July 2014, we moved in. The house was so retro it was unreal, there were floral carpets, shiny wallpaper, polystyrene ceiling, and an old back boiler; the list goes on. We couldn’t believe we owned this house, it was almost everything I had ever wanted from a house and it felt like such an achievement to be able to call it our own.
It’s now been two years since we moved in and whilst our house is far from being finished (really! The renovations have barely begun!) I think it’s motivating to share just how far we’ve come in two whole years. I did a similar post last year and July also marks the halfway point in the year, so it’s a good time to look back on our renovation goals and see how we’re getting on with them too.
If you want to see what the house looked like on moving day, you can view a full house tour from two years ago right here.
Living Room
This room is almost completely untouched other than ripping up some of the carpet to lay the new gas pipe and stuffing it full of ‘things’. Yes we have a giant pallet crate and homemade arcade cabinet taking up most of the room and yes – it really is just as impractical as it looks!
Hallway
Again, something of a dumping ground right now. It hasn’t changed too much other than part of the carpet being taken up in here and being way more cluttered than necessary.
Dining Room
This room has changed pretty dramatically this year. We’ve removed the old back boiler (post coming soon) and we’ve removed the wall into the kitchen. It’s very much a working progress right now, but it’s a pretty big change so far!
Kitchen/Shower Room
There have been huge changes in here too as the shower room is completely gone! There is almost no evidence this room ever existed and it’s now completely become part of the kitchen. We’ve swapped the old frosted window for a new french door and we’re currently busying ourselves plaster boarding out this room ready for a whole new kitchen! It’s very slow work, but we’re getting there….
Conservatory
One of our renovation goals for this year was replacing the roof in this room and I’m pleased to say we’ve well and truly ticked it off the list! We still have lots left to do in this room, but now that summer is quickly disappearing we’ll probably be leaving the rest for next Spring. At least it’s watertight though – baby steps 😉
Basement
Not much has changed down here, it’s still depressing and empty with zero electric.
Landing
What’s that? Another dumping station? Are you seeing a slight pattern emerging yet?! Again, completely unchanged otherwise.
Master Bedroom
Nothing new in this room, it looks almost identical to last year and is still just as awful.
Smallest Bedroom / Home Office
Large changes have happened in this room over the last year. We’ve completely transformed it from a dull bedroom with peeling wallpaper and manky carpet to a beautiful little home office working space. I absolutely love this room, it’s bright and cheerful and a lovely little escape from the rest of the dusty dull house. We’re not quite finished in here as we still have the cupboards to update and a fireplace to fit, but neither should be too difficult to finish off and it’s a total transformation from how it looked last year!
Bathroom
12 months ago this room was undergoing a massive renovation and a whole year later we’ve very almost finished in here. We’ve added a whole new separate shower, re-routed the plumbing so it’s all hidden under the floorboards and generally updated and beautified this room with a complete new look, including a beautiful new roll top bath. The main job left to do in here is finish off the built-in cupboard, which was one of our renovation goals. We’ve yet to start it, but I still have hope we’ll get it ticked off the list before the year is up.
Attic Room
Yes, another one. Another dumping area! Don’t judge me.
Garden
The garden hasn’t changed a whole lot this year, other than it being filled with rubbish ready to go to the skip. We haven’t yet tackled the patio/decking area which was one of our goals for the year and in all honestly, I don’t think we’ll be doing it this year now. We need to trace the lead water pipe before we can build anything in the area and we don’t really have the finances for the project right now either. I do have a few little other garden projects I’ve been tackling recently, so you’ll see a few little changes on here soon….
We’ve made some huge improvements in the last year – we’ve almost completely renovated two rooms and we’ve made oodles of progress on the kitchen and dining room. It probably doesn’t seem like we’ve done much, but considering most of the work has been done ourselves I think we’ve done a pretty good job. Of course it’s still slow work, but it definitely feels like we’re getting somewhere now!
Are your home improvements as slow going as ours?
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