Best of 2012

We’ve done loads of things to the house since first moving in back in 2010. Some of them were small and quick other projects seemed to be never ending.

These are some of our favourite posts, projects and disasters since starting our house renovation.

And the awards go to (drum-roll please)…

Best Before and After – Our Gable Restoration

We are so happy with how the little gable over our bay window turned out. You can read more about it here.

It’s amazing what a bit of wood, some paint and a few hours of work can achieve. The whole project cost about £50 but we had quotes for up to £1200 for the same job. Not surprisingly, that also makes it our biggest money saving project.

Longest Project – The Staircase Restoration

This project seems to be going on for ever and we still aren’t finished. It’s a huge improvement compared to the worn and dirty carpet. You can read about the project here and here.

We are happy with the result so far, but there is still a lot of sanding and painting to do to get the finish we are looking to achieve.

Best Restoration – The Bedroom Fireplace

This project was actually fairly easy to do, like most things it just took a lot longer than expected. You can read about the full project here.

The Edwardian fireplace is an amazing original feature in the house; it’s hard to imagine why anyone would paint it yellow!

Hottest Update – The Living Room Fireplace

Yep, you’ve guessed it; the award has to go to our newly fitted original Edwardian fireplace in the living room. You can read about the full project here.

We are so happy with it. When the coal fire is burning, it gives of a huge amount of heat, in our otherwise very cold house.

Most Creepy Crawlies – Insulating under the living room floor

We have a crawlspace under the living room floor which made it fairly easy to install the insulation. You can read the full story here.

It’s made a big difference to the heat retention of the room. It also helps our feet stay warmer.

Sweatiest Project – Removing the Root

It took Jan about 4 hours of hard work and buckets of sweat to remove this root in the garden.

You can read more about it here. The garden is still a complete mess; we hope to tackle some more garden issues in the New Year.

Prettiest Update – Pendant Shade in the hall

We love our pendant lampshade in the hall. It was really easy to do and works well because of our very high ceilings. You can read more about it here.

Worst Idea – Spray Painting our Bed – Outside

This was really a bad idea. We sprayed the bed outside in slightly windy conditions and ended up using huge amounts of paint. When we got it back inside out of the sun, we realised that it hadn’t covered properly and was very patchy.

Biggest Disaster – Cracking the Bedroom Ceiling While Insulating the Loft

While the extra insulation in the loft definitely helps retain the heat much better, we very annoyingly cracked the bedroom ceiling below. You can read about it here.  We’ve tried filling the crack, but the