I do quite like my house. It ticks most boxes in terms of things I look for in a home, but as with most late 60s houses, it’s a bit odd in places. When we first moved in we started to notice these oddities within the first week or so. We were trying to get all our furniture in place and really struggled in some rooms because the radiators or windows were in odd locations. We’d stand there staring at the room, thinking, why… Why would you put that there? Anyway, four years on and we’re pretty happy and have come to terms with some of these oddities, but during this time we started formulated plans for things we’d like to change. So in no particular order here are our top 5 home improvement ideas:
- Single story rear extension. I think this would really transform our downstairs living space. It would give us the opportunity move our kitchen to the rear of the house, overlooking our lovely garden. Our current kitchen is nice but far too small for a family of four. It would also provide an extended living area and connect the rear of the house with our nice long green garden. We’ve had a builder round to quote on this and we’ve been looking at some bi-fold doors at direct bifold doors which would open onto a level patio area where we’d have low level seating and BBQ area. During the summer time this would be amazing.
Photo by Antonio Caverzan - Attic conversion. This would give us the opportunity to add another bedroom, an en-suite bathroom or just another toilet and office space. Whilst this could be quite challenging and expensive I love the idea of having some nice windows or vellum style windows giving views over the surrounding hills. Particularly the Cheese Rolling hill. For those who aren’t familiar with cheese rolling, it’s a local event where a bunch of lunatics run down a 45 degree steep hill chasing a large round of cheese! A little off topic there but look it up. It’s quite a spectacle and we can see it from our back garden.
- Downstairs toilet. Simple but effective. An extra toilet is much needed in this house. One for four people just isn’t enough, especially when the kids always want to go at the same time as us and each other. So we’ve been trying to work out how we can achieve this. Build a porch, section off a space in the play room/office, an attic conversion or add it into our rear extension plans? We haven’t quite worked this out yet.
- Updated double or even triple glazed windows all round. The previous owner only updated half the windows on this house so we’ve been looking to finish the job. The worst is our bedroom window as it tends to gather condensation throughout the night as it isn’t properly ventilated. More than a smear of condensation though – it’s like a waterfall in the mornings! It’s pretty gross and we need new windows desperately in there. Three Counties Windows have lots of options and different styles of window to choose from.
- Extending my workshop and garden storage. This is a project we’ve just budgeted for and are starting to order parts for. As you may know, I love building and creating things so this is a perfect project for me. I’m building my own log cabin style shed at the bottom of the garden which I’m going to use for storing furniture and wood stock. I can’t wait to get started. It should look great in the log lap wood I’ve chosen. Then I can get on with creating more pieces of beautiful furniture and turning my home business dream into a reality.
So that’s it, my top 5. Now all I need is a massive cash injection to make these dreams come to life.
Check out some of my other posts for inspiration. I’ve also just started up a new shop to showcase my latest handmade furniture creation – hopefully you like my latest mid-century modern desk!
Thanks for reading.
Related blog posts:
How to choose a child’s bed for the big-bed transition
How to choose a keyless door entry system for your smart home
Eight steps closer to an energy-efficient home
BillyOh Kent Log Cabin review and step by step build guide
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