Bathroom Makeover

I knew the bathroom needed working on as soon as I saw the avacado suite! It wasn't just about the colour either, the bath was in poor condition and was very deep and narrow. The pink and white patterned tiles were not to my taste and the room felt cold, dark and small. Unfortunately I do not have any before pictures of the bathroom!

We had several quotes to fit a new bathroom suite but all designers insisted it was not possible for us to tile the walls ourselves. Apparently it needed doing as soon as the old suite was taken out. We wanted to keep costs down so in the end bought a white suite from the DIY store and found a local plummer to fit it for us. 

It took 2 days in total and then we could get working on tiling. I say we but I mean my husband!

The work begins! I chose big cream tiles to make the room brighter

 I chose big cream tiles for the bathroom so the room would look nice and bright.

Keeping the décor natural meant that I could have a variety of colourful accsesories and change them as often as I wished. I have several sets of bath mats, towels and flannels. At the moment mauve is my favourite as it's soft and gentle looking and very Spring like.  

 

I picked some Cows Parsley but it did not last long in the bathroom. It looked really pretty though!

I think my husband did a fantastic job of the tiles, considering he had never done anything like this before.

The little jug is from B&Q! At only £4 I think it was a bargain.

The bathroom feels really nice now and it is so nice to unwind in the bath after a long busy day with a few candles lit.

A Smashing Time!

I never liked the frosted window that was between the lounge and the kitchen. I suppose the point was to bring more light into the kitchen but as soon as I saw it, I knew it had to come out!

The frosted window and hardboard door in the lounge

I visualised French windows so I could open both doors in the summer and close them during the colder months. I knew I wanted wooden doors that I could wax or varnish, with obscured glass. 

I spent ages looking at different doors, waiting for offers and finally I ordered 2 lovely wooden ones, just like I pictured. Before my husband could hang them, he needed to take out the frosted window and wooden panel underneath it so we could work on the frame. The frame was painted with white gloss and I wanted to strip it back to the natural pine to match the doors. 

Dog and I were confined to outside whilst my husband put masking tape on the window before literally smashing it to pieces. I was watching through the kitchen window in great satisfaction. Once the glass had been cleared up, we could start stripping the frame back to natural wood. We used a heat gun to peel the many layers of gloss before sanding it. It looked really nice but we had a problem.

After the door and window was taken out

Trouble was, the frame was not built for French windows and we were left with a gaping big hole in the frame work. My husband threw some ideas around before realising that we needed to replace the door lining.

The door lining and frame was too bad to repair

After many visits to DIY stores, we realised we couldn't find a lining wide enough. A neighbour mentioned a local wood yard so we paid them a visit. The man in charge was so helpful and made us a custom lining to fit in the gap. Two days later it was ready for collection. 

My husband had never hung doors before and found videos on the Internet to be very helpful. After much measuring, sawing, plaining he finally hung the doors and fitted the hardware! I lightly sanded any rough edges and coated them with a clear varnish. 

The doors!

Of course, it didn't stop there! I wanted all the doors replaced. I chose another glass panelled door to go inbetween the hall and the lounge and then wooden panelled ones for the rest of the rooms. We're so happy with the result and proud of my husband for hanging them all and replacing all the linings and architrave.

It is so nice to have these doors 

A Kitchen at Last!

Gosh, the kitchen! Where do I begin? when we first saw the kitchen my heart sank. I love cooking and spending time in the kitchen. I dreamt of having pretty cupboards in cream, with wooden work tops, a Belfast sink, wooden floors and most importantly a dishwasher!

Well, the kitchen was anything but my dream one! The property was built in the 1960's and still had the original laminated wooden effect paneling on the walls. Not in very good condition either I'm afraid. The cupboards were hanging off the wall so I was too afraid to put anything in them! The sink was tiny and in a separate unit with sliding doors underneath and a leek meant the bottom of the cupboard was rotten and smelt musty and mouldy. Still the room had potential and we were on a mission to find my dream kitchen.

The before picture, taken the day my new mini range oven arrived

We met with the designer at our home and I told him in great detail exactly what I wanted. I learnt that the existing units were not modern day standard measurements so everything needed ripping out and starting from scratch. I was more than happy to hear this! 

We chose cream units and cupboards with wooden effect worktops and reluctantly I decided against my Belfast sink. Due to a medical condition I have a tendency to drop things and the last thing I wanted was to put a huge crack or chip in a ceramic sink! My dishwasher had to be sacrificed too as there just wasn't room and I had to agree that a washing machine was more practical. One day I will have the washing machine in the garage and a dishwasher installed in the kitchen! 

Work was carried out 4 weeks later and took 3 days. My husband did the tiling himself to save money and despite never doing this before he did an amazing job. I went for cream tiles to match the kitchen. I chose a mini range oven in cream and I love using it. I wanted an aga but there wasn't room.

The kitchen afterwards, Looks much brighter!

I was ecstatic with the finished result and I still love it now much to the relief of my husband!