Interiors, Lifestyle

Home Improvements

Spring is finally here!! It was so cold last week – storm Emma was super brutal. With the weather somewhat apocalyptic, I was cooped up in the house for almost 3 days and decided to put together a list of renovations to be done in the house. Our house was built in the early 90s and is in great structural condition but requires some upgrading. At the most basic level, all rooms will require a paint job – because the current magnolia situation is getting on my last nerve. In terms of larger scale renovations, we’ll need to redesign the garden, replace the conservatory, renovate the ensuite bathroom and create additional wardrobe space in the master bedroom, renovate the family bathroom and downstairs cloakroom, redesign the storage underneath the stairs and finally create a fourth bedroom in the loft. It’s a lot of work and I’m excited to get all the work done, but as any project manager will tell you, there are three constraints to quality – time, cost and scope. It’s also important not to over develop a property because you might not get the money back if you choose to sell. I think I’ll leave that side of things to my husband to manage, but in the meantime, a girl can dream.

GARDEN

Our garden is not the largest but is manageable in terms of size and maintenance. However, it lacks structure and a wow factor. There are loads of weeds, our neighbour’s are plants are taking over and have now broken the fence. We will need to replace and paint the fence, create a proper seating space (hopefully with a pergola), replace all the paving and create an all season garden. I’m not entirely sure what flowers and trees to plant, but as we are not green fingered it needs to be low maintenance. I’m actually considering artificial grass but my husband would rather have the real deal. A little vegetable/herb patch would be a bonus. Finally some lighting would be great because it gets pitch black at night.

I am loving Katie Ellison’s garden makeover from her old house. Like me, she is not particularly green fingered so used artificial grass, but I think what they did with this space is beautiful. It’s simple yet effective. I am also loving this design by Cassandra Crouch. I love the pergola and the wow factor it would add to the garden.

CONSERVATORY

Our conservatory is the biggest waste of space that we currently have. While it’s a good size, it’s probably only usable a third of the year It is very old school, with plastic roofing which makes it very hot in the summer and freezing during the winter months. The timber framed doors get stuck, and the plastic roof has a leak. You might be able to tell from the picture that it has now turned into a dumping ground. The entire structure will need to be replaced with something modern. We would like an all weather tiled roof conservatory that we can use year round. We are not sure how we’ll use the room just yet, but it will be multi-purpose.

For inspiration, I am loving Kate Ellison’s new conservatory extension that she uses as a family room. What a beautiful and inspiring space. If I were to get something half as nice, I would be thrilled.

LIVING ROOM

Our living/dining room is quite a large space but it doesn’t get much light. So, while thinking about the work to be done in the conservatory, we are torn between taking down the wall separating both spaces to create something open plan or maintaining separation by either using wall to wall glass frames or creating a picture window where the current (useless) window is and upgrading the patio door. I’m also thinking of replacing the doors that open up to the hallway to glass doors that would bring some light in from the front of the house. Other than that the living/dining room is absolutely fine and probably only needs some painting, a large rug and a gallery wall of family photos and art on the very bare walls. I’m yet to decide on the colour but I am inclined keep it white and use art and other decorative items to inject some colour.