Our Victorian/industrial/canalside new build thread...
Discussion
Loved watching this being built on here as it was happening, such a nice layout, very very jealous of the location and size of the grounds.
.... one can only dream.
Keep us all updated with any further updates.
Apart from a lack of sockets and down lighters, is there anything you would of fundamentally changed about the house?
.... one can only dream.
Keep us all updated with any further updates.
Apart from a lack of sockets and down lighters, is there anything you would of fundamentally changed about the house?
Thanks for all of the positive comments both on the thread and the house guys. Much appreciated.
Thunderguts...yes, I plan on repainting the bathrooms over Christmas...but need to decide on the colour, and this time get some test pots!
BenWRXSEi...no, not Indigo, it was Bespoke Rustic Furniture off eBay. Really pleased with the look (the wardrobe, out of shot, is a monster!) and it's very reasonably priced too.
ndg...kitchen was from Benchmarx, which is Travis Perkins. I think it's trade only technically, but they seem more than happy to sign you up for a trade card no questions asked! Our cabinets are Parma Gloss Cream. Worktops are solid oak, but a word of warning that they are much higher maintenance than granite or formica jobbies. You do need to be careful with staining spills and keep on top of the oiling. Sinks are Luisina granite. Appliances are Smeg, with a Beko tumble dryer (for some reason Smeg don't do a s/s tumble dryer). The washing machine came with us from our old place and is a washer dryer, although with a 10 month old both machines are often running! Wine cooler is Benchmarx as are the taps. Flooring is engineered oak (oiled)
Joestiff...yes, the one big thing that will annoy me forever is the footprint of the house. The council made us scale it back a bit, but strangely the front aspect was fine, what they insisted on was making the "L" bit shorter. In this shot you can see it between the main house and the garage. Now, if it had reached even 2-3 metres further into our back garden, it would have meant that we could have had a walk in wardrobe and a wider bathroom upstairs, and downstairs the loo could have been a wetroom. I don't really see what difference it would have made being bigger from a planning perspective, as to be honest you can only really see it if you stand in our garden. Just seems daft but there you go.
Another inch of height on the garage doors would have been good too. In the previous pics, where the Defender and the Porsche are in the garage together, the Defender is just about OK on that side, however where it's masked up for a bit of spray painting on the other side, it actually scrapes the top of the door frame! Gah! However it's a really early 110 so has the "runners" on the roof...I plan to rebuild it one day with the smooth roof which will cure that (very first world) problem. I didn't have the Defender when I started and if it was on standard tyres it would probably have been OK anyway.
Four other things...somehow with all the pressures of juggling life and a new baby, I forgot to run any Cat6 to the garage. It would be good to have a connection and an AP in there for perhaps looking at how-to videos on car mechanics. Easily sorted with a wirleline repeater I guess. Also, I forgot to get a TV cable run into the bedroom. Not that I've ever had a bedroom TV, but a bit annoying all the same. Thirdly, the light switch for the ensuite is in the bedroom. So basically you end up flooding the bedroom with light if you want to use it in the middle of the night. A pull cord inside the ensuite would have been far better to keep things dark. And lastly, having to buy a few tons of topsoil for the landscapers after having paid for it to be carted and tipped was a bit annoying! The topsoil should have been piled up but it looks like some went. Minor niggles though, let's be honest!
Thunderguts...yes, I plan on repainting the bathrooms over Christmas...but need to decide on the colour, and this time get some test pots!
