HOME – A LOCKDOWN RENOVATION SPECIAL

A special treat – major home extension work during lockdown. A period of time I will never forget, thank goodness we had the great outdoors! Oh how we laughed (we didn’t): no kitchen/oven/sink, no dining out, no trips to the office or away, a global pandemic, a national lockdown… Thankfully after all the rollercoaster (and ready for LockdownV2), our house is now very much our home. Which more than ever is so important as we are rarely anywhere but at home…

We moved here before Baby P and before we thought there could be a Family Parker, so the building work was about turning a pile of red bricks into a family home that suited us all, and the surroundings.

Who knew (hmmm) when our builders broke ground last December that by 17th March there would be a global pandemic, a national lockdown and general challenges and changes to everyday life…

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Well we didn’t and that’s probably a good thing. It’s unlikely we would have ripped the back of the house off and moved our daytime lockdown life into one downstairs ‘everything’ room for the 3.5 months it ultimately took to get the extension watertight, floored, decorated and a kitchen installed!

But we did. And it took 10 months to (almost) complete a 4 month project… The build itself started in December 2019 and we finally rendered the house white in early September. Just like the garden project I’ve pulled together a potted history of what it looked like as we went!

In summary, we put a 4x9m slab on the back of the house! We knocked through a gloomy but big kitchen and dining room into an airy space that is now a kitchen and dining room and lounge with space we still haven’t worked out what to do with yet! We’ve put a door on the side of the house to have a proper utility room too. And in the rest of downstairs our old lounge is now a massive playroom and I am about to turn the 5th bedroom into a second study (lockdown).

Lockdown did definitely add a different dimension to the build experience – seeing every stage of the build in minute detail, were at home (toddler napping happily) when the back of the house was bulldozed out, and despite being at home no longer were able to provide tea and biscuits to builders we were isolating from! I am sure our builders have loved the detail in which we have been able to track progress…

There were some very low lows… Our everything room! Having to board up the build in mid-March and work out what work could continue. The old oven out in the open air still usable. Rickety kitchen set ups, including steak on a gas camping stove for our 10th anniversary dinner. Thinking that the house would always have a breeze block exterior because we didn’t want to commit to render at the start of lockdown. The Friday night I had an almighty meltdown because they didn’t plumb in the dishwasher as promised (they came back Saturday). Having to redesign the kitchen as our design timed out in a Howdens system over lockdown. A cold damp house as MDF doesn’t keep out the winter wind and rain…

But as it came together we’ve almost started chuckling about them! Including me becoming a lockdown cliché and making bread! I’m actually more advanced now and prefer a brioche loaf!

And building sites are great for entertaining toddlers too! In fact he had double entertainment as he had the build of his climbing frame to oversee too!

We now have a spacious open plan space that doubles our downstairs. A stunning kitchen/diner/lounge we basically live in: with loads of worktop space, an island, excellent appliances, a wine fridge, big larders cupboards, underfloor heating.

A side door out of a utility room that means it is bright and we can bring any mud in that way. A lovely Rais wood burning stove. Daylight even on a dark day with the skylights. Views for miles that aren’t interrupted by walls and a window seat and extra big doors and windows to enjoy it.

And our ugly duckling house finally looks pretty on the outside with her new layer of render!

And here we are, likely stuck at home most of the time for a very long time in what is now a very lovely spacious family home. There are (still) little bits of snagging to get finished and our new Loaf corner sofa doesn’t arrive until later this month but we are almost there… And time clearly heals in this regard as we are already looking at the next jobs: a side gate and trampoline, landscaping the rest of the garden, new front door, getting the painting and carpentry in the playroom done so it’s as smart and snug and new. Turning the 5th bedroom into a 2nd study and getting new sofa beds for it and the playroom. And then upgrading our bathrooms, putting a velux into one of the bathrooms, changing the roof tiles and perhaps then sitting back to really relax!

For now, we are just enjoying the beauty of space and being at home. For once lockdown ready!

And what got us through:

• wine – I think wine got most people through 2020 though so it might not just be a house building thing!
• watch good TV – we aren’t bit watchers – typically only watch C4 news. But these last months we’ve watched a little episode of Modern Family or Life in Pieces and it really raised our mood (and took us to nice finished houses)!
• a budget buffer – essential. Only start an extension project with a lot more cash than you can imagine you’ll need. You’ll need it (not just for extra wine).
• planning ahead – don’t assume the builders will, it was only us early ordering appliances and flooring that meant we had it all during lockdown.
• slow-cooker – totally retro but totally cool and the nearest to home-cooking we got for a long while!
• play the good cop bad cop game – I was always very nice during our build, apart from the very rare meltdown. When that happened stuff happened. Quickly.
• builders with depth of resource – we picked a relatively big local company to do our work that weren’t cheap, but their depth of staff and suppliers and contacts meant that whilst the build slowed during lockdown it was able to keep going at some pace still.
• Shop around – we saved a lot of money and got better quality by sourcing appliances and flooring ourselves and we arranged the render and scaffolding ourselves too which saved a staggering about of money
• don’t rush the snagging work – lockdown helped here as in the months when work slowed the structural bits could settle before we had to start going through our snagging list.
• a holiday… Hmm, well we cancelled 4 and never managed to get away during the big bits of the build like planned. But it would have been a really good thing if we could have done it!

It’s fair to say that having been caught out mid-build by lockdown we are very relieved to be going into this winter with four walls again! We worked hard to be able to make the build happen and will make the most of being stuck at home this winter to enjoy it.

Linking this post up to the travel link up as it’s certainly been a journey! This month it is all about home – whether an adopted home, a birth home or somewhere that felt like it could have become your home – it could be a country, a city, a scent, a view. Or even the special moments that you like to share with visitors… Have a look at some of the other posts through: Binnys Food and Travel Diaries, Adventures of a London Kiwi, SilverSpoon London, or Tanja at Red Phone Box Travels.

Details: builders – Portcullis of Kings Worthy, kitchen – Howden’s, floor – Amtico from Flooring Supplies Direct, appliances – AEG and Sage, fire – Rais from Kings Worthy Foundry, work top – Southern Counties Marble, stools – Atlantic Trading.