Look our bedroom is nearly finished!!!! Some amazing before and after pictures.

I'm too excited even as I type that our bedroom is very, very nearly finished! I know I've been saying that for weeks but we really are very close now, so close in fact that we have actually made up the bed ready to move in!

We have three drawer handles to fit on to the dressing table, as well as the main door furniture to fit on the bedroom door. We need to buy a dressing table stool which is proving incredible tricky to find one to fit in with the rest of our bedroom and lastly we need to choose some vinyl to cover the dressing table and then we are finished! 100% finished and ready to move in, although I think we will move in this weekend regardless of whether we have chosen the vinyl and the dressing table stool as several hours have been spent both in stores and online looking for the perfect products and we can't find any that jump out and complete the room, so we would prefer to wait until we find the perfect products and move in anyway.

Here's how the room is looking right now. I'd love to know your thoughts....

 

Hard to believe the room looked like this just 10 months ago! 

It's the finishing touches that make a room complete

When we bought our first ever house together just over two years ago a friend said to us it'll never be finished, as soon as you finish one job a previous will need redoing and as for the garden it'll be a full time job keeping it maintained.

Although the downstairs of the house looks finished, or at least finished enough to live in whilst we continue work upstairs their are many jobs that still need final finishes downstairs. The skirtings are only balanced in place waiting to build custom build cupboards in the alcoves to then fit the skirtings to. The plinths above the kitchen cupboards are again not fixed and require painting. Then there are edges of walls that have been chipped when moving materials and furniture up and down the stairs that need touching in.

However in the bedroom we are finishing this 100% before moving in. Filling minor holes and flaws in walls and the ceiling, window frames sanded back and painted even getting all new soft furnishings including duvet covers, curtains and cushions. Downstairs we've made do with our old lamp shade temporarily until we find one to suit the room, our cushions from our old rented house, as well as the old TV stand that has been with us for over 6 years and being a black and glass unit does not fit in with our country cottage feel for the room. These things will all be replaced and remade eventually but are temporary whilst we work elsewhere on the house. But the bedroom is different the master bedroom that we have waited over two years to complete is going to be 100% finished to a high standard before we move in.

This week we have worked hard on finishing touches, we've put a mirror up above the dressing table area.

The window frame has been sanded and painted.

The new bedroom door has been hung, that's now three out of the four rooms upstairs with new doors and just the box room left needing it's new matching bedroom door.

There are a few jobs left to finish but we should be able to move in very soon. We need to find a vinyl to cover the top of the dressing table and also find a dressing table stool that matches the rest of the bedroom.
We also need to fit three new drawer handles on the dressing table draws and fit the door handles to the door and the room is ready to dress and move in. Now to get shopping for those last few bits and finally move into our gorgeous master bedroom. It's already looking beautiful and It will definitely be worth the two year wait and a lot of hard work!

Stripping wall paper in the landing

Although our main focus of attention has been to complete the master bedroom lately but jobs in the bedroom aren't always a two person job and my partner is fine on his own working in the bedroom. Whilst he works in the bedroom adding finishing and final touches I make a start on the landing striping off all the old wallpaper ready to have the landing and stairs plastered.

The wall the follows up alongside the stairs is particularly wonky from top to bottom and may need plaster boarding before it is plastered but due to the thickness of the available area we might not be able to use a timber frame to hold the plaster board and may need to use a dot and dab technique for the plaster board. Either way the wallpaper on this wall needs removing and that's my job for the day!

With a make shift plank of wood screwed over the stairs it gives my a rather scary plinth above the stairs to work on the higher parts of the wall.

Several hours later the wall is striped of all remnants of wallpaper and lining paper and ready for the next stage in the house. We aren't sure where to spend our money next. Getting the hallway complete would not only transform the upstairs landing but it would be the last remaining bit downstairs that still looks like a building site. But there's a part of me that thinks we should finish the bedrooms first and then move out to the landing. I don't want to be damaging the freshly plastered landing by moving furniture and materials into the other bedrooms. 

Until we are ready to make that decision it is back to working on the master bedroom to get that one finally finshed. 

Finishing touches in the master bedroom

We had the wall lights fitted last week and then had the task of looking for a lamp shade for the master bedroom. You wouldn't think that buying a lamp shade was a hard task but when you have two people with absolutely no idea what we both want it is quite a challenge. After a few hours at lighting show rooms, The Range, Homebase and Dunelm Mill we both found ourselves drawn to the dame lamp shade. 

