PORTFOLIO

If everything goes to plan, this could be the last update before the whole house is finished! We’ve reached an exciting point in the renovation in which I can decorate and accessorise to my heart’s content, and not only that, all of the taps and toilets work. I feel like I am constantly saying that we are nearly finished but we really are this time. It is liveable and there’s carpets on the floor, we are now just working through my snagging list and waiting for the weather to be nice again. So, I will show you what we’ve been up to and how the house is looking now. I’ll also briefly go over what’s still left do.

When choosing the carpet I looked at predominantly grey ones and some beige, all fairly light, as the majority of the house is cool toned. I wanted the same carpet throughout as it’s easier that way and makes the rooms feel more connected. So I took the sample books round to each room and put them in different spots to see which one went best. I decided pretty quickly on this cool toned beige as it has a silver shine to it that adds to the cool undertone but it is ultimately a beige. It is a perfect match with Elephants Breath by Farrow and Ball that is on every wall of the living room. I didn’t realise how close the colour match was until the carpet went down and it exceeded my exceptions of the space. It is so luxurious and looks high end now but the warmth from the greys in here cocoons you and makes the room comfortable and relaxed. This feeling is amplified on a sunny day when the orange sunlight beams through the window and its only going to get better as I add in more furniture and accessories. I cannot stop staring into this room, and imagining what it could look like with a huge comfy sofa and loads and loads of blankets and cushions. Dreamy.

Onto my second favourite room, the second bedroom. If this room got more sunlight it could definitely be my favourite because its just so cool. This room has turned out almost exactly how I imagined it. My only criticism is that the carpet isn’t quite a good enough fit for me but I’m also not sure if I could have actually found a better one. I don’t find myself looking at the floor in here that often though so I guess I can live with the carpet. I love the colours of the paint and how the wallpaper adds fun to the room and the matte black metal furniture pops perfectly against its backdrop. I wanted a gender neutral, any age appropriate, adaptable spare bedroom and personally, I think I achieved that. The bed frame was free from a friend’s parents who were clearing out their attic and it’s almost as if it was made for this room. I’m always so grateful for donations and loans because it does save me money but it also stops waste, I am a big advocate for up-cycling and fixing things before buying something new. As another example, the little cart in here is from Ikea and I have had it for quite a long time now. Originally it was grey but I had some leftover black spray paint and now it lives in here until we sell and I will probably change it up again. We have bought some stuff as well like the light shade and the small light in the fireplace, but the ceiling light will be left in the house and I know the perfect place for the small lamp in our own home. I really do love this room and if I was keeping this house, I’d keep this room as it is.

I’d be lying if I told you I’ve always liked this room because I haven’t and I still wish I’d have done it differently, but now that there’s carpet and some colour I do like it more. I know I chose grey for this room because its trendy and is quite bright so feels big and light, but this is the room that made me realise you really can tell the difference between cheap and expensive wallpaper and paint. I’ll try and not be too negative about this room because I do think if I was fully furbishing it, it would turn out alright but as it stands it’s just too cold and empty. I sort of had an idea for this room but I think my downfall was that I decided on grey and white and I don’t really like grey and white rooms, on top of that I wanted to keep costs down so went with a cheap wallpaper and paint. I think you can find good, cheaper materials if you do research and look for a good supplier of it but I didn’t do that and its my fault. The more expensive paint we used in other rooms have so much depth to the colour that I’d be happy to leave the rooms blank because the colour is interesting enough to carry the room, this not the case here. The white above the picture rail is too blue and cold and the white on the chimney breast has taken many, many coats to look decent. I don’t fully regret the scheme in this room but I just know I could have done so much better if I’d have gone with what I liked and what I thought the room needed rather than what is on trend.

After all that negativity I am going to say that the yellow I’ve added has made a huge difference in warming the space up and I’m really glad the carpet isn’t actually grey in here or it would have been really cold. I have a desk and a bench to add yet, as well as some soft furnishings and decorations which will hopefully just soften it all up and I’ll be praying for sunny weather when we start viewings because the big windows in here are wonderful.

The bathroom just has some minor things that need finishing, like a cabinet door being fitted and the bath panel being sealed in and then its good to go. It’s fully operational (apart from not having a shower curtain, but that’s not our problem) and it’s looking good. Considering this was my first proper go at tiling I’m super proud of it.

The stairs and landing are being fitted with carpet this week and then that’s a big job ticked off. This design hasn’t been easily achieved in this space though as we started off hating the original colour we’d bought for the top of the walls so I decided to just go with white. The white paint does look good now but as I peeled off the tape I used to get a clean line of green paint it also peeled off the white which isn’t ideal. So it didn’t start off well and then it didn’t get much better. After compromising on my original design and adding a trim to the green paint to make sure I got a straight line, I then broke one of the pieces of wood so we had to get some more of it but that was quickly sorted. However, as the green paint on the wall was drying it started to flake off, the whole wall was patchy green and had to be wiped clean and painted again. I am presuming it was because of how cold the wall was as it is an outside wall and it rained a lot that week. It is all fine now and I’ve grown to like the trim, it also allowed me to practice my joinery skills so that’s a nice bonus.

I am so, so happy with the kitchen and dining room. The light cabinets and worktop keep it open and bright and the laminate flooring is going to be a warm toned, grey wood that’s darker than the cupboard doors so its going to ground it all nicely. Although the space is predominantly white I have used the same green from the second bedroom on the kitchen wall and the same pink from the third bedroom in the dining room so it matches with the rest of the house and is a little bit colourful. Building the extension is what is going to add the most value to the house and once the plants and grass start growing back it’s going to have a lovely view through the double doors as well. I have some simple artwork to go up in here, just so the walls don’t seem as bare and I have quite a few vases and bowls to make up the table and to bring the colour through to the actual kitchen space. I can’t wait for the kitchen to be finished next week because it will look great, and it means that we only have the outside left to do.

We did have a couple of days recently of really nice weather here in the UK and we made the most of it. Our aim with the garden is to make it look as big as possible and show that it has a lot of potential. We have cleared out as much as we could whilst keeping some plants to grow so it doesn’t look too barren. We have painted the fences black in the garden which has made it look a little bit more sleek and made the plants and trees really stand out. They unfortunately aren’t all the same shade of black but they are significantly better than before and we have replaced some of them that had broken. I also painted the edgings around the area that new flags are going, just outside of the back door so that it’s bright and looks cleaner as you look out. We have relayed some of the old flags already so we only have the other half to do and then we will be getting the drive down. The drive is the last big job for us and will possibly be how we up the value the most, second to the extension. It will be a simple drive but should look really smart with the new windows and door and some new flowers out front.

After months and months of feeling like we aren’t getting anywhere we almost have a proper house ready to sell. We are getting a few estate agents round this week to give us some guide prices for selling and we have had quite a few people ask us about the house so it should sell super quick. We also have the council coming round to make final inspections on the extension, electrics and plumbing, just to check its all safe and is as we said it would be. We really are nearly there and then it will be on to the next one.

Thank you so much for checking out my blog and liking and commenting on my posts. I also have an Instagram which is linked here on my blog and I also have TikTok now where I post videos of DIYs and me renovating in action, my username is thepashcollective and I would love it if you have the app to go see what I get up to over there. I am once again saying how I am planning on posting more blog posts but I am no longer promising anything because I’m not very good at frequent posts. Thank you once again, Pashe.