What do we want from our house? What is missing? What do we need to improve? What is our budget?
These were questions we started with before creating our wish list and deciding on our chosen renovation project.
Our stand out number one wish is; 1) to make our house warm. It is so so cold as there is no central heating system. We currently use a coal burning stove in the kitchen and electric heaters which are generally pretty good but by no means an adequate heating solution for our house. Not only are the heaters inadequate, they are ugly, bulky and vastly expensive to run. We have to upgrade our heating solution, whether it be with a new oil boiler, LPG gas (we do not have mains gas to the property) or via a more eco friendly and sustainable concept such as an air or ground source heat pump.
2) to create an open plan kitchen/dining/lounge – typically a wish for most current day property transformations – it’s a way of living that most aspire to. We currently have a chimney in our kitchen which breaks up the flow and space of the room kitchen/dining room. Our ideal is to take this chimney out completely.
3) to create a 5th bedroom. Although we don’t actually need a 5th bedroom – we only need 3 rooms (one for me and Matt, one for James and one for Riley) and a spare for guests, we haven’t discounted the idea of a third child in the future!
4) to replace or reposition the conservatory. The conservatory is wonderful in the summer but in the winter it is practically unusable – it is freezing! There is no heating, it’s on a different level to the rest of the house (albeit only one step but this really affects the flow of things) and the wood is a mint green colour and crumbling away on the outside window cills. It needs to go or be changed.
5) to get rid of the PVC white windows and doors. We have always hated these! From the very first time we visited the house, we said “we have to change these!”.
6) to put ‘our stamp’ on the house and to make it our own. I want to make this house a home that represents us, our interests and our way of life. I love interior design so cannot wait to get stuck in, to create spaces that reflect our style.
Lovely family pic 🙂 x