Again neither of us had in mind that we wanted a paper lamp shade that cost a small fortune due to it's Habitat price tag but we both stood in the store looking at this intricately folded piece of paper and both agreed that this was the one we wanted! 

Next job is to start assembling the bed in the room and we start to see what our new bedroom is going to look like once finished and I'm really excited to say it's looking fabulous and I can't wait for it to be finished and move into our lovely new master bedroom.

Final painting in the master bedroom

After 2 years of owning our first ever house and gutting every room it's really exciting to finally see the master bedroom coming together. The whole time we have owned this house we have moved from room to room. Temporarily in one room whilst we work on the other and vice versa. We've moved from room to room whilst the plumbing was being completed. We've moved from room to room when the rooms were actually structured  and even slept in the room with plastic sheeting between us and the room next door when the walls were removed.

We made the decision to remove the bedroom wall and make the second bedroom smaller to enable us to use the extra space in the master bedroom to build inbuilt wardrobes. At the time I did wonder if it would all be worth it, the dust, the mess, the noise and the massive lack of somewhere to really relax and sleep but now the room is coming together it was all definitely worth it.

Last week we had the carpet fitted, and after two years my bare feet felt carpet under foot for the first time and it was definitely worth the wait. However soon after the carpet was laid it was quickly covered up with dust sheets to protect it whilst we complete a little more painting in the room,

 The ceiling that was once black and mouldy is finally now gorgeous crisp and white. The skirting boards that were also recently fitted are now also painted in an off white colour and the room is really starting to look finished and very professional and most of all very inviting and I can't wait to move in.

Carpet fitting in the bedroom

When we booked the carpet fitters this was going to be the final finishing touch for the bedroom however we never quite reached the deadline and still have the ceiling to paint and the skirting to paint.

Rather than cancel the carpet fitting and reschedule when we are ready, we decided to continue and get the carpet laid.

It's hard to believe the room looked like this just a few months ago, I keep saying there's lots to do to get the bedroom done, but looking back at how much we have already done it's really close to being finished.

Now sadly we need to cover the carpet back over with dust sheets to complete a few last bits of painting before we can move into the bedroom.

Work continues renovating the bedroom

Work might have slowed down lately on the bedroom and yet again it's due to money, it might only be little jobs that need doing to complete the room but each little job costs a lot of money. The steps might be slow but our bedroom is really taking shape. 

The next job ticked of the list is the electrics and this needed an electrician to come in. Only a few hours help from the electrician and we now have wall lights with switches either side of the bed, wall sockets and wall lights

We now have a deadline to reach as we have the carpet fitters booked for next week and there's still lots of painting and finishing jobs to do before the carpet goes down!

Bedroom redecorating, building a custom wardrobe

Earlier in the week I posted a list of what was left to do on the bedroom and had a few weeks to do these before our week off work to really crack on with the work. But with my partner super keen to get the bedroom completed he has booked the carpet fitter in for this week and not the week after!

We now have just 5 days to get the bedroom ready to be finished with carpet this Thursday! This weekend we have been working hard on the list to get things either done/

• Paint the surround around the wardrobe 
• Add handles

All the handles are now added to the drawers and doors and look amazing, and with the handles added we can actually add our clothes to the wardrobes and finally start clearing the box room and living room which has been stacked to the ceiling with the entire contents of our bedrooms. 

• Re-fit one wardrobe door

The wardrobe door to the far left was sitting a little proud and needed adjusting so that it was able to close properly. This is now done and so the wardrobes are complete and ready to be filled. 

• Paint the ceiling - There are a few pit holes and bumps in the ceiling that need filling and preparing before this is painted and this is the plan for this evening to get the ceiling painted before the carpet goes in. 
• paint the walls - Where we had painted sample colours on the wall  we were struggling to cover these with the new wall colour that we had chosen and even though we painted the test patches in white first these were still grinning through the paint. Both walls have now had second coats of paint and the walls are now well covered and complete.
• Complete the electrics, adding wall lights, sockets, and light switches - Our electrician is booked to come around Tuesday night to tick this job off the list.
• add skirting around the room - Now the walls are painted the skirting can be added and painted, we just need to squeeze this job in and get painted before Thursday.
• fit the radiator back on the wall - This is a quick job and can be completed now that the walls are painted. 
• paint the dressing table and fit - We originally had plans to wallpaper the dresser with the same paper that lines the inside of the wardrobes but as this area will be used it needs to be a bit stronger and have a protective coating so we need to research whether we can use glass or a vinyl wrap to seal the paper on the unit.

