Rhys

What have you lot done over the last few years? Anyone got before and after pics of any home improvements they have carried out? ie new lounge, kitchen etc. If so post them up.

I'm currently in process of getting house, and would like some ideas.

Red16

not done a lot to our house, basically just changed the colours to our own taste since we moved in, these arent the best or latest pics but the only ones i have to hand at the moment

here's some pics of the living room as it was when we moved in







the 'during' stage... trying to hide that bloody red paint



decorating just about finished



note the hideous red carpet lurking on the stairs



carpet gone... et voila



as it looks at the moment

Harris.

No pics but so far we have, done the 3 bedrooms, paved the drive and built a double garage (A MUST)

Ginge !

heres me taking out the fire place,,,, stopped to take a photo and send it to her old man asking the best way to take out the lintle

he drove all the way from oxford to assess the damage,,,, th chimney holds up the second floor aparantly

aint got any pics of it finished though,,, but now its all bricked up, the breast is painted in some effect paint and now theres a 50ins plasma mounted onto it ( best place to hang it as its the most secure wall in the house pmsl

ill try and get some piccys of it soon

Ginge !

cant get planning permission for that from the bastard council !!!

JUST cause i live on the 14th floor of a tower block i get treated unfair and am NOT allowed to have a double garage on the side of my kitchen,,,, is not like theres no space for it either,,,, theres LOADS of space up here

Nath

Fucking 'ell red, you like the colour red don't you Nice place though

Rhys, I can't really remember which house you came round to when you bought that mondeo last year I'll buy a camera and take some pics, but to get that up to scratch and looking A1 has cost us about Ł20k and thats with a lot of mates rates and me doing some work. It also helped getting a lot of free things We do feel proud that it looks nice and its' very comfortable to live in

We'd hate to get it valued in case its gone down which is probably the case

rssteve

im fully refurbing my first house at the mo, halfway through a 2 storey extension garage plus bed and ensuite. Will be 4 bed with 2 seperate garages, living on my own, :-( lol House is having new plumbing, full rewire with lots of electrics and multiroom audio system. Will get some pics up soon hoping to be moved in for new year but will still have all the garden and drive to do then.

TIFF

I have just had a huge secure carport built at the end of my garden, with enough for 3 cars, with its own secluded drive into it.....

Just got to find a nice toy to fill it now

Red16

no we hated the red, its how it was when we moved in, previous owners had weird idea's with colours... found peach paint on the skirting boards in one of the spare rooms and our bedroom was metallic violet, kitchen orange

bedroom was like this



it now looks like this (and will do until we can afford to rip out the fitted wardrobes etc and start afresh)




and cheers

Red16

here's how the previous owners had the garden



ive just re-done this scraggy old fence



new panels and lats



lick of paint



ripped up the patio and started the framework for the decking



started fixing the decking boards down



decking just about finished... still needs the front piece of decking staining to match the rest





but unfortunately since the garden has been finished its done nowt but rain but the grass looks much better now than it does in the pics above

Ginge !

ironic that im looking to build something like this in my bedroom, i LOVE that ( apart from the colour)

why you wanna ripp it out ?

Red16

just think it looks a little dated, would much prefer a different style, something more modern looking and wood colour (beach/oak) instead of the cream doors, would like to redo the flooring in hardwood too and get rid of the shitty quadrant edging round the laminate, be much better if the flooring was put down first then new skirting boards fitted so the laminate went right under the skirting boards, look a lot better that way. air con would be a nice touch too, as the room currently gets boiling hot.

however decorating that room will now be a complete bastard as it now contains a mud bed which is basically a water bed but a little less sloshy to lie on, so it'd be a tad awkward to move when we do get round to decorating

Ginge !

i bought myself a water bed with my first ever bonus from my job when i was 17, fucking LOVED it, nice and warm in the winter,,,,, though i had to drain it every 6 months,, and it takes a fucking week for the water to warm back up !!!

loved it though

got rid when we had Elise though, a baby sleeping in a water bed with parents is a risk you can lie ontop of and suffercate her

prob the first thing i ever gave up that i loved for my little one, that and my early morning shags

project rs

agree red you need to get rid of the laminate never understood the obsession people have with that stuff must be one of the tackiest things someone can put in a house in any room rip it all out and do it properly and if money dosen't allow put carpet in till money permits

Ginge !

i tiled all the downstairs of my flat ( just finished regrouting all the fucker last week and lay a new floor in the kitchen too)

done it cause i stipped a cossie engine in the front room ( was winter and i also didnt wanna miss trisha)

also it reminds us of the missus dads house in malta,,, though that rich cunt has marble floors,,, but my ceramic tiles look ok,,, on and i can skateboard in the house too

Red16

ginge - we just use a water conditioning treatment in the bed every 6 months and that works a treat. Never thought of the suffocation risk with a baby but its definitely not worth risking keeping the bed if youre gonna sleep with the bairn.

project rs - fitting good quality carpet would be roughly as costly as solid wood flooring, and cheap carpet would look a bit crap imo.

ginge - wouldnt mind tiling our kitchen floor again with slate tiles but i dont think its worth the effort just at the moment, as the current tiles would need to be pulled up first.