BenWRXSEi...no, not Indigo, it was Bespoke Rustic Furniture off eBay. Really pleased with the look (the wardrobe, out of shot, is a monster!) and it's very reasonably priced too.
ndg...kitchen was from Benchmarx, which is Travis Perkins. I think it's trade only technically, but they seem more than happy to sign you up for a trade card no questions asked! Our cabinets are Parma Gloss Cream. Worktops are solid oak, but a word of warning that they are much higher maintenance than granite or formica jobbies. You do need to be careful with staining spills and keep on top of the oiling. Sinks are Luisina granite. Appliances are Smeg, with a Beko tumble dryer (for some reason Smeg don't do a s/s tumble dryer). The washing machine came with us from our old place and is a washer dryer, although with a 10 month old both machines are often running! Wine cooler is Benchmarx as are the taps. Flooring is engineered oak (oiled)
Joestiff...yes, the one big thing that will annoy me forever is the footprint of the house. The council made us scale it back a bit, but strangely the front aspect was fine, what they insisted on was making the "L" bit shorter. In this shot you can see it between the main house and the garage. Now, if it had reached even 2-3 metres further into our back garden, it would have meant that we could have had a walk in wardrobe and a wider bathroom upstairs, and downstairs the loo could have been a wetroom. I don't really see what difference it would have made being bigger from a planning perspective, as to be honest you can only really see it if you stand in our garden. Just seems daft but there you go.
Another inch of height on the garage doors would have been good too. In the previous pics, where the Defender and the Porsche are in the garage together, the Defender is just about OK on that side, however where it's masked up for a bit of spray painting on the other side, it actually scrapes the top of the door frame! Gah! However it's a really early 110 so has the "runners" on the roof...I plan to rebuild it one day with the smooth roof which will cure that (very first world) problem. I didn't have the Defender when I started and if it was on standard tyres it would probably have been OK anyway.
Four other things...somehow with all the pressures of juggling life and a new baby, I forgot to run any Cat6 to the garage. It would be good to have a connection and an AP in there for perhaps looking at how-to videos on car mechanics. Easily sorted with a wirleline repeater I guess. Also, I forgot to get a TV cable run into the bedroom. Not that I've ever had a bedroom TV, but a bit annoying all the same. Thirdly, the light switch for the ensuite is in the bedroom. So basically you end up flooding the bedroom with light if you want to use it in the middle of the night. A pull cord inside the ensuite would have been far better to keep things dark. And lastly, having to buy a few tons of topsoil for the landscapers after having paid for it to be carted and tipped was a bit annoying! The topsoil should have been piled up but it looks like some went. Minor niggles though, let's be honest!
Edited by Hard-Drive on Monday 14th November 17:36
Hard-Drive said:
Also, I forgot to get a TV cable run into the bedroom. Not that I've ever had a bedroom TV, but a bit annoying all the same.
There's ways of doing TV over Cat6, and it's not like you're short of that !It looks like a very nice house, fits in well with the surroundings too.
Pamoothican said:
That's a lovely house. Excellent post too.
I will build my own house one day, but for now maybe just an extension.
Oh, any pictures of the pipe/tunnel with the lights on?
'Fraid not, and I suspect my iPhone would be a bit pants at taking the night photo too. TBH at this time of year it's less impressive, as the solar panel is getting a lot less sunlight, however in the summer I was genuinely gobsmacked how well it works for a cheapo Amazon special.I will build my own house one day, but for now maybe just an extension.
Oh, any pictures of the pipe/tunnel with the lights on?
Hard-Drive said:
ndg...kitchen was from Benchmarx, which is Travis Perkins. I think it's trade only technically, but they seem more than happy to sign you up for a trade card no questions asked! Our cabinets are Parma Gloss Cream. Worktops are solid oak, but a word of warning that they are much higher maintenance than granite or formica jobbies. You do need to be careful with staining spills and keep on top of the oiling. Sinks are Luisina granite. Appliances are Smeg, with a Beko tumble dryer (for some reason Smeg don't do a s/s tumble dryer). The washing machine came with us from our old place and is a washer dryer, although with a 10 month old both machines are often running! Wine cooler is Benchmarx as are the taps. Flooring is engineered oak (oiled)
Thanks for this much appreciated!Edited by Hard-Drive on Monday 14th November 17:36
Hard-Drive said:
Biggest regrets/lessons learned are not having downlighters downstairs (budget was under pressure and it was going to add a fair chunk...or so it seemed at the time)
I'm at the stage where I need to commit to what lighting where. I've never had downlighters before. Do you wish you'd had them in all downstairs rooms and why?
Cheers
Hard-Drive said:
I forgot to run any Cat6 to the garage. It would be good to have a connection and an AP in there for perhaps looking at how-to videos on car mechanics. Easily sorted with a wirleline repeater I guess.
Yes, easy and effective.
Hard-Drive said:
Also, I forgot to get a TV cable run into the bedroom. Not that I've ever had a bedroom TV, but a bit annoying all the same.
Wouldn't sweat over this, really. We had one in out last three houses and never actually watched the thing
Hard-Drive said:
Thirdly, the light switch for the ensuite is in the bedroom. So basically you end up flooding the bedroom with light if you want to use it in the middle of the night. A pull cord inside the ensuite would have been far better to keep things dark.
Good point - maybe regs these days specify an external switch? I've had this on my last three developments and it's a bit irritating. The fixer-upper I'm in now has cords. They're from the 70's, but they're still cords.
Must try to remember not to forget this. And the water/leccie towel rails that I always forget. And the heated mirrors. That I also always forget.
Great effort OP, you must be really proud of yourself. The place looks great and it seemed to go up in very quick time, especially when you see some of the indulgent disasters on Grand designs that drag on for years. So credit not only to the overall vision and hard work up front before a brick was laid, but also to sensible design and planning to make it achievable with the given budget and timescale.
Pamoothican said:
That's a lovely house. Excellent post too.
I will build my own house one day, but for now maybe just an extension.
Oh, any pictures of the pipe/tunnel with the lights on?
Here you go. Now the longer days are here the solar battery gets a good charge and does the job well. Pic is just an old iPhone 5, no flash.I will build my own house one day, but for now maybe just an extension.
Oh, any pictures of the pipe/tunnel with the lights on?
Due to a rather sad change in circumstances (end of relationship) this property is now for sale. Sometimes life just doesn't turn out as expected so it's time for someone else to enjoy the effort that went into this.
I won't post a direct link as it might fall foul of moderation rules but the location is Hillmorton, Rugby, and the agent has been briefed to qualify buyers hard as I'm very keen to avoid viewings by people who have no intention/means of buying...trust me it's painful enough as is without timewasters, especially as I work from home too.
I guess it's a legacy and will still stand long after I've gone, so on the positive side it's good to have left a small mark on the world, and perhaps when things are back on an even keel I'd do the same thing again, having learned a lot about the self build process on this one! I won't go into any further details here but if anyone is looking for a PH-worthy house with a monster garage/man cave, this might just be it!
I won't post a direct link as it might fall foul of moderation rules but the location is Hillmorton, Rugby, and the agent has been briefed to qualify buyers hard as I'm very keen to avoid viewings by people who have no intention/means of buying...trust me it's painful enough as is without timewasters, especially as I work from home too.
I guess it's a legacy and will still stand long after I've gone, so on the positive side it's good to have left a small mark on the world, and perhaps when things are back on an even keel I'd do the same thing again, having learned a lot about the self build process on this one! I won't go into any further details here but if anyone is looking for a PH-worthy house with a monster garage/man cave, this might just be it!
Me too 
If it helps at all, the ad is nicely done..... https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/prop...
If it helps at all, the ad is nicely done..... https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/prop...
Firstly I am very sorry to hear you are heading down this path. I am sure whatever happens you will be ok.
Secondly, this is very strange, I spent a lot of this morning looking for this thread having for some strange reason thought about this house last night for reasons unknown. I found it and spent lunch skim reading in awe again. Was a shock when this popped back up at the top of the forum this evening.
Wishing you all the best.
Secondly, this is very strange, I spent a lot of this morning looking for this thread having for some strange reason thought about this house last night for reasons unknown. I found it and spent lunch skim reading in awe again. Was a shock when this popped back up at the top of the forum this evening.
Wishing you all the best.
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