New Home

It’s finally happened, and for a while there, it really, really, didn’t look like it would – we have sold our flat! I know that might seem odd to some of you as we only moved in to our first place this time last year but we always intended on flipping our property because we were fortunate enough to get a good deal on it and we knew that by converting it from a one bed to a two bed we’d be making a profit. But, I really don’t want to talk about money, I want to talk about plans for our new place.

We looked into building an extension this time around, because instead of moving up the property ladder we’re moving across it, which is so stupid because I’m a bit of a hoarder. The extension was too expensive so we’ve had to really think about way of giving ourselves enough storage and living space.

Here’s the current layout:

It’s pretty rough because we put in an offer before the estate agent even had the chance to draw up plans. At the moment we only have really dodgy phone pictures because, again, the estate agent didn’t have a chance to take professional pictures.

Here’s the proposed plan, not sure why the bedroom is cut off but it’s pretty hard to find stuff now it’s all packed up so, this will have to do:

Living Room:

Kitchen (currently dining room):

The kitchen you can see will be the second bedroom.

This part is really important to me, it may seem like very little to you but it’s a step up into the back of the flat and it makes it feel like you’re going up to bed and it’s stupid but I love that little step more than I should.

Bathroom:

Bedroom:

Garden:

The flat has new carpets and is actually in great condition, apart from needing new electrics and a new boiler (gulp). However, we’re pulling up the carpet as the original floorboards are still there and they are gorgeous, much wider than the ones we had before. We’re going to open up both the chimneys, we’re still undecided whether or not to put in an original Victorian fireplace or if we should put a woodburner in. We’re both leaning towards the woodburner but it’s actually more expensive because you can get original fireplaces for under £200 on gumtree, and they are worth a hellava lot more than that. This time around we’re being sensible and not rushing decisions. The rest of living room is a move in and see what goes where and then what we need sort-of-a-thing.

Woodburner (still heart it a bit more) vs Victorian

We’ve decided on our kitchen and despite being willing to spend a little more on it we’ve still gone for Ikea. We did look into other options but for what we wanted Ikea was actually better because they do 40cm deep drawers, whereas most places only do cupboards and I’m all about the drawers now. Low cupboards drive me insane, and, obviously, it’s a cheaper kitchen overall.  It took a long time for us to decide on the best way to do the kitchen because we’re not taking the chimney breast out – it’s just too damn expensive and there are three entrances into the room, making it a nightmare to plan. Below are our designs for the kitchen, which involve re-opening the chimney (there won’t be space all the way up).

 

We’re very excited about getting the grey Bodbyn range from Ikea, it’s so pretty and we’ve managed to decide on the white acrylic top – deciding on a worktop was probably one of the harder decisions. Worktops are pricey and after having wood we’re not going back – so much maintenance. But, Ikea now do acrylic and quartz tops and we considered the quartz but it has to be installed by Ikea because it’s a new thing and their installation costs were pretty punchy. Jules is allowing me to go for gold hardware and I am so very excited. I’m on the hunt for the perfect gold tap and I have a feeling it may have to come out of my pocket money.

For our bathroom this will be the layout:

It’s going to be small because we realised when selling our first flat that the buyers were more interested in the second bedroom being larger than a single. So, we’re jumping back into the building regs nightmare and moving a wall. To solve the door going into a tiny space problem we’re going to get a slidy pocket door, like the eclisse ones. However, we won’t have a bath in the flat at all and that is a problem if someone wants to buy with a kid so… here’s the plan, and it may not go ahead because it’s a little cray. There’s a type of plaster called tadelakt that’s waterproof and perfect for bathrooms. We’re thinking of turning our 1200x700mm shower space into a teeny tiny bath that would be ideal for a baby up to a toddler. It’ll probably be horrend expensive and when I tell our builder he’ll probably laugh at me but… we’ll see. Below are some example of tadelakt and how we want the bath to be.

 

Finally the bedroom. We used B&Q Spaces to design our bedroom because we weren’t sure where to put the big wardrobes that I am desperate for. By putting the wadrobes on the wall by the door they look far less imposing than when they were anywhere else. Below is the plan we came up with and yes, we’ll be going with Pax from Ikea. It’s only our second place so we’re not ready to leave our faithful Ikea storage solutions behind.

And finally, in the garden, to make up for moving to a property no bigger than the one before, we’re going to have a proper shed that will act as a painting studio/office/gym and will have a storage section for our bikes and suitcases etc. Below is one we’re looking at but Jules is really excited about a log cabin monstrosity so we’ll see what happens…

(I love that bikes make it into the shot.)

 

 We’re so excited and can’t wait for it all to be ready. This time round we’re being lazy and we’re not painting it ourselves but we know that the finish will be so much better that way. It’s likely to be ready mid Jan so don’t expect any reveals before then. As we plan on staying in this place a bit longer we are doing everything to a higher spec and even though this will eat into our profit in the end it’ll be a much nicer home for us.