So I bought some lovely herringbone-style click LVT flooring, led to believe by my Googling research that it was DIY friendly and easy to install. Turns out our fitter won’t touch it with a barge pole. He said that glue-down LVT is far superior and more durable (apparently he fixes more click flooring than he puts down). Now these are strong words and I can’t believe that click flooring is that bad. I have already bought it, so now face the conundrum of whether I return it, or just keep it and hope for the best…?! Anyone else have any experience with either? I’d been keen to hear your thoughts!
This one probably made me the most disappointed. I had been envisaging for the best part of the year that the sliding patio doors would open up on the left, where I could place an armchair and sit with a glass of wine or ginger tea looking out over the North Downs in peace and quiet. The glazing went in last week (I wasn’t around when the sliding doors went in) and I went to take a peek once the work was finished and open the doors to soak up the view. They opened the wrong way. There would be no room to sit in front of the opening as the door opens up on the right side where the wardrobes have to go. This was partly my own fault – I had been sent the design sheet that showed the glazing details – but it hadn’t even occurred to me to double check which way the patio doors might open. In our rear extension project this was clearly communicated and discussed first, and so I feel the lesson learned on this was to make sure you communicate EVERY LITTLE DETAIL.
I’m a real fan of Pooky lighting, especially because you can mix and match almost every fitting and shade – the emphasis being on the word ALMOST. To be fair, the Pooky website usually shows you suitable shades with each fitting, but I went a bit rogue, choosing a 16cm shade because it was smaller and felt it would suit my Mini Elbow fitting better – turns out that it needs a reversible gimble and only the 18cm shade has that, so I had to return the 16cm shades and get new ones. Moral of the story, if it doesn’t suggest it, it probably doesn’t work for some reason (or if in doubt, call first!)
At the beginning of the project, it didn’t feel too bad – sure there were some boxes from the loft in our living room, but that was all. Then came the two huge deliveries for both the bathrooms, all piled up in boxes in our open-plan kitchen-diner and the living room, not to mention the shower screens and ginormous tiles in our hallway. There’s also a bookcase, suitcase and stair gate randomly in our bedroom. And there is dust EVERYWHERE. Basically nothing is where it belongs and I’ve started watching too many episodes of Stacey Solomon’s Sort Your Life Out, because I think I’m craving order and the only way to get it at the moment is to live vicariously through those who now have neat and tidy homes. I know it’s short lived, but in hindsight I wish I’d perhaps made a little bit more space beforehand to store things and maybe asked parents to kindly store a few more of the bulky bits prior to renovating. The dust and mess is what it is, but while it seems obvious to me to shut bedroom doors, I’d make it abundantly clear to the trades on site (one day I found the kids’ doors wide open and used as a dumping ground for tools while the dust turned my son’s carpet a different colour…)
The moral of all of this is to over communicate (even if it drives them mad), triple check everything and if all else fails, have a glass of wine to dampen any disappointment… it’ll all be worth it when it’s done!
We’d love to hear your renovation stories – do you have any advice or faux pas to share with other Nest readers? Tell us in the comments below!
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