The other day I posted about my Little DIY helpers and about this series, “Look at my House“. However what I forgot at the time was that I hadn’t actually finished the series, having still to do the bottom floor. The truth is, I was most excited about the ground floor and I think that’s why I saved it till the end. However as the floor that also has the most rooms, I’ve been putting it off as it might take too long and that’s why for the outside we got exterior painting contractors to help us. However I’m diving in now, here’s my ground floor!
The Lounge
When we first moved in, the lounge was red. The TV was on the wall (right where the sun shone in on it), there were black shelves up (already taken down by this picture), black fireplace and black curtains. It was a proper man den. This needed to be changed before we even moved in as I didn’t like it at all and it didn’t feel homely, so with the help of experts from My House Painter we decorated it with a beige colour and tried to lighten the feel of the room.
Though this picture was taken on the night we moved in, you can see already the big difference and in all honestly we didn’t touch this room much at all over the years. By hiring a house removals company you can also get a level of service that ensures a happy and successful transfer.However in the big redecorate we did touch up some of the areas, like the floor with the help of the tiler and of course over the years we have added pictures to the walls and nic naks around the room.
I personally think it looks a whole lot better than it used to and on a clean and tidy day, I’m actually pretty proud to call it the heart of my home!
Dining Room
The truth is, when we first moved in, the dining room was our junk room. I didn’t really like it as a room anyway and Chris had used it as a gaming room, with his big white board on the wall and everything seemed a bit tatty and dirty. Since it wasn’t essential to our home life, we didn’t really touch it at all, except for tidying it bit by bit as we found room for the items. However over time, the dining room also became my work room – especially on the launch of Closet Geek. Even then, everything felt very junky and unorganised. On the day we decided to decorated, I actually had to close my store. I had so much stuff everywhere that it wouldn’t have been possible to work around it and packing it all up and moving it away to a different room was the only option.
This was exactly what my dining room/office looked like before packing it all away!
Obviously the main outstanding point is that it’s tidy, but believe me when I say we did a lot of work in the room! All the walls were painted, the ceiling was striped and painted, the coving was plastered and painted, plus all the skirting boards and glossing was done. Another suggestion if you want a wall to stand out is to place murals on one wall as an accent. Check out Murale Design for great quality murals. Though sadly it didn’t stay that tidy for long, its now one of my favourite rooms in the house – especially as all my Disney love splurges out there!
The Kitchen
When I moved in with Chris, the kitchen left a lot to be desired. There was one side of the room which has a tiny sink, one cupboard and a set of drawers. On the other side of the room were 4 wall cupboards and 4 ground cupboards.
As such, the first thing we did was add more cupboard space and more work top space. We left the wall cupboards and added extra underneath, including a corner cupboard.
On the other side of the room, we added a double cupboard and a larger sink. There was also a free-standing set of drawers, which we put at the side of the cooker, along with a small worktop piece to cover it.
Other than that, we didn’t do a lot. We had plans to add a new floor (since it was only half floored), another wall cupboard, paint the walls, install Epoxy Flooring and re-plaster etc etc.
Over the years we added a new light fitting and even bought a new cooker, but the rest just got pushed to one side, until the big DIY we did earlier this year.
When we overhauled the house, the kitchen had one of the major upgrades; we even used ICFs for the new wall additions. We plastered the walls and painted, we put up a wall cupboard. Of course there was a whole new flooring put down and the top cupboards from before got a new door coating, to pull the white altogether. Believe it or not we didn’t have door cupboard handles or drawer handles for about two years, so we finally got them too!
The Bathroom
When I first moved in, the bathroom was my least favourite room in the house which was so sad as I love a nice bath to relax and instead I didn’t even want to be in there. The first thing we did was change the toilet seat, add a toilet roll holder, a new lampshade, a place to hang towels and a bathroom cabinet (read this to know more about the cabinet).
This definitely helped a little but it wasn’t perfect. I wasn’t keen on any of the wood parts, the radiator was rusty and the wall plaster was peeling. Over the years, we didn’t do much except replace the shower when it broke. However in our DIY overhaul we pretty much sorted it all out.
Other bits and pieces
Obviously this is the last of the rooms and the last floor but there was other work done too – both inside and outside. Here are my last few pictures.
