade him as he recently let on that he’s never been much of a fan of how it looks, it’s been there almost 14 years - he’s a very patient man (though I knew that already).

AREZZO WALL HUNG VANITY UNIT, VICTORIAN PLUMBING

Should you stay or should you go now?

Hands up, who started singing? I know I was as I was typing it, so if you weren't I salute you. I didn't know it was a Clash song, I had to google that, but I knew the words - and more than I've included here. Surprisingly though this isn't a musical post, it's something more literal, should you move or improve?

No doubt, something that crosses most of our minds at some stage. I know when we were thinking about replacing our kitchen, we knew that although our kitchen was getting tired, it wasn't completely broken. But we also knew that by the time we wanted to move on, it would most likely be in the completely broken, so we decided to go for it and enjoy the new kitchen rather than just have a new one put in just to sell the house.

But I'm not going to talk about that in this post either, I'm going to indulge in some nostalgia today and we're heading back to my previous house, which was the first house I bought on my own. It was an Edwardian style house and a probate sale, and I suspect that the owners had had the house for a very long time.

We're heading back to 1993 and while I'd just bought the house, improving it was essential. Every room needed bringing up to date and the garden needed completely taming. I've found a load of old photos, but sadly not all of them just yet, and I'm still deciding which to share with you today. They've brought back so many memories that I think I'll be sharing all of them at some point and looking out the ones that I haven't found yet.

I'll give you a taste of the work we undertook, but as the sun is shining let's focus on the garden today.

REWIRING THE WHOLE HOUSE

PART-WAY THROUGH DECORATING THE FRONT BEDROOM

THE RE-DECORATED BOX ROOM

AND THE COMPLETED VIEW, WITH HAND-PAINTED TILES

I'll leave the rest of upstairs as the back bedroom has its own story, as we replaced the bomb-damaged ceiling. Yes, I know I said 1993, but the ceiling was battened which was typical of bomb damage. That gives you an idea of what I took on, and I don't think I knew just how much that was until we started. Thankfully my dad, a veteran tradesman and my brother, an electrician along with my ginger cat, Quickly were willing to take on a lot of the work. I kid you not about the cat, every time there was DIY work going on he was there helping out, the other cats (I had three more) made themselves scarce, just like normal cats.

In the dining room, you can see work is still underway, but that built in cupboard was my pride and joy. I personally, and painstakingly, scraped years and years worth of paint off of the original in-built cupboard, and it turned out rather well. The curtains behind the glass were a genius idea as they hid a multitude of sins, but I remember mum thinking how old-fashioned they were, as it was something her nan would have had.

WORK IS UNDERWAY IN THE DINING ROOM, AND THE STEPLADDER WAS IN REGULARLY USED

We'll leave the kitchen too, as I don't have the "after" pictures yet, I must have them somewhere and that can be a whole blog post on its own. Let's head out into the garden, in 1993, it looked like this:

THE BACK GARDEN IN 1993: WHO KNEW WHAT WAS HIDDEN IN THERE...

Yes, it was quite the mystery garden. We knew from the gardens next door that there was more to discover, but we also knew that we needed our secateurs to find out exactly what! There was a path on the right-hand side that was just about squeeze-through-able, but as with all gardens, it continued to grow. The birdbath looks great with its ring of yellow plant doesn't it? Only thing was the plant was planted in a plastic washing up bowl that had perished, so as soon as I investigated further it disintegrated in my hands. I'd forgotten that until I saw this picture, funny how our memories are tied into photos isn't it?

There was a garden shed though, right outside the back door:

A GARDEN SHED THAT WAS AS RICKETY AS IT LOOKS

It wasn't long before the brambles had at least been cut down, something that was a regular task over the next few years, and taming was a little way off yet. But with them cut down and a clearer pathway beginning to emerge it was time to start building a new shed. I think my dad was in his element as he made the frame out of angle line, or grown ups meccano as I often called it.  

STARTING TO TAME THE BRAMBLES, AND BUILD A NEW SHED

And I'll have you know that that slant is just an illusion of camera angles, it was perfectly straight. I know I measured it plenty of times, as dad has a habit of preferring things with a bit of a lean. The windows were old ones that dad had from I'm not sure where, but he was right, they did come in useful one day. 

We'd found the breeze blocks you can see scattered around the photo in the garden, on the left-hand edge. I think some of them went back to where they came from and others I found new homes for. A strange thing to have discovered in all those weeds.

THE SHED THAT DAD BUILT

But it wasn't long before the new shed took shape. The door was from an inbuilt cupboard in one of the bedrooms, so small that a coathanger didn't actually fit in sideways, and so useless as a wardrobe. But pretty useful as a shed door. The wood that was added to the metal frame, was from my brother's dogs kennel, which they no longer used. He had two alsatians, so it was a fairly big kennel.  

How I'd wished I'd hung onto that zinc bucket and butler's sink, but sadly I didn't. My re-use tendencies clearly had left me at this point. I'm not sure where the crazy paving slabs came from, but I do remember collecting bottles to add some interest to the round-edged patio. That was something else I'd forgotten about, I was adamant it had to be round, and well here we are again creating circles in this garden, although this time in grass.  

THIS PATIO WASN'T SQUARE EITHER, I SEEM TO HAVE A THING FOR CIRCULAR SHAPES IN GARDENS

And so the garden started to take shape. This was the garden that got me into gardening, partly because it was a challenge and partly because it was hard to not get into gardening after I'd seen - and contributed - to the work bringing it back under control. 

And as with anything, my garden continued to evolve. Net curtains were added to the inside of the shed, not because I was house proud or anything, but because the dark window used to reflect the spotlights from the football ground over the road and give me the heebie-jeebies. Trellis was added to the front of the shed to soften it further. Turfs were laid when we were confident that the brambles had lost their grip, and a new fence was erected, on the left-hand side as you look by me and dad and on the other side by the now new neighbour.

You wouldn't quite believe it's the same garden would you?

IN 2000 WHEN THE GARDEN IS MORE ESTABLISHED AND MATURE, YOU'D NEVER KNOW, WOULD YOU?

And I think this garden is a fantastic example of what you can achieve if you choose to stay and improve. I think there'll always be a time when moving on is the right thing to do, but for me, if I fell in love with a house, had invested time and money into it, then if there were no other factors I'd choose to improve, rather than move. But then again I've only ever lived in five houses, maybe that's a factor too.

So would you move or improve?

Slater and Gordon Solicitors have recently undertaken research to help you make up your mind. I don't think it that surprising that 61% of people said they'd renovate rather than move, but I am surprised that only 35% consider location as the most important factor when choosing a new home. Or maybe I've just watched too many TV programmes of the same name, same name, same name.  I would think that location is one of the things you can't change about a house so it's important to get that right, but I also suspect that if the right house comes along and you fall hard for it, then location could easily go out of the window!

Let me know what you think, and if you're in the move or improve camp, I'm keen to know.

* This is a collaborative post, but all views and opinions are my own.