The Renovations We Made To Our Home

Buying our first home was not an easy thing for us. It took far too long for us to finally get the keys. Plus, we were quite particular about what we wanted. We knew that we wanted a newer style house, but one that we could put our own stamp on.

It wasn’t until we got the keys and got settled, that I realised there were bigger jobs that I wanted to do. That is why in today’s blog post, I am going to share the renovations that we made to our home. These are not huge things, but things that have helped make our house a home. Also, don’t take this as a finished list, I know that there are more changes to make over the next year or so!

 

 

Adding panelling and details throughout.

My dream home would be something that is very old and a real fixer upper. However, when we were house hunting, our budget didn’t stretch to that. Because of that, we went for something newer. My issue with that is that new builds don’t tend to have features to them. There is no panelling, dado rails, coving, etc. The list really does go on. My battle since moving in is that I want to add some of them features back into the house. I want people to walk in and feel like they are in a period property. Most of the work I have even done myself!

 

Renovated the garage.

Built into our house is a garage. It is a very large space and instead of it being storage, I wanted to turn it into a snug lounge. If we left it as a garage, it would just get filled with rubbish and I would be a hoarder. In the end, we stripped it all out, had it boarded and plastered. We then had a window fit and the doorway bricked up. A comfortable sofa, TV and some internal storage. This is now one of my favourite areas of the house because it is so comfortable and cosy!

 

Changed all flooring.

Something that I thought I could live with, was the flooring. I was wrong. On the lower floor, it was wooden floor, however a very red wood. It didn’t suit my style and I wanted to change it. Then up the other two floors, it was all a very neutral cream carpet. It wasn’t bad, just a little bland and similar. Not to mention that as the family that moved out of here had two young kids, and there were stains. Needless to say, I quickly sought after removing and changing them. We changed the wood floor for something lighter. We added runners up the carpets and wooden floors in some of the bedrooms. I love them all now!

 

Painted and decorated all rooms.

Even though with this been a newer build house there was momentous things, it still needed a lot of work. Every single room in the house was wither bright yellow or purple. For me, I couldn’t even live with that for a couple of weeks. I spend weeks up and down ladders just white washing all of the rooms to get to a neutral place. It was hard work, but from that point we had a blank canvas to decorate and make the space our own. I think next time painting is needed, I will be getting a decorator in!

 

Changed all of the garden.

When we moved in, the only area that was quite bad, was the garden. The people that lived here previously had kids. That means that there was a trampoline and a padding pool that had been sat on the grass all summer long. It damaged the grass beyond believe. In the end, we had AstroTurf laid because my dog ruins grass anyway. We bought some stunning garden furniture, that cost far too much cash. We then added some floral trellising around the fence to add a little more privacy. Then to give the space some features, we added flowers, pots, furnishings and now we love it!

 

I hope that you liked seeing the renovations that we made to our home. I have said it before and I will say it again, my home is the most important to me. For somebody like me with mental health issues, my home is my sanctuary and my safe space. Even though some of these changes are quite small, they are helping to transform the space.

It really is a thrilling thing that when we have people over to the house they are in love with how it looks. I don’t have a plan for how long we will be in this home. I don’t think that this is our forever home. But I have come to love renovations and I hope you like the renovations that we made to our home!