Project Extension is complete!!
Yippee we are finally done. All work is completed, the estate agents have been in to value and the building surveyors have signed everything off today.
We started work way back on October 14th 2013. 7 months on the final touches are made to the outside.
This was once the mudbath, but is now flat, pretty and turfed. It has remained untouched by football boot and ball until this weekend. The turf has taken, rooted into the ground so the 3 boys can go mad. Hubby is excitedly searching online for a new lawn mower! And our decisions to make consist of, do we put the trampoline back up or do we just have 2 goals?
The Kitchen is complete
So the kitchen is complete with brightly coloured Joseph Joseph accessories in place. I love them and couldn’t resist them. But savvy savers you’ll be pleased to hear (as they’re fairly pricey) I bought them on a John Lewis price promise weekend and got 10% off my utensils, washing up bowl, kitchen roll holder and bowl stacking set. Gift vouchers were used to purchase. I am lucky at work to have a scheme where I can chose to receive some of my salary in gift vouchers at a discounted rate -9%. Total saving of 19%.
We love our new kitchen, it has a lovely breakfast bar with 3 purple, my favourite colour, bar stools. The boys love sitting up there to eat their (obviously!) breakfast. We added a TV on the wall by the breakfast bar, and the area is all open plan into the dining room and then into the living room. Our kitchen was done on an incredible budget, hubby knew a kitchen manufacturer from his bathroom business. They were also able to supply the oven, induction hob, hood and fitted dishwasher.
The work top came from a local company called Howdens. We didn’t go for granite, due to cost, we went for laminate. Price differential of £800 versus £3,000! And the flooring is a karndean equivalent sourced from our local flooring guy Roy Saunders in Knebworth village. The flooring is a laminate type floor that clicks together in sections to look like wood. Is very hard wearing. The flooring runs through the whole downstairs hall, lounge, kitchen diner. And was quite a bargain at £1000.
The biggest expense, was the glass splashback, which looks amazing and really makes the kitchen. That cost £1,000, purchased from Stevenage Glass. We like to keep trade local and with smaller businesses.
The Family Bathroom
The bathroom moved location from the back of the house into the side of the house and new extension. We have nice big bathroom, very boutique style, with a nice separate bath and shower. We also have a downstairs shower room which comes in very handy for early morning showers when you don’t want to wake up the boys. Plus mud covered children as its right by the front door, and urgent wee stops for the boys as soon as they get in from school/football/childminders. My husbands day job is selling and designing bathroom layouts so you would maybe expect us to have a nice bathroom.
We are fortunate enough now to have four bedrooms, so the three boys get one each. We’ve now got 3 normal sized and one smaller one which will just about fit a single bed:-) And how can I forget, a domestic luxury of a utility room. A small room off the kitchen for the boiler, washing machine and tumble dryer. We can hide a lot of mess in there, with the ton of washing we do every week.
A few shoutouts on good deals I’ve got
We got our American Style fridge freezer from here, fantastic deal, £100ish cheaper than competition and I got £42 of Boots Advantage points, which reminds me I havn’t spent yet. A treat for me I think, or more realistically shower gel, toothpaste, shampoo and conditioner for free:-).
Our sofa and dining table and chairs came from Made.com. A great direct to designer direct to retail store with some funky modern designs, very suited to our style. Prices were amazing, like 50% cheaper than John Lewis.
TV unit to match the gloss white kitchen and dining table from Ikea. Bargain price.
My purple barstools were a bargain at £45 each from Dunelm.
Anything purchased online was of course bought via Topcashback.
We got wooden window blinds from shuttermebeautiful. 4 bedrooms and living room supplied and fitted.
And of course the flooring from Roy Saunders in Knebworth, he also sorted out the carpets for stairs and 2 new bedrooms.
I have a whole host of recommendations of builders, kitchen fitters, driveway man, garden landscaper, window fitter, plumber, electrician. If you ever need a local recommendation drop me a line on Facebook or Twitter.
What was the final cost?
So finally as estimate of the cost. So I know how much I took out the mortgage and how much came from savings..I think we spent around £70k. But our house has been valued at £110k more than 14th Oct when work commenced. So we’re happy. Glad we put all the work in and really happy with the finished product. Bring on the summer and all the entertaining we’ll be doing!
Please comment if you have any questions, happy to help as we have learnt so much about building work and extensions. And maybe one day soon we’ll do it again. I say we, but I actually mean hubby, he was one brilliant project manager. He solved every problem that appeared. He should do it for a living;-)..light bulb..ping!
No more extension posts:-)
4 Responses
You have done such a great job, put a lot of effort and got an excellent result. We ourselves have recently experienced repairs and understand how much hassle this can be 🙂 After all, you need to calculate everything to the smallest nuances, each outlet in the right place and the right amount, for all the necessary accessories. With these we certainly did not cope on our own, our local electrician helped us a lot https://www.montgomeryelec.com/. In General, when such a great team is working on a project , the result is amazing.
For high-quality implementation of plumbing and sanitary projects, it is better to hire appropriate professionals. An experienced plumber will not only save you time, nerves, but also money. Today, many people offer to perform plumbing work. At first glance, every plumber is a professional, but is this really the case? Of course, you can’t trust everyone.
Expanding the space of the house is great, but it’s not an easy process. And it’s good when companies like https://kpdconstruction.co.uk/builders-north-london they can take care of everything. High-quality building materials are essential for high-quality and long-lasting results. Together with quality control, quality materials ensure a strong and durable construction!
Hi! I believe that air conditioning should always be included in any project at the very start. This is an important point in order to always have a comfortable temperature in the house. For this purpose you can always find HVAC contractors here https://www.acrepairinsandiego.com/