Wednesday 1 August 2012

A Nest of my Own...

I've been keeping a secret from you!  About 6 weeks ago I put an offer on in on a teeny, tiny, unbelievably cheap top floor one bedroom flat...and it was accepted!  I've been waiting for all the paperwork and solicitor-y bits to go through, but now....it's mine!  So, may I introduce you to my new Susie-nest...

You come in through the front door (actually you come through the front door on the bottom floor, the up 5 flights of narrow stairs wondering how you'll ever get any furniture up them!), which is the one with the letter box (does the post man climb all the stairs to deliver your mail??) into a little hall with 3 cupboards!  This is most exciting as I am a girl of many possessions! 



Above is a photo of the airing cupboard, also in the hall, but it backs onto the boiler cupboard in the bathroom to keep it toasty warm.  Speaking of bathrooms, the first door you come to takes you to the little bathroom.  I'm soo pleased it has a bath (Lush - here I come!).  The plan is to clean it A LOT, then put in a shower and try to remove the black tiles and huge mirror without damaging the white ones, then tiling with white all the way up to the ceiling and painting the remaining walls (either lilac or blue)...



Next you come to the bedroom, which is bedroom-y and will be given some carpet and painted white (I HATE magnolia!)


Ahh the kitchen, which is disgusting and will be removed and replaced with a nice white wickes kitchen,  spotty door handles and sugar pink paint!  I shall also have to get all the practical things like a cooker and a fridge, but mostly I'm dreaming of the pink paint!



This is the living/dining room...I'm going to paint it white and have a sofa one end and a table the other and put up some shelves on the walls for my books...



And you can see my balcony!  Just big enough for a couple of chairs and a few pots, but lovely to have some  outside space and a big window to let in lots of light and see a bit of greenery (unfortunately there's not much of a view, so I shall have to watch the road and the church across the road!).

Apparently the flat was rented out before to a lady who had a breakdown, which is why it's in quite a state...I think it was very dirty before the seller painted it all magnolia...she was just about to put in a new kitchen and carpets when I put in my offer, and I managed to stop her which I'm pleased about...if she'd chosen something I hated (like the magnolia walls and the shiny shiny white gloss woodwork she's already done in there) then I'd have been stuck with it!

I'm lucky that I have lots of furniture to take with me (I'm that person that gets given all the random all stuff other people find in their garages cos they know I'll 'find a use for it'...currently all that stuff is in my mums garage!) I only need to buy a sofa, kitchen-y electric stuff and a TV stand and I'm sorted...as well as paying for paint, tiles, carpet, an electrician (it has original 60's light switches, which makes me worry about what's behind them!) and a man to do the kitchen and I can be in!  Hurrah!

Any tips for a first time home owner/renovator?  I'd be especially interested in hearing about any eco-friendly tips or products you recommend, I'd like to do this as green-ly as possible but so far everything I've looked at that has the word eco in front of it seems to have a humongus price tag!

22 comments:

  1. Congratulations Sooz!

    I'm sure you'll have lots of fun doing it up!

    Wishing you many happy years of contented home owning!

    K&S :)

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  2. What a beautiful space! I've also found that eco-friendly remodeling projects are quite spendy.

    I do remember a website somewhere that showed a way to naturally dye white paint, but the paint itself was still had chemicals, which was a bummer!

    Reusing or buying salvaged items is always great! Good luck and have fun :)

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    1. Thank you Shannon Marie :D

      That's interesting about natural paint dye, but a bit pointless if the paint already has chemicals in it! So far I've found eco paint starting at £70 a tin (I don't think so) or made from milk, I wonder if I could use soya milk instead?!

      I will be using second hand things as far as possible, which is a great excuse to go round all the charity shops!

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  3. Congratulations on your own space from The Vintage Hooker. I hate magnolia too!
    If you are looking for someone to help you with the kitchen fitting etc., my brother-in-law lives in Welshpool and works quite cheaply - he is a dab hand at recycling and upcycling, making stuff out of old bits of wood etc!
    Just ask Chris at Flaunt It and she should be able to put you in touch with Kuldip.