Lee Reynolds

Ginge !

thats what i thought,, but they do come up SOO easy mate its unreal ( though might be cause i fitted em first pmsl )

Red16

Lee - WOW... very impressive before and after pics

Ginge -

Lee Reynolds

ill get my mates cam off him and post some up of the one we are doing at the moment...its a right transformation!

Red16

good lad

dojj

iTrader: (3)

got no pics of the house previous other than the ones in the estate agents description

but lets just say the fitted wardrobes went from one room the moment we got the house keys

we've done a lot of decoration stuff but nothing mega structural, but my brother hsould have got rid of the chuimeny in the front rooms when he had the chance, and not spent Ł900 on a carpet and got it fitted in the first week without consulting me

the twat

dunketh

I converted my loft to a room, did the whole job myself with the wife helping out. Electrics, lighting etc. Stuck in a two way switch so I can turn the lights on/off downstairs.
I've got loads of pics but its all simple stuff - stud wall fames, boarding, flooring, etc..
The only clever bit was building all the storage into the eaves of the roof so it doesnt take any floor space.


Funky 'airfix' staircase @ nearly finished stage:



Finished Comedy photo.I fucked up big time. (mis-measured the socket height so had to cut into the skirting. FFS!!)


I've also fitted kitchens, bathrooms and done plenty of tiling (floor and wall).

Small scale DIY is so easy and rewarding, I fancy it as a job but I'm sure it'd get boring and I hate painting.

Rhys

Awesome, nice one.

Lee some serious work there. This house im buying has wood panneling on the walls in the lounge

Great to get ideas, i like that wood flooring. though do u fine it cold in the winter Reds?

Keep them coming people

PAUL S

iTrader: (8)

how about from this



to this




just dont ask for any inside shots, as its still like a bomb site in there

project rs

dunketh please tell me your a qualified electrician as if your not you do know all your house insurances are void in case of any large claim and hope you didn't just put floor boards on old cieling joists that were there as they are not designed to take weight and please stick to your day job as from what i see in pictures the only word i can think of is amateurish to say the least and if you ever come to sell that property please advise buyers that it's a house that jack fucked up, p.s can you put up a picture of front of house so i can see if you can see where the horses were tied up waiting for you

kiddie

you win! How much for the work roughly mate if you don't mind me asking

PAUL S

iTrader: (8)

Its cost just under 30k so far to get it like this, thats including new room in roof trusses so its now a 3 storey. The fit out will now be another 25k.

It was a 3 bed bungalow with 2 receptions, bathroom and kitchen, and when finished will be a 6 bedroom house, 4 bathrooms, 3 receptions, with kitchen and dining room.

Im a surveyor by trade so have kept costs down by project managing it, only using subbies and doing a lot of the work myself.

If I priced it up for a customer it would be around 120k to do as a turnkey conversion using a builder.

Rhys

WOW AKA major impressive!! That turned a run of the mill bungalow into proper nice home! Love it, if way outta my league to do that pmsl.

Keep us update with inside shots as you go mate!

brad

thats a lot of work !!!
if you dont mind me asking , why didnt you render the brick to match the top ?

Rhys

I prefer it without the render on the bottom imo.

PAUL S

iTrader: (8)

its in an established area, and I needed to keep it looking original to make the planners happy, we even re-used the clay roof tiles, just gave them a clean.

If you see it from the street it looks like its always been there just had a lick of paint and new windows and gutters.

Once its been signed off I can always render the lower part of even paint it.

Brick acid should freshen up the existing brickwork before I decide what to do at the end of the job.

There a porch going on the front as well so that will break up the brickwork a bit

Lee Reynolds

Laminate is quite cold it absorbs no heat at all. The floor in that kitchen i did is solid oak and does absorb some heat.

brad

i see , wasnt picking m8 , just curious as its what i do for a living and its allways nice to get peoples reasons for doing things .

dovboy

lee,love the job you have done in your back garden its cheating posting when you are a builder!

i'm doing my house at the moment so no pics but here are a couple of houses i built from a pile of rubble! sorry no b4 pics as i cant find them....

Lee Reynolds

LOL it aint my back garden mate my back garden is just LAWN! The saying 'a builders house is never finished' is correct

Liking the stonework mate you cant beat it

Red16

its only laminate unfortunately and not the pukka hardwood flooring it can be a little cold at times but as our house is pretty new its usually on the warm side so its nice to be able to put your feet on something to cool them down, if its too much you can always slip on your comfy old slippers.

dovboy

cheers lee,looks like you do a proper job too

Lee Reynolds

Yes mate i think its the only thing worth doing. I hate rough jobs and cowboys. DIY is ok for some things but bad DIY makes me cringe!

Do you do from plans to completion?

CaftDunt

dovboy, lee reynolds and a.k.a

Your home improvements put Tim Allans to shame! Quality houses!!!