I can’t believe it’s already February and I’m only sitting down now to think about what we may get round to doing on the house this year. January passed by in a whirl of birthday celebrations and now the cold harsh light of “is it spring or still winter?” is forcing me to focus. I really didn’t feel like thinking about the house at all last month – definitely a hangover from all the work I did in 2019 and its been good to take a bit of time out.
As for this year, I’m not sure what major work we’ll get done but in case we find the magic tree wot grows dolla bills, here’s a starter for 10:
The Guest Bedroom a.k.a Room of Doom
Since I gave our dining room a mini makeover back in December, this is the last room that is truly unpresentable and I think may only have been on the Insta grid once or twice. It’s the bedroom that’s directly above our living room so has had new windows and plantation shutters fitted but that’s where it ends. Currently it’s exercise bike room/laundry drying room/junk room/Pete’s getting ready in the morning room. It SHOULD be the room that we have as always ready for guests with a proper spare bed.
The problem is it needs a lot of work – replastering, new radiator, new flooring, the existing built in wardrobes need to come out and be replaced. There’s also a faux chimney breast in there, built around the existing one and alas, I already know there won’t be a fireplace of dreams hiding behind it but hopefully once the faux chimney breast comes down it will at the very least give us a bit more space in there. Right now the thought of tackling the room all feels very overwhelming but it WOULD be good to get it sorted.
The Bathroom and En-Suite
Now we have a proper shower over our bath in the main bathroom it’s super handy to have it as an extra bathroom we can actually use. We don’t have plans to do the full renovation any time soon but it would be good to finally replace the window in here. It’s one of the last remaining rooms that still has the old-fashioned double-glazing and diamond leading. Although it is a lovely big window, it would let in even more light if we have the sandblasted windows we’ve got on both the landings, whilst still giving us a modern version of privacy.
If we get the window done, we’d get the en-suite window on the top floor done at the same time. Since this is a more modern addition, the double glazing is thicker but they still went for diamond leading in keeping with the rest of the house. Plus it’s also got a plastic windowsill which drives me crazy (probably irrationally so but nonetheless).
Given we have a properly functioning bathroom, it would be wonderful to finally give the en-suite the overhaul we’ve always been meaning to. Both our bathroom and en-suite have a shower over bath situation which is very luxurious but a little bit unnecessary. We’ve always known that we want to turn our en-suite into a proper shower-only style affair but whilst the main bathroom didn’t have a shower that worked, we kept putting it off. Now we have no excuse…apart from that money tree of course!
The Back Bedroom
The one we really do have to sort out in here sooner rather than later is blinds for the windows. Currently this is our spare room and I’ve been talking about blinds for MONTHS. MONTHS. WHHYYYY does it take me so long to get some things sorted?! I really need to bump this to top of the priority list because until our front bedroom is that proper guest room, anyone who stays is on the sofa bed in here. Which is fine in winter when it doesn’t get light until late (we have nothing behind us so no-one can see in) but once the clocks change it’s a bit of a nightmare for guests.
The Garden
I’m actually looking forward to warmer weather to get back into the garden and carry on with the makeover I started last year. I won’t be anywhere near as dedicated to it since I won’t have the time but if I can just keep chipping away at it as and when, it will be such a great space to enjoy come summer. I think sometimes the danger with projects is they can feel just so huge it almost puts you off starting in the first place but I’ve learned with this house to just break it down into smaller tasks.
Snag, Snag, Snaggety-Snag
One of the things I can do relatively easily, cheaply and not taking up too much time is attack the huge snagging list. I have one for pretty much every room that work has been done on, most of them involve things like finish painting doors, other paint touch ups, hanging pictures on walls. You know those last little bits that never quite make the initial makeover of a room because it’s just not fun. Our living room for example feels so close to being done and I just keep staring at the door, willing it to paint itself.
So that’s it for now, will writing all this out be the motivation I need to get any of it done?! Time will tell…
Follow me on Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter
