3 things to know about your first home renovation

Longest. Title. Ever. Which is fitting because I feel like this has been the longest renovation ever undertaken in the history of time. Ali and I picked up the keys to our 3 bed semi-detached in May 2019 and only moved in in December! The journey has been long and stressful, and is ongoing. People told me it will never really end and I can believe that. But, we’re grateful to be in and whilst we still have a lot of work to do I believe the hardest bits are over. Can I get an AMEN!!

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1. Approximate how much time you will take and triple it.

ESPECIALLY if you are two regular folks without all the time in the world. When we brought our house and started to renovate Ali was working 60 hours most weeks, I had a full time job and a growing business. The very little free time we had would be spent in our house - early mornings, pretty much every weekend and very very long nights. You’ll be tired, snappy and time and again hit the “what on earth have I done” barrier. Keep going. We took a week-long break half way through and went to Cornwall to unwind and I really strongly urge you to schedule some time away; our mid-renovation holiday took a lot of the growing stress off everything and was the boost to our creativity and enthusiasm for the project we needed.

2. Everything is more expensive.

Maybe it’s the African in me, I don’t know, but £10,000 is a lot of money! Or so I thought. I posted on instagram when we first picked up the house keys announcing that I would share budget details… well, I honestly have no idea how much money we’ve spent on this house so far and it’s still going! Not only do unexpected things crop up, but we simply have not had time to do some of these jobs ourselves. And so we were left with the choice to let it sit, until we were ready work on it, and in so doing delay a lot of other work, or bite the bullet and pay someone else to do the job. I can estimate that we have spent around £16,000 so far and I think we’ll easily hit £20,000 when we finish installing the kitchen floor, breakfast bar, built-in wardrobes and fireplace. We also want to replace the windows and doors in a year or two, which will take us to £25,000.

3. It’s as painful and awful as it is rewarding.

I felt as though people were waiting for us to crack, and honestly I got pretty close. But there was something in the work that kept my spirits up. I can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s not that it’s a first project - I have built two houses from the ground up and renovated a third for an interior design client back in the day. I think it’s that the hours of work, the blood, sweat and tears, at some point starts to look beautiful. It’s a kind of artistry. This is a labour not of love, but of creative expression. It’s the answer to “who are you?” in house form. I still catch myself stopping to admire the way the floors contrast so perfect with the white walls, or I stare at the teal reflection in the bathroom mirror, or I trail my fingers over the ivy that hangs so beautifully against the marble tiles.

When you put so much of your own personality into something it helps you see yourself more clearly, and it becomes easier to love yourself.

If you are considering a home renovation project my best advice is, don’t kid yourself - this sh*t is HARD. And not in a “haha” way, in a “your relationship will be tested daily” way. Ali and I had to step back often and acknowledge the strain this project put our relationship under. But as hard as it is there is no better feeling than seeing your vision come to life all around you. That moment where the light hits just right, or the colour sparkles through a crack in the door makes it all feel so worth it.

Since Covid and lockdown the work on our house has been put on hold. Our tiler also sustained an injury the day before our kitchen tiling was due to start so that’s been delayed another two months. But as it stands, around 14 months after picking up the keys we are left with a handful of big jobs (kitchen and hall floor tiling, installing the breakfast bar, built-in wardrobes for the master bedroom and the fireplace) and a mountain of small jobs like paint retouching, hanging curtains, relaying the garden patio and fitting shelving.

Soak Ltd, where we purchased out full bathroom suite from, has since gone into liquidation, but here are a few other key providers we used in our renovation:

ALL TILES: WALLS & FLOORS

BATHROOM MIRROR: IKEA

KITCHEN: B&Q