Our new project House (and rock cave houses)
Discussion
Good evening all,
Trust you are keeping well?
I thought we should put a small update on, to appraise of the planned move…
It didn’t happen.
Largely because with one week left to go, and a number of small but fairly critical jobs left to complete, our main workman decided he was needed on a job down south.
Sadly, he didn’t inform us of the above until ten minutes before leaving, on Monday afternoon.
On the plus side, it meant that our tiler could come and finish the shower in the en-suite…
Some of the carpentry for the wife’s dressing room started to take shape
And the utility room got nearly finished
Then, on Thursday of last week, Thermaskirt turned up and installed the heating in the lounge skirting…
And, we rebooked our move… for this Friday
In anticipation of the big day, we decided this afternoon to have a go at putting our first piece of furniture in the house….
Our bed…
The headboard of which can be seen here, casually resting against the MiL’s car
With our removals guys not turning up until Friday, I am quite keen to get the bed in the house and built, knowing that otherwise it will get to last thing on Friday night and we will end up sleeping on the floor..
Not how I want to spend the first night asleep in the new house..
So, a quick trip up the road to see Paul the Farmer, and this happened
And then this…..
https://youtube.com/shorts/Tlmlg_NctFY?feature=sha...
The bed frame is now safely ensconced in our kitchen, and that’ll be where it stays until we get some lifting gear installed to get it through the gable end door of our bedroom….
So, plan for this week.
Plumbers and cleaners coming Thursday for final few bits and to try and get the place to look/feel clean.
Friday. the big move (part deux)
Watch this space
Cheers all,
Trust you are keeping well?
I thought we should put a small update on, to appraise of the planned move…
It didn’t happen.
Largely because with one week left to go, and a number of small but fairly critical jobs left to complete, our main workman decided he was needed on a job down south.
Sadly, he didn’t inform us of the above until ten minutes before leaving, on Monday afternoon.
On the plus side, it meant that our tiler could come and finish the shower in the en-suite…
Some of the carpentry for the wife’s dressing room started to take shape
And the utility room got nearly finished
Then, on Thursday of last week, Thermaskirt turned up and installed the heating in the lounge skirting…
And, we rebooked our move… for this Friday
In anticipation of the big day, we decided this afternoon to have a go at putting our first piece of furniture in the house….
Our bed…
The headboard of which can be seen here, casually resting against the MiL’s car
With our removals guys not turning up until Friday, I am quite keen to get the bed in the house and built, knowing that otherwise it will get to last thing on Friday night and we will end up sleeping on the floor..
Not how I want to spend the first night asleep in the new house..
So, a quick trip up the road to see Paul the Farmer, and this happened
And then this…..
https://youtube.com/shorts/Tlmlg_NctFY?feature=sha...
The bed frame is now safely ensconced in our kitchen, and that’ll be where it stays until we get some lifting gear installed to get it through the gable end door of our bedroom….
So, plan for this week.
Plumbers and cleaners coming Thursday for final few bits and to try and get the place to look/feel clean.
Friday. the big move (part deux)
Watch this space
Cheers all,
Good morning all
Finally, we managed to get time to post an update! It’s been a cray cray few weeks, and our apologies for not managing to get this up sooner!
Last time we spoke, I was posting from the Chorus 34 Mk II (two berth) for the very last time. It was the morning that we were due to move and move we most certainly did.
Most of the rooms are now finished with the exception of the guest bathroom which is being finished this week!
We don’t yet have all of our art and pictures and hoarded random items up on the walls/littered about the house
We’re going to take some time to live here for a bit first, and get a feel for where everything should be and where stuff would best be placed…
Anyhow, you kind and patient people have stuck with us for this long and it feels only right that we should get to the point and start posting some pics
Disclaimer; this post might be a bit lengthy, I’m going to try and post pictures of before and after wherever possible as per another post on a previous page (thank you to whoever did that)
And, so it be on to this…
This first one isn’t very representative really, but bear with
The kitchen in the house when we bought it…
And
Mid way through the build…
And as it looks now…
We are pretty happy with how it has turned out, and it defo delivers on our spec of being a sociable place to cook, hangout and drink… but more on that later
The lounge hasn’t really changed much in terms of layout, although it is arguably now a bit less cluttered
When we bought the house…
And how it looks now… very much unfinished as we have the sofa and log burner still to go in, but you get the idea
The downstairs cloakroom when we bought the place needed a light freshen up…
You can kinda see it just peeping through here
And in its full glory
It now looks like this….
And for the train fans amongst you…
^^^ Apparently my wife bought this thinking of my dad…
Now, my dad is a train fan, always has been, but still… a bit odd innit?
Anyhow, if he is well enough to come and visit us again someday, he can have a ceremonial s
t and admire the heritage….
Moving swiftly on……
The hallway used to look like this….
That’s me in the pic, thinking FML!
Now it looks like this
And the stairs have changed
From
To
[url]
Utility room… well, we didn’t have one before
But we do now
Upstairs is where some of the biggest differences are most obvious..
