2013 Round Up

Ok so I meant to post this a week ago but with one thing and another it hasn't happened! As usual at the end of the year I like to do a little round up of everthing we've managed to get done on the house in the last 12 months.

The biggest project of 2013 was definitely the bathroom revamp, most people don't take a year to do this but we where hampered all the way through by lack of time and money (the curse of the freelancer!), meaning that there where whole months were we where both so busy with work that the bathroom simply had to wait.

Heres a quick recap of how it look Christmas 2012...

and heres Jan 2013 when Rich go in there with heavy duty tools...

As the floor was rotten from years of pipes leaking, it all had to come out and be replaced...lets not talk about it...it was hell, it snowed we had no loo...best forgotten about really. 

Once we had the suit in we decided to tile the whole room floor to ceiling...bloody idiots! Never again!

This makes it all look deceptively simple, trust me it wasn't! There the long nights of trying to get the loo plumbed in, we had to replace the first bath after it accidentally got chipped meaning we had to find the cash for the replacement! Rich ruptured a disk in his back after changing the bath tubs over meaning there was two months where he wasn't allowed to lift anything. We had to send the first radiator back as it was bent. We didn't have enough money to buy all the tiles we needed up front, we had to buy them as we earned the cash so a job that should have taken a month took six. I remember sobbing into a tub of grout while tiling late into the night as I was convince we would never get it finished. But finally we are nearly there, we just have the lino and the bath panel to finish, the flooring guys are booked in for two weeks time and I cant wait!


The next big job for 2013 that desperately needed doing was the windows throughout the house needed replacing before winter, luckily I convince Rich that this was a jobs he didn't need to tackle and that it just might be money well spend to get professionals in instead!

Before...

After...

This was hands down the best thing we spent money on in the last year (or possibly a close tie with getting the new shower hooked up), it wasn't cheap, we had to sell our Landrover the fund it but it was totally worth it. We have really noticed the difference this winter too and I love that the house now looks 'right'.


So those two have been the main jobs this year, ok not much ticked off the list but both well over due for been sorted out and have made our lives a little more comfortable. Of course we have done other stuff, we brought lots of new furniture and other bits for the house this year (and sold all the old stuff too), all scored from junk shops, car boot sales or being given away free or repurposing what we already had which has kept the budget under control!

So that was 2013, we have more major jobs lined up for this year which included re-roofing the garage to give Rich somewhere to work on his car and making a start on getting the kitchen redecorated. These two are massive projects and it will all depend on time and moeny as usual so we are being realistic and about how far we are likely to get by this time next year. It can be very frustrating when you have lots of lovely ideas you want to see through!

We also need to say a huge thank you once again to our parents for all the support and help and to our brilliant friends and neighbours, thanks for the use of various loos and showers when we didn't have either! 

Lets see what 2014 has in store!