The house is done and sold and we're off travelling the world on our way to Vancouver where we're going to either end up with a townhouse in Burnaby, or if we're lucky a detached house in East Van. We'll see. To follow our travels go to:
www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Penscott/
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Monday, 6 April 2009
Sold!!!
Well, that's it our flat is now finished and sold. We sold it for £97,000 including most of the furniture to a family who's sun will be studying history at Stirling Uni. It's a cash purchase and should be pretty straight forward. We were a little disappointed that 6 months ago we would have got offers around £105,000. However considering that many people are losing money on their homes, or are having them reposessed we can't complain. We didn't make any money really, nor did we lose any. We just spend a year and a half renovating, which was just our time and effort.
We leave the flat on the 16th of May, and then we're planning on going travelling around a bit of Europe and America before getting married in Hawaii. So the next blog should be all about travel now that we've finished the flat. We'll post up the link to the new blog when we've got it going!
We leave the flat on the 16th of May, and then we're planning on going travelling around a bit of Europe and America before getting married in Hawaii. So the next blog should be all about travel now that we've finished the flat. We'll post up the link to the new blog when we've got it going!
Monday, 26 January 2009
A weekend of work, and we're finally done!!
So we'd planned to reno the flat in the space of a year roughly...but we took last summer off, and instead it took us almost 2 years, but it's done!! We're very happy with how it's turned out, and also to be done! Now the problem is getting it valued. We've had one estate agent in who said it was done very well, and had good sized bedrooms. However given the climate that it was probably only going to get around £96,000 now where 6 months ago it probably would have got around £105,000. Ouch. What can you do?
However it's done, and there are some pics of the finished flat below....whew, it feels good to be done!
The view from our living room window
The kitchen
more of the kitchen
The finished living room, much cozier with some pictures/paintings up
It's tidy too!
Our book case impressed some people...although they were Canadians who seemed to like built in book cases!!
The main bedroom, finished, carpeted, and tidied! It's a pretty big bedroom!
A better view of the main bedroom, or the Australian room as the pics over the bed are....of Australia!
Our finished, painted window boxes, we had these made for additional storage
A bedroom door with a handle, do you know how long we didn't have a bedroom door!
The finished storage cupboard I spend almost 2 hours scraping paint off the floor....it sucked
It's mostly outdoors gear, but it has potential for many things!
The spare bedroom
Gizzy the hamster and another window box
This room is also known as the Canadian room as the pictures over the bed....are of Canada! No prizes for guessing that.
A door handle, I know it's silly to get excited about door handles, but when you didn't have any for almost 2 years....
The main hallway in the flat
We used the leftover carpet to recarpet the outdoor hallway, and repainted it with a nice warm terra cotta colour.
We built a wood section at the top of the bathroom doorway to hide the sliding door...
The bathroom wen through the biggest transformation with alot of work done ripping down walls, and basically gutting it. However we think it's turned out pretty well!
The tiling we did isn't too bad, but there's always room for improvement!
Our £1000 towel rail, that was a nightmare, and the storage/towel cupboard underneath...we wanted lots of storage for all life's little bits n pieces...and storage we have plenty of!
You can see where I started scraping at the top, and then all the paint on the floor at the bottom...almost 2 hours of knee busting pain!
However it's done, and there are some pics of the finished flat below....whew, it feels good to be done!
The view from our living room window
The kitchen
more of the kitchen
The finished living room, much cozier with some pictures/paintings up
It's tidy too!
Our book case impressed some people...although they were Canadians who seemed to like built in book cases!!
The main bedroom, finished, carpeted, and tidied! It's a pretty big bedroom!
A better view of the main bedroom, or the Australian room as the pics over the bed are....of Australia!
Our finished, painted window boxes, we had these made for additional storage
A bedroom door with a handle, do you know how long we didn't have a bedroom door!
The finished storage cupboard I spend almost 2 hours scraping paint off the floor....it sucked
It's mostly outdoors gear, but it has potential for many things!
The spare bedroom
Gizzy the hamster and another window box
This room is also known as the Canadian room as the pictures over the bed....are of Canada! No prizes for guessing that.
A door handle, I know it's silly to get excited about door handles, but when you didn't have any for almost 2 years....
The main hallway in the flat
We used the leftover carpet to recarpet the outdoor hallway, and repainted it with a nice warm terra cotta colour.
We built a wood section at the top of the bathroom doorway to hide the sliding door...
The bathroom wen through the biggest transformation with alot of work done ripping down walls, and basically gutting it. However we think it's turned out pretty well!
The tiling we did isn't too bad, but there's always room for improvement!
Our £1000 towel rail, that was a nightmare, and the storage/towel cupboard underneath...we wanted lots of storage for all life's little bits n pieces...and storage we have plenty of!