Previously the landing looked like this…
And has changed to this at the top of the stairs…
You can just about see the guest bedroom peeking though the corner of the photo… this was previously the bathroom of the old house.
For those of you with a good memory, the bathroom was a bit of a horror show
The bathroom is no more, and is now the guest bedroom
The other bedroom upstairs, is the only original part of the old house that I will miss.
Not because it was very nice, it wasn’t…
It was however the place where I spray painted the roof of the Landrover, shortly after purchasing her in 2021.
The one and only time I will ever be allowed by my wife to spray paint part of a car, inside our house
The former bedroom/spray booth is now the home office
Not the greatest pic, but you get the general idea..
Then on to what was formerly the master bedroom of the old house.
Which is now our en-suite
And lastly, the final room of the upstairs, which is our bedroom.
To kind of give you an idea of the layout.
Approximately a third of the upstairs is configured as our bedroom area, with the main bedroom door leading into it off the landing then leading to the remainder of the upstairs landing, with an archway to our bedroom on the left and the en-suite straight ahead.
There is no before and after for this bit, as there was no before… it’s all new
Main bedroom area
View from the bed
Dressing room for my wife, to keep her treasures….
My wife be like
I have only stepped foot in the dressing room a few times, to put up hanging rails and connect her Alexa.
I shall probably never set foot in there again
And then finally the split between the bedroom and the en-suite.
Main bedroom door in front, with sofa for occasional sofa ing
And then 180 degrees behind
Which takes us round about up to the present day….
It’s been a weird time, finally moving in you know.
You think it will be a big bang, a huge sense of relief and a closing feeling of “yaaaaaassssss! We did it”
There is a bit of that, and that part is growing as we begin to settle into the place and it becomes a lived in home, and of course we love it, but there is still a feeling of much left unresolved/to do.
We have been working through the feelings above and think we have arrived at the conclusion that your home become familiar, familiarity which puts you at ease and provides emotional peace, safety and sanctuary.
Having shared our home with so many strangers during the process of building it, some of whom we are now fortunate to have as friends, and some of whom we hope to never see again, it feels now as though we can start reclaiming the house as ours.
The doors will only (and always) be open to those we love, and can be closed against those we don’t. It hasn’t felt like that for a long time…..
Hopefully ^^^ that all kinda makes sense
Taking into account the above, we thought we would accelerate the process by getting friends over to stay on the very first weekend we properly lived here..
Much of this happened
Bongs of champagne… now we aren’t really fizz people, more your Mad Dog 20/20, Thunderbird, or Frosty Jacks cider kind of pissheads
But family had been kind enough to bring bottles when they had come to visit us, and it seemed rude not not to get a bit spannered.
Probably wasn’t my finest idea before trying to cook us a Lamb Biryani though tbh….
Anyway it was edible, and we were too pissed to care that much, even if it wasn’t, which it definitely was, probably…
Moving on to present day..
Well, the downside of being fortunate enough to wake up to this view every morning
Is that you get a daily reminder that lawn is there, and likely needs cutting..
I did it last weekend using my trusty EBay £100 Mountfield self propelled mower, and although valiant (and tbf has been incredible for £100), it took hours (as I had left it too long whilst mowing) and nearly killed me.
I had a vague idea of what I wanted, tentative clearance to proceed had been obtained from the minister for fun and finance, and so I sallied forth to the local agri/garden place in Bridgnorth to do some fact finding, and some looking at the shiny things
And now this is being delivered tomorrow
Should be ideal for what we need it for, and I have offered to purchase a trailer also and give my wife rides round the garden
I will keep you all updated, if people are still interested/awake after reading all of the above…
Thanks as always for all your kind/constructive comments and advice throughout this thread, and for sticking with us for this long!
(….. still quite a bit left to do
Finally, we managed to get time to post an update! It’s been a cray cray few weeks, and our apologies for not managing to get this up sooner!
Last time we spoke, I was posting from the Chorus 34 Mk II (two berth) for the very last time. It was the morning that we were due to move and move we most certainly did.
Most of the rooms are now finished with the exception of the guest bathroom which is being finished this week!
We don’t yet have all of our art and pictures and hoarded random items up on the walls/littered about the house
We’re going to take some time to live here for a bit first, and get a feel for where everything should be and where stuff would best be placed…
Anyhow, you kind and patient people have stuck with us for this long and it feels only right that we should get to the point and start posting some pics
Disclaimer; this post might be a bit lengthy, I’m going to try and post pictures of before and after wherever possible as per another post on a previous page (thank you to whoever did that)
And, so it be on to this…
This first one isn’t very representative really, but bear with
The kitchen in the house when we bought it…
And
Mid way through the build…
And as it looks now…
We are pretty happy with how it has turned out, and it defo delivers on our spec of being a sociable place to cook, hangout and drink… but more on that later
The lounge hasn’t really changed much in terms of layout, although it is arguably now a bit less cluttered
When we bought the house…
And how it looks now… very much unfinished as we have the sofa and log burner still to go in, but you get the idea
The downstairs cloakroom when we bought the place needed a light freshen up…
You can kinda see it just peeping through here
And in its full glory
It now looks like this….
