We have uploaded the first episode of “The Houlet’s Nest” on to our YouTube Channel this week!
The Houlet’s Nest episode one focuses on looking at our house before any work has been done to it and we go onto explain our future plans for renovating and extending the property.
This series of videos will chart our progress over the months and years ahead and it aims to give you some tips and tricks that you can use on your own home.
As you will see from the video we plan to take the development of our house in stages due to budgetary constraints.
Stage 1 - Decorating on a budget.
As we do not have the necessary money to make all the changes we would like to make straightaway we are staging the process into affordable chunks so we can save up for the larger works while still improving our home in the short term. All the while future proofing for the consequent stages.
The first stage therefore will be to work with what we have. This means we will paint, decorate and get creative with the space we have so as to maximise the current space available.
Downstairs we will look to change all the original light fittings with more modern looking ones. We will look to paint the walls of the living room and the cabinets in the kitchen and perhaps stencil the kitchen tiles. We also need to come up with a way to hide our kitchen white goods if we can. Furthermore, we will look to display a gallery wall in the living room and hang some more artwork in the hall to give a more personal feel.
Upstairs we will look to refit the bathroom with a more modern suite and a lick of paint will also help to freshen it up.
Our daughter’s room will involve painting (including a large mural on one wall) and potentially hanging another gallery wall and some shelves for her books.
Our bedroom will see us buying a new super king size bed from Made.com. The room is north facing so we intend to embrace the darkness by painting a dark blue colour with one wall using a water colour design as a stand out feature.
Throughout the house we intend to use a unified colour theme but we haven’t quite made the final decision on what that will be as yet.
We may also test the Artex in the house at this stage as we need to be prepared to deal with any asbestos hazard that may come about when we enter stage 2.
Stage 2- Internal Alterations to ground floor.
This stage will see us rip out the defunct fire place in the living room. We have decided to wait to do this at this stage because the other disruptive alterations will mean the flooring will need changed at this point in time so it would not be prudent to change the flooring at stage 1 and then have to do so again in stage 2.
The major internal alterations involve taking down the wall in the hall to make it and the living room open plan and we will be taking down the kitchen wall, adjacent to the living room, down too, meaning this section will be open plan also. We will then block up the kitchen wall where the door currently resides.
Lorna will plan the kitchen layout to be receptive to stage 3. This will mean moving the back door from its current position to where the cooker currently sits which will eventually become the access to the extension in stage 3. Depending on budget we may consider adding a porch to the front door before we go onto the next stage.
Stage 3- Two Storey Extension.
The third stage will be to add a two storey extension onto the gable wall. This will add a master bedroom and en-suite on the first floor with a utility, office and bathroom on the ground floor.
This will be a major investment so it might be a couple of years down the line for us, however, the idea will be create a space that works for a growing family.
We will explain the planning and building warrant process to you when we get to this stage.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel to keep up to date with our progress. Also, leave comments after any of the videos if there is anything you would like us to cover in future episodes. We look forward to bringing you along on our journey.