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    1. Hello Pam, thank you :) I'm soo excited!

      I will definitely bear your brother in law in mind, thank you for the info :)

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  4. I'm so pleased for you Susie, I follow your blog and know you have been looking for a place for sometime.
    It looks delightful and will be a true haven I feel, I particularly like the balcony.
    I hope it's not too far from 'Mum' who will miss you terribly I'm sure (speaking as one whos children have long since fled the nest)

    Lots of piccies please !

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    1. Thank you Wean! :D I like the balcony too...and don't worry, I am literally a 5 minute walk from my Mums house (and my work, and town, and the bus and train stations. so I'm perfectly located for everything I need!)

      I'm sure there'll be looots of photos...in fact probably too many photos by the time I'm finished!

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  5. Woo Hoo! So excited for you Sooz. It had lots of potential for you to put your own stamp on it. Hope you keep us updated with your progress along the way.
    Top tip before you move in - declutter your "stuff" before it arrives there :)
    I hope wyou will be really happy in your new nest xx

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    1. Thank you Dreamer :D I'm excited too!!

      Thank you for your tip...I soo need to do this...I actually moved with my mum in December, from my childhood home to a little one she's downsized into, you would have thought I'd managed to de-clutter myself then...but nooo...a few trips to the charity shop are in order!

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  6. Woopwoop! Well done on taking the plunge Sooz and for getting it for the offer you wanted :) Hooray :) Delighted for you and so excited to see your make over posts now too... :)

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    1. Thanks Hazel! Oh there will be many, many makeover posts I'm sure! :)

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  7. Congratulations, so exciting for you! We built our house 3 years ago and I was determined to do as many things eco friendly as possible but in the end I had to drop a lot of principles due to price tags, except the heating and water which is geothermal. I did try for eco paint but the colours and price ruled it out. A tip for paint is if you find a nice colour in an expensive brand, take the colour to a shop that mixes paint and they can mix up the same colour for so much cheaper. Borrow as many containers as you can for moving too as if you get the packing boxes they cost a lot and end up in the bin. Try the supermarkets, some of them leave all the boxes at the end of the tills. And most important enjoy it all!

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    1. Thanks Maria! I'm very excited, although I wish it was ready for me to move into now! Thank you for all your tips...thankfully there is a local removal company that gives you boxes for free, and if you don't write on them (just write on the tape you use) and take the tape off, they take them back and reuse them...we used them for moving house last year and when we moved at work...so I shall probably use them again, although some banana boxes from the supermarket wouldn't go amiss either I'm sure!

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  8. Try these for your 'kitchen man' Sooz - not far away from you and highly recommended: www.autumnleavesinteriors.co.uk if you want attention to detail - he's your man !

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    1. Thanks Wean...I'll have a look and bear him in mind...must get the water back on first, and the leccy, so I can offer all these men cups of tea!

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  9. Congrats! It looks really lovely, way less hideous stuff to hide than my first place (we had lots of orange vinyl wallpaper and pine panelling in every room!)

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    1. Thanks Lakota! Your first house sounds very retro! Unfortunately most of the gross stuff in my flat was hidden, drawer full of cigarette ends anyone? Paint poured down the bath AND sink plug hole? stained pillow in the airing cupboard? These things were not in the (empty) property when I looked round...the mind boggles...the locks have been changed!

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  10. I am so pleased to learn that you have your own place. Lookign forward to seeing you put your stamp on it and making it truly your own.

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    1. Thanks Shaheen :) I'm soo excited!

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  11. Congrats! I hope to see lots of DIY pics on your blog!

    --Jaclyn T
    positiveponderings@blogspot.ca
    TrickArt Jewellery Closing! All items $2 USD!
    etsy.com/shop/trickartjewellery

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    1. Thanks Jaclyn! There will be many, many photos!

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