And for the train fans amongst you…
^^^ Apparently my wife bought this thinking of my dad…
Now, my dad is a train fan, always has been, but still… a bit odd innit?
Anyhow, if he is well enough to come and visit us again someday, he can have a ceremonial s
t and admire the heritage…. Moving swiftly on……
The hallway used to look like this….
That’s me in the pic, thinking FML!
Now it looks like this
And the stairs have changed
From
To
[url]
Utility room… well, we didn’t have one before
But we do now
Upstairs is where some of the biggest differences are most obvious..
Previously the landing looked like this…
And has changed to this at the top of the stairs…
You can just about see the guest bedroom peeking though the corner of the photo… this was previously the bathroom of the old house.
For those of you with a good memory, the bathroom was a bit of a horror show
The bathroom is no more, and is now the guest bedroom
The other bedroom upstairs, is the only original part of the old house that I will miss.
Not because it was very nice, it wasn’t…
It was however the place where I spray painted the roof of the Landrover, shortly after purchasing her in 2021.
The one and only time I will ever be allowed by my wife to spray paint part of a car, inside our house
The former bedroom/spray booth is now the home office
Not the greatest pic, but you get the general idea..
Then on to what was formerly the master bedroom of the old house.
Which is now our en-suite
And lastly, the final room of the upstairs, which is our bedroom.
To kind of give you an idea of the layout.
Approximately a third of the upstairs is configured as our bedroom area, with the main bedroom door leading into it off the landing then leading to the remainder of the upstairs landing, with an archway to our bedroom on the left and the en-suite straight ahead.
There is no before and after for this bit, as there was no before… it’s all new
Main bedroom area
View from the bed
Dressing room for my wife, to keep her treasures….
My wife be like
I have only stepped foot in the dressing room a few times, to put up hanging rails and connect her Alexa.
I shall probably never set foot in there again
And then finally the split between the bedroom and the en-suite.
Main bedroom door in front, with sofa for occasional sofa ing
And then 180 degrees behind
Which takes us round about up to the present day….
It’s been a weird time, finally moving in you know.
You think it will be a big bang, a huge sense of relief and a closing feeling of “yaaaaaassssss! We did it”
There is a bit of that, and that part is growing as we begin to settle into the place and it becomes a lived in home, and of course we love it, but there is still a feeling of much left unresolved/to do.
We have been working through the feelings above and think we have arrived at the conclusion that your home become familiar, familiarity which puts you at ease and provides emotional peace, safety and sanctuary.
Having shared our home with so many strangers during the process of building it, some of whom we are now fortunate to have as friends, and some of whom we hope to never see again, it feels now as though we can start reclaiming the house as ours.
The doors will only (and always) be open to those we love, and can be closed against those we don’t. It hasn’t felt like that for a long time…..
Hopefully ^^^ that all kinda makes sense
Taking into account the above, we thought we would accelerate the process by getting friends over to stay on the very first weekend we properly lived here..
Much of this happened
Bongs of champagne… now we aren’t really fizz people, more your Mad Dog 20/20, Thunderbird, or Frosty Jacks cider kind of pissheads
But family had been kind enough to bring bottles when they had come to visit us, and it seemed rude not not to get a bit spannered.
Probably wasn’t my finest idea before trying to cook us a Lamb Biryani though tbh….
Anyway it was edible, and we were too pissed to care that much, even if it wasn’t, which it definitely was, probably…
Moving on to present day..
Well, the downside of being fortunate enough to wake up to this view every morning
Is that you get a daily reminder that lawn is there, and likely needs cutting..
I did it last weekend using my trusty EBay £100 Mountfield self propelled mower, and although valiant (and tbf has been incredible for £100), it took hours (as I had left it too long whilst mowing) and nearly killed me.
I had a vague idea of what I wanted, tentative clearance to proceed had been obtained from the minister for fun and finance, and so I sallied forth to the local agri/garden place in Bridgnorth to do some fact finding, and some looking at the shiny things
And now this is being delivered tomorrow
Should be ideal for what we need it for, and I have offered to purchase a trailer also and give my wife rides round the garden
I will keep you all updated, if people are still interested/awake after reading all of the above…
Thanks as always for all your kind/constructive comments and advice throughout this thread, and for sticking with us for this long!
(….. still quite a bit left to do
Alex Z said:
Excellent end result. I won't ask what it all cost, but how far off the planned budget in percentage terms were you after all of the rework?
You know the bit at the end of GD when Kevin asks the same question as above..And the couple start looking a bit thoughtful, and then do some mental arithmetic, then look worried, then give up and change the subject?
Yeah, well, we are there at the mo.
I’ll defo post the outcome, albeit not specifics but %, in the interests of transparency and my own curiosity, once I’ve worked it out.
To be clear, we aren’t sufficiently liquid to not have to worry about where we have drawn the money down from. It’s more a case of trying to work out how much of our savings we have plundered/been lent/found down the back of the sofa…
Put it this way, there is a nice Tudor Black Bay 58 (blue) for sale on the watches thread, as I try and restore some semblance of balance to our finances
Hopefully helpful
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