We’ve done a lot of work on the house this year. That’s what happens when you’re pregnant, isn’t it? You can’t drink so you spend your free time making plans and spending money you don’t have. We somehow managed to get quite a lot of the house decorated in a short space of time and it has made such a huge difference.
When we bought the house, I was excited to see there was a downstairs toilet. I envisaged sitting in the garden whilst Ebony played and her being able to run in for a wee whenever she needed. I’ve never lived in a house with a downstairs cloakroom before but I imagined it would make family life so much easier. My parents had an outdoor toilet when I was growing up but it had truly huge and terrifying spiders living in there so it wasn’t as fun place to pee.
When we moved in, we quickly discovered that the downstairs toilet didn’t actually work. And neither did the sink. Great. So the room because a dumping ground for tools and wood and other things that had no home. And it stayed that way for two years until we finally decided to decorate that room. It had a crazily hideous toilet and sink in there, bright blue and very very large. And the walls were decorated in garish white and black heavily patterned wallpaper. It was a weird room.
Laurie and my dad took out the toilet and sink and temporarily blocked up the pipes so we could decorate the room. We got a professional tiler to come and fit some huge white floor tiles in the bathroom, utility room and conservatory. This made such a huge difference to the back of the house and I absolutely love how it looks, especially when the sunlight reflects through the rooms.
In-keeping with my overwhelming love of white, we decided to have white metro tiles in the bathroom. Instead of forking out for a professional, I decided to try my hand at tiling. I was five months pregnant at the time and sitting on the floor for long periods wasn’t the best of ideas, but I’m really proud that I managed to do it myself. It took me quite a while and is far from perfect, but I get a rush of pride every time I go in there. There’s something really gratifying about getting your hands dirty and trying something new.
Once the tiles were in and the walls were painted blue, it was Laurie’s turn to throw himself into some DIY. He fitted the toilet and sink himself which was pretty impressive for someone who hasn’t tried plumbing before. We managed to get it finished just in time for my birthday party in May, though there is still the odd snag job to do in there. I’m hopefully we’ll manage to get the room 100% finished soon so I can share some more photos. I’ll also be sharing some more posts about the DIY and decorating we’ve done this year, I’m really pleased with how it all turned out.
This is a collaborative post.