You can see where I started scraping at the top, and then all the paint on the floor at the bottom...almost 2 hours of knee busting pain!
Monday, 1 December 2008
Another room done! Well 2 actually.
Penny and I are getting close...very close of finishing the flat. We're waiting for Mark a mate, and coincidentally a joiner to come and finish off some work. He's putting in some window seats, and also fixing the built in bookshelves as they're pretty ugly at the moment. Once's he's done then we're ready to go! So in the meantime we've spent the last two weekends working on the living room floor trim, the cupboard by the kitchen, and the storage closet.
The trim required some angle cutting to make the corners fit...which was dodgy, because we didn't have enough material to make too many mistakes! We pulled it off though. So the trim now coveres the gaps between the hardwood flooring and the walls in the living room. We need to do the same for the hallway when we get around to finishing the hall.
The cupboard required a bit of paint, and a bit of wallpaper...not too tricky, just time consuming...but what a difference! Below you'll see the original salmon colour the whole living room was done in...and after the magnolia that the whole flat has been redone in.
The storage closet required a bit more work. The wall on the right was added in so it didn't have coving, or cornicing, or whatever you want to call it. So we had to cut and add a section of coving.
Once that was cut and added we could start the painting...again, what a difference!
So we've finished another couple of rooms, the living room and the storage closet...mostly. Like the rest of the flat flooring won't be done until last, but apart from that we've only got the main bedroom to paint, and the hallway to finish. We're hoping we can do this in the 3 weeks up to Christmas...wish us luck!
Better view of the wall and the trim.
The cupboard just after it was built
Note the lovely salmon paint on the walls!
We couldn't paint behind the piping, so we wallpapered!
A pain in the butt, but we finally finished painting it properly!
Much better than the horrible salmon hey!?
The storage cupboard when it was about 1 foot deep!
Then after Mark knocked the wall down and opened it up to the living room behind it.
Note the wall on the right is new, and has no coving at the top.
Now it's got coving, and it's about to be painted.
Partway through painting...
Yay! It's finished! Coving looks good!
It looks so much better now that it's finished...or maybe just feels so much better!
The trim required some angle cutting to make the corners fit...which was dodgy, because we didn't have enough material to make too many mistakes! We pulled it off though. So the trim now coveres the gaps between the hardwood flooring and the walls in the living room. We need to do the same for the hallway when we get around to finishing the hall.
The cupboard required a bit of paint, and a bit of wallpaper...not too tricky, just time consuming...but what a difference! Below you'll see the original salmon colour the whole living room was done in...and after the magnolia that the whole flat has been redone in.
The storage closet required a bit more work. The wall on the right was added in so it didn't have coving, or cornicing, or whatever you want to call it. So we had to cut and add a section of coving.
Once that was cut and added we could start the painting...again, what a difference!
So we've finished another couple of rooms, the living room and the storage closet...mostly. Like the rest of the flat flooring won't be done until last, but apart from that we've only got the main bedroom to paint, and the hallway to finish. We're hoping we can do this in the 3 weeks up to Christmas...wish us luck!
Floor trim, which hides the gaps between the floor and the wall.
Better view of the wall and the trim.
The cupboard just after it was built
Note the lovely salmon paint on the walls!
We couldn't paint behind the piping, so we wallpapered!
A pain in the butt, but we finally finished painting it properly!
Much better than the horrible salmon hey!?
The storage cupboard when it was about 1 foot deep!
Then after Mark knocked the wall down and opened it up to the living room behind it.
Note the wall on the right is new, and has no coving at the top.
Now it's got coving, and it's about to be painted.
Partway through painting...
Yay! It's finished! Coving looks good!
It looks so much better now that it's finished...or maybe just feels so much better!
Monday, 27 October 2008
Bathroom and Kitchen completely finished...
Okay so we'd about 95% finsihed the bathroom and the kitchen, however there were still a few things to do. Since Pen and I have set a target to get the flat finished before Christmas we've got a lot to do....so pretty much every weekend is going to be taken up finishing the flat...including this past one. We managed to completely finish the kitchen and bathroom...and what a good feeling it has to be said! That's two rooms down, and 4 to go! Have a look below to see what we did....
Click on pictures to enlarge the image
Okay you can see the hole in the wall, we had the sink unit built around the pipes, which hid them until you opened the cupboard under the sink....then you saw that gaping hole (which by the way is a great place for a scared kitten to hide).
Now boarded up and painted a fresh white.
We built this box to hide the rails to the sliding door, unfortunately it was pretty big and some considered it ugly....
So we went for a simpler option, one piece of wood rather than the box monstrocity, now you'd never know that the sliding door rails are there....and it's relatively unobtrusive.
Inside the bathroom this was one busy little corner. The trim needed to be painted, the tiles needed to be regrouted, and the wooden box in the bottom left of the pic covered the pipes, but it needed to be painted as the wood wasn't so pretty.
