This is a paid partnership with The Big Yellow Self Storage Company.
I can’t believe we’re already half way through the year already – 2019 has definitely felt like one of those “blink and you’ll miss it” kind of years. Whilst I really don’t want to think about autumn yet at all, especially since we haven’t had really much summer, I’m pondering whether we’ve got another big project in us this year and could finally take on the transformation of our second bedroom into a proper guest room.
When I say we, of course I mean I. Because obviously when I did the kitchen renovation back in February, Pete was away and came home after a week to a brand spanking new but not new kitchen without having to lift a finger. I mean HOW lucky is he? I’m not sure I could pull off the same trick again though and would really love his help with the spare bedroom since it’s a pretty mammoth task and now I have a chronic illness to contend with I don’t think single-handed renovations are my wisest move these days.
For any of you familiar with my blog and Instagram, you’re probably wondering what on earth I’m talking about. Isn’t our spare bedroom the pretty one with the pink velvet chair and crazy wallpaper? Yes and no. We have two spare bedrooms, which we’ve unofficially designated one room for Pete and one for me. Mine is the guest guest room – it has a sofa bed in it and is almost finished. His is literally a dumping ground and its full of no amount of random odds and sods – an exercise bike, the clothes airer, assortments of boxes and other paraphernalia.
Despite that, it is the room we want to set up as a proper guest bedroom. It’s at the front of the house so has the bigger bay window and already has fitted wardrobes and the perfect alcove for a chest of drawers. All that we’ve done in that room so far is to fit new windows and plantation shutters since we did it altogether with the rest of the front of the house.
Whilst we don’t have people to stay that often, it would be lovely to know that we’re ready for them at the drop of a hat. And now our older niece and nephew are teenagers, it’s important they have a room each when they come to stay that isn’t just a blow-up mattress on the floor. Plus I’m optimistic that if it was a proper room Pete might learn that he doesn’t need to hoard every single receipt ever from 5 years ago and learn to be a bit more minimalist. Wishful thinking? Perhaps!
I’ll be honest though – what has always put us off when tackling any kind of renovation is the upheaval. It’s the same for everyone of course, and the end results are always worth it aren’t they? It’s just some people are so much better and more adaptable at handling it. We almost see it as the problem that can’t be overcome before we’ve even begun.
Last year is a case in point. We finally finished the major structural work in our living room after changing the windows and installing a log burner a few years ago. Last summer saw us having the room replastered and my new parquet floor of dreams laid. So, so, worth the wait but living for a couple of months with a sofa on its end in the hallway and the rest of our furniture either in the dining room or upstairs really wasn’t ideal.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I really wish now that I’d just shipped everything out to storage for a while. It would have meant that only the living room would have been disrupted but the rest of the house would have given us a bit of respite from the chaos. We live round the corner from a Big Yellow self-storage facility, and in fact my neighbours who have their own business use it to store the products they make and hire out. They speak so highly of it because it offers great flexibility, both in terms of space and length of time you commit to for storage purposes, as well as being completely secure with a unique PIN that’s only held by you and 24 hour CCTV monitoring. Whether it’s your belongings being kept or like them, their livelihood, it certainly offers peace of mind.
We wouldn’t need too much space to accommodate the current belongings in our spare room and Big Yellow provide storage options from 10-400ft so no matter how little or much space you require, they have a solution. They can help you move your furniture and belongings too by recommending removal companies, giving you £50 credit towards van hire, providing 10% off the cost of hiring a van from Sixt, or a fantastic Zipcar offer.
One thing I’m sure most of you are familiar with where home renovations are concerned is all the dust. And there’s no way to keep on top of it at all, so in the end I just stopped last year. It only took a week for our living room to be replastered but somehow it managed to cover the entire house in a layer of dust that I swear I’m still clearing up now. With items like sofas and rugs though it does feel like you never quite get the dust out and I know that using a Big Yellow storage facility would have saved so many headaches.
What I love about writing is it feels like a really cathartic way to get what’s in my head out and therefore make it a bit more of a reality. Now I’ve actually written about finally renovating our spare bedroom it could be time to actually make it happen. Just the smaller matter of completely replastering…replacing the radiator…ripping out the fake chimney breast to see what’s behind it (PLEASE LET IT BE A PERIOD FIRE PLACE)…new flooring. Hm. Definitely need a summer holiday first to summon the strength but well, once a renovator, always a renovator.
This is a paid partnership with The Big Yellow Self Storage Company. All words, opinions and images are my own.