We discovered Hudson Reed during our first renovation and have used them ever since. They are very well priced and excellent quality. On both renovations the plumbers were very impressed with the quality of the fittings which is always good to hear. We also managed to save a bit more buying via ebay too. If there's a bathstore near you I have found them to be very good for sanitary ware. If I won the lottery I would buy one of those Toto Japanese toilets with an automatic anus detector! It would make my day if it tried to squirt the father inlaw when he entered the room.
Yeah we have been looking at Ebay for quite a few bits and pieces, its surprising what you can find. Linky to the anus detector please Also looking at an alternative flooring solution and this is looking like a possibility http://www.quick-step.com/europe/uk/en/default.aspx £20 a m2 is a lot more reasonable and it has a durable top layer and nice 25 year guarantee.
lol that house went from looking like a tramps den, to a pretty damn fantastic looking house, well done! This... To... its beautiful.
Lol thanks, not sure the wife would appreciate the tramps den comparison but I agree . Will be even more beautiful after Monday when the rubbish has gone from the back, and the scaffold is now down as well
There you go. They don't refer to it specifically but I read an article a while ago about the development of their toilets and as our bodies are all different it has to work where to aim the water jet. An anus detetcor is the answer! A video of it's functions can be found here. Quickstep is laminate and Karndean vinyl?
Sounds interesting will have a look later Yep need to have a look at the Quickstep in the flesh, luckily there is a supplier near to us. Also just had some photos through from the kitchen planner had Howdens out already but this is B&Q's offering. Thoughts would be appreciated
The perspectives make it look quite different from each angle. My initial thoughts are where is the extraction and the location of the washing machine looks to be giving you a dead corner. If it where me I would go for a built in fridge freezer so you had one seamless wall of units along the back wall. Is that a pull out unit or a packer between the dishwasher and the kitchen sink? Are the overhead units standard size or are they the taller variants? Why doesn't the run of units end flush with the protruding bit of wall? That would bug the hell out of me! Howdens over B&Q every time. In my first flat we put in a kitchen from a more upmarket supplier and the Howdens kitchen we put into the second place was better quality. The beauty of Howdens is if there is anything missing your fitter can get a replacement within 24 hours. My sister put in a B&Q kitchen and had a nightmare of a time with them. Parts were missing or incorrect and had to be sent back to the central depot and replacements sent from there. You can walk into the store and see what you want on the shelf but can't exchange it. It has to go through the central depot. It took her six to eight months before they received everything. A work colleague went through the same thing. Both cases where about four years ago so things may have changed by now. For appliances I used Appliance City who were excellent. The list price was about the lowest I could find online and if you bought an "appliance pack", i.e. all the appliances from the same manufacturer you get a further discount. I bought an induction hob, double oven, micro-wave oven grill combi unit (a waste of time), washing machine, extractor and fridge freezer and they knocked 25% off the price.
Having the stove out in the open like that will make sure any cooking fumes are dispersed around the entire house and any small kids might reach over the wall and hit something hot. I would place the stove along one of the walls and not the half-height one.
So the builder has finished (apart from a couple of small snags) so the clean up operation has commenced. We have also painted the bathroom and apart from accesorising (the good ladies department) its finished as well. We can't afford the kitchen for a couple of months (New York is looming) so I have built a temporary kitchen for now for us to use in the meantime. There's still loads to do and I have more pictures to upload (coming Thursday) as well. In the meantime I am going to be posting ideas for the extension, plans for the garden (next year now) and the front of the house (this year potentially) as well as updating on works as they are complete.
Get a breakfast bar going on that long section! Down to personal taste, but it's great for when you have people over and you can cook in the kitchen, and the others can grab a seat at the breakfast bar with a glass of wine etc.
Ok its been a while but updates and photo's will be going on this over the weekend. Kitchen is nearly fitted and bathroom is complete. Now got lots of extra plans in place so will also be putting those up.
Aaah... properly sized and positioned windows in keeping with the architectural style of the house. Balance is restored.
I'm terrible at updating this thread so apologies but here we go, eye candy as requested. I would point out that this is still a work in progress (as all houses are) but progress has been made So a load of photos and some commentary where appropriate. Back of the house is now complete, the builder did a great job of brick matching and the roof is starting to get a bit weathered so it doesn't look as new Bathroom is also there or there abouts, the better half still has some beautifying to do (apparently). The window is ten times better, more in proportion and doesn't take up half the wall!! Plasterers did a pretty good job, also had the plumber out to move the gas pipe round the kitchen ready for the new cooker to go in. The kitchen came from Howdens in the end, best deal and the builder let us put it on the trade account giving us 60 days to pay (bonus as we had NO money left for a kitchen at the time). Fitted it myself with some help from my best mate and think we did an ok job Note the temporary use of available workspace, we finally moved the kitchen properly from the living room. Doors took an absolute age mainly because I had to change some hinges, still not hanging quite right so I will be taking them all off and rehanging at some point Downstairs toilet isn't quite finished yet, theres not a lot left to do but its functional so it never seems like a priority. And yes it really is that long and the ceilings are that high Last major job I've done is laid the flooring for the extension. I am not particularly good at DIY but I have been impressed with what I have managed to do. I've also put the end panels and kick boards in place as well. Still got loads to do but things are progressing, its the fiddly little jobs that need doing now which always take the time/cost the money. But hopefully end of March should see the bulk of the work done. Then its on to the hallway, new set of stairs into the attic, garden, windows at the front of the house, living room............................
I demand more updates too. I'd think about some sort of divider runnign along that low wall where the oven is for sure though- tempered glass panel of stainless steel splash-back, just for safeties sake as it'd be quite easy to accidentally reach over and touch the oven top, or place something on there while cleaning..
Lol ok ok will try and take some more photos over the weekend and update, loads of stuff done since my last post, including main bedroom, nursery, front window and door, hallway, stairs and landing.