There's a fair amount of work to do before Thursday which means we both need to work hard each evening to get this all done but hopefully by the weekend we will be able to finally sleep in our wonderful new bedroom. 

Considering we have been in the house nearly 2 years it's been a long time coming having a bedroom fit for our needs and moving from one room to the next and back in between taking out walls and gutting rooms has been incredibly hard. I can't wait to see everything come together. Gutting the room has been a strain on us both as we've had clothes in the living room, chest of drawers on the landing and endless deliveries of doors, hinges and materials stock piled in the living room. Getting the room complete not only gives us the bedroom we dreamed of but once complete it gives us back a lot of space that's currently getting very very annoying. 

Kitchen Redecorating Ideas

Kitchen Remodeling Ideas
Your kitchen is the hub of your home. It’s where your family comes together to talk about their day, eat delicious meals, and relax with a nice cup of coffee. But sometimes you can get bored with the same design of the area over time, and think about what you can do to brighten up the space, or give it a warmer feeling. Taking on a kitchen makeover is not for the faint of heart, and you should be prepared to exercise a great deal of patience while renovations are under way.
According to kitchens.com, “Think of a kitchen remodel the same way you would think about partaking in a weight loss program: no matter what anyone tells you, it's not happening overnight. Your patience will be tested; you'll consider cutting corners that aren't worth cutting.”

Investing in your Home
An updated kitchen is one of the best investments that you can make in your home, and many times it adds more than just the cost of the project to your home’s value. In fact, a kitchen remodel for homes everywhere will increase the value of your home. It’s a lot of work, but if you can hang in there, the results are well worth it.

Budget
If you are like me, you have great plans for how you would like your kitchen to look and function, but not necessarily the funds to make your dreams come true. But don’t worry; there are still plenty of things you can do to spruce up the place on a budget. For instance; start with a simple paint job.
“To paint cabinets, first prime them with a de-glossing primer to help the paint adhere and eliminate the need for messy sanding,” says bhg.com. “Painting cabinets is time-consuming -- you need to remove doors, drawers, and hardware to do a thorough job -- but the results give you a fresh look for minimal cost.”
When looking at how much you can afford to spend on renovations, consider what kinds of improvements are most important to you. If what you crave is new appliances, scour the internet in search of the best deal. New cabinets can be relatively cheap depending on what kind of material and style you want to go with. A fresh coat of paint can many times change the entire feel of a room, and paint is not very expensive at all.

At a Little Cornish Home we managed to completely overhaul the kitchen but kept to a tight budget with second hand units and painted walls. We shopped around and got many quotes for the new doors and shopped on e-bay for the handles by shopping in a variety of different stores we managed to get the best prices and even a free dishwasher from a house clearance meaning the kitchen looks amazing but didn’t cost us a fortune.

Renovating our dream bedroom little step by little step

We are now speeding through the renovation of our master bedroom, the wardrobe has now been completely lined needing just under four rolls of wallpaper to allow the pattern to line up. Considering this is going to be on the inside and only seen as a treat when getting clothes out it was an expensive and time consuming addition to the bedroom but something that we both really wanted and it is those personal touches that make our house our own. 

The ten drawers in the middle of the wardrobe and been made and fitted as well as the first two cupboard doors going into place.

At the end of the weekend we had added all the doors and two of the handles to the wardrobes and can get an idea of how the room will look once completed. There are a few minor adjustments to make the far left hand door doesn't quite shut as neatly as we would like and is a few millimetres off being perfect so that will need amending. 

We also painted the surround of the wardrobe in an antique white colour that we would hope to complement the doors but both feel that this clashes and is too bright next to the doors and we have decided to paint the surround in the same colours that the walls are painted in.  

Jobs to do on the bedroom. 

• Paint the surround around the wardrobe 
• Add handles
• Re-fit one wardrobe door
• Paint the ceiling
• paint the walls
• Complete the electrics, adding wall lights, sockets, and light switches
• add skirting around the room
• fit the radiator back on the wall
• paint the dressing table and fit

Once all these jobs are done we can book in the carpet fitters and finally move into the bedroom and I can not wait.