Eh voila, the tiles are now regrouted, the trim on the towel cupboard has been painted, and the wooden box hiding the pipes has been tiled.
Leaving the bathroom you saw the box monstrocity, which we opted to remove...
Now we've got the door and it's sliding rails covered by the pelmet...much better no?
We had this storage area built, but there was no hardwood flooring at the entrance.
Although not a perfect job by a long shot (you notice that when you're actually standing on the new flooring) it is certainly better and at least it's not bare floorboards anymore...besides, it's just a storage area right?
Now boarded up and painted a fresh white.
We built this box to hide the rails to the sliding door, unfortunately it was pretty big and some considered it ugly....
So we went for a simpler option, one piece of wood rather than the box monstrocity, now you'd never know that the sliding door rails are there....and it's relatively unobtrusive.
Inside the bathroom this was one busy little corner. The trim needed to be painted, the tiles needed to be regrouted, and the wooden box in the bottom left of the pic covered the pipes, but it needed to be painted as the wood wasn't so pretty.
Eh voila, the tiles are now regrouted, the trim on the towel cupboard has been painted, and the wooden box hiding the pipes has been tiled.
Leaving the bathroom you saw the box monstrocity, which we opted to remove...
Now we've got the door and it's sliding rails covered by the pelmet...much better no?
We had this storage area built, but there was no hardwood flooring at the entrance.
Although not a perfect job by a long shot (you notice that when you're actually standing on the new flooring) it is certainly better and at least it's not bare floorboards anymore...besides, it's just a storage area right?Monday, 18 August 2008
The big clean
Ok, so I had a wee operation and was told not to do any exercise, so as a result neither Penny nor the doctor would let me on my bike. Since the flat was a disaster as anyone visiting would have noticed, we decided to try and do a proper clean. So we went to B&Q in hopes of buying some shelving for our "storage cupboard". It hasn't been used as a storage cupboard for anything except building materials and crap since we had it built. As a result, our bedroom has been a warehouse storing all manners of things. Although mostly outdoors equipment.
So finally, after the big clean you'll notice a difference, or maybe not, but we do, and our flat is starting to feel more like a home, and less like a construction site.
Also, since the last post you'll notice that after 9 months of waiting, we've finally got our bathroom towel unit in place, and we've even tiled the top. We just need to paint the wooden trim we put on....and shazam....she's done. That just leaves a bit of grouting on the floor, and a bit of painting....and yes folks, yes...the bathroom is done. That would then be the bathroom and the kitchen complete!!
However, we're not likely to get too much more done on the flat till we come back from Canada in October. We've got a few busy weekends, and want to enjoy what's left of the fading summer nights. So check back around the end of October and we should have an update....till then...enjoy what's left of your summer.....we will!!
Scott
You may not notice, nor care, but you can see the floor!! No shoes, no boxes, no nothing!
We moved the wee dresser from the window...so you can get to the window now!
Ahh, the floor again!! Not a box to be seen!
That is the most cluttered the room is....I can live with that.
I still love that shower door...great job babe!
Look, a towel unit!!
Look a towel unit and a £1000 towel rail!
Notice the tiles on the top of the towel unit? We think it's a nice touch. The trim needs paint though.
So where did all the boxes, and crap that were being stored in the bedroom actually go to? Check it out, a storage cupboard...just what we needed. Awesome. Still needs to be painted though...we'll save that till October!
So finally, after the big clean you'll notice a difference, or maybe not, but we do, and our flat is starting to feel more like a home, and less like a construction site.
Also, since the last post you'll notice that after 9 months of waiting, we've finally got our bathroom towel unit in place, and we've even tiled the top. We just need to paint the wooden trim we put on....and shazam....she's done. That just leaves a bit of grouting on the floor, and a bit of painting....and yes folks, yes...the bathroom is done. That would then be the bathroom and the kitchen complete!!
However, we're not likely to get too much more done on the flat till we come back from Canada in October. We've got a few busy weekends, and want to enjoy what's left of the fading summer nights. So check back around the end of October and we should have an update....till then...enjoy what's left of your summer.....we will!!
Scott
You may not notice, nor care, but you can see the floor!! No shoes, no boxes, no nothing!
We moved the wee dresser from the window...so you can get to the window now!
Ahh, the floor again!! Not a box to be seen!
That is the most cluttered the room is....I can live with that.
I still love that shower door...great job babe!
Look, a towel unit!!
Look a towel unit and a £1000 towel rail!
Notice the tiles on the top of the towel unit? We think it's a nice touch. The trim needs paint though.
So where did all the boxes, and crap that were being stored in the bedroom actually go to? Check it out, a storage cupboard...just what we needed. Awesome. Still needs to be painted though...we'll save that till October!
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