Friday 20 September 2013

The most amazing kitchen tiles ever!

OK so the most amazing kitchen tiles EVER might be a bit of an over statement but theses tiles are pretty amazing. Throughout my life I have lived at my parents who has a country style kitchen with painted walls and a small tile splash back around the kitchen sink. I've also had various rented accommodation where the kitchens are fitted with the cheapest tiles in neutral colours. More often than not browns and beige tiles are a favourite for being the most appealing to the widest amount of tenants.   
Kitchen without tiles
Now that we own our own home our instant thought was to play it safe and go with some neutral tiles, keeping the kitchen simple especially for any future resale. But then we visited the tile show room and found these bright red tiles! We bought a few sample tiles in the bright red and also in a cream and white and placed them in the kitchen for a few days to see which ones we liked the most. It was a hands down favourite with both of us, we ordered up the tiles and next the job of fitting the outrageously bright red tiles. 
DIY kitchen tiles
As the wall behind the oven filled up we were beginning to wonder if we had made the right choice as it is extremely bright but the more rows of tiling that have been completed the more we fell in love with the colour.
New kitchen tiles

Red kitchen tiles

Red brick patten kitchen tiles
Now to grout the tiling and re fit the extractor hob and part of the kitchen is nearly complete.



Wednesday 18 September 2013

Painting the garage

With the last little bit of summer I'm making the most of it and painting the rest of the back of the house. We dug out the patio slabs a few weeks ago as we had drainage issues with the outside ground level higher than the inside and water was entering the house. Here you can see the tide line where the patio slabs have been removed. The new ground level is about 7 inches lower than it was previously. This has left us with a grubby black lines running across the wall. Although the wall does need rendering for now it it's getting a fresh coat of paint to brighten it up whilst we continue working on the inside of the house. Removing patio slabs

Exterior paint

Exterior painted garage

With the outbuilding now painted and the back of the garage also painted it certainly looks much better out there. Hopefully this will last over the winter until next year when the inside of the house is finished and we can start landscaping and improving the outside. Just need new doors, new windows and a new roof and the garage will be up to the same standard as the inside!



Monday 16 September 2013

Painting the original out building

When we bought the house this is what the outside of the back looked like. Although we had a vision for this area with a nice new patio and a bbq and a table and chairs the priorities were always to work on the inside of the house first.
Courtyard garden
We made some progress outside through removing the flower bed and re opening the access to the archway but to make the outside just that little bit more appealing we gave the whole area a lick of paint. Removing the lose render off the wall and giving the wall a good scrub meant that it was ready for a lick of paint.  
Removing render from walls
It needs to be properly rendered and painted but for the time being the old outbuilding now looks a lot fresher. Hopefully it'll stay this way over the winter before we are ready to render the outside of the house properly and make the garden the area that we dream of creating.  
Exterior painting


Saturday 14 September 2013

New guttering on the front of the house

With the weather is on our side it is time to replace the rotten crumbling guttering on the front of the house around the garage. This has been a problem since we moved in where the guttering wasn't attached to the wall in most places and the gutters leaked down the walls in other parts.
Replacing leaking drain pipes
Sending James's dad out to the local DIY store he picks up the required new section of drain pipe and fixes this to the garage including a new section of wood to replace the previous rotten wood.
New drain pipes


Thursday 12 September 2013

The boys arrive to crack on with the plastering

The boys arrive bright and early at the weekend to plaster the kitchen. This includes the kitchen ceiling and kitchen walls. Seeing the last parts of the open plan downstairs getting plastered is really exciting as it means that we can soon finish the kitchen and finally see the restoration come to a finish.
Plastering in the kitchen
James and his dad drinking coffee whilst our hired plasterer gets to work on the plastering. 
Candy plastering Newquay

Plastering the ceiling
Our extremely happy plasterer Tom from Candy plastering in Newquay. If your wondering why the plaster doesn't go all the way down to the kitchen tops this is because it doesn't need to as the tiles will be going over this part of the wall.  
Plastering a kitchen

Kitchen plastering




Tuesday 3 September 2013

Painting the exterior of the house

Waiting for sunny weather in the UK is a very good British past time and when doing DIY this makes no exception. The kitchen window looks straight out onto this retaining wall from next doors garden and whilst it is green and mouldy it isn't particularly nice to look out on. 
With some weather proof masonry paint the old wall brightened up a treat, and this reflects light straight back into the kitchen and through the house.  
Just the rest of the outside of the house to paint before the summer ends!


Sunday 1 September 2013

Fitting a new stable door

When we moved in there was not much we actually liked about the house in terms of fittings and fixtures. We loved the house as a shell and loved it's location and saw it had loads of potential but knew that it was going to need a lot of work and a lot of money thrown at it to get it to being our little dream home in Cornwall. But slowly things are now really coming together and the house is becoming everything that we ever dreamed of owning. 
Replacing a back door
Here's the back of the house with the rotten soggy ceiling, the old wooden single glazed window and the old poorly fitting back door. 
Fitting a stable door
Making the house a more cute cottage is exactly what we both wanted and the addition of this new stable door has really helped. But more importantly the door fits and locks a lot better than the old warped back door that made you think the glass was going to come smashing out of it every time you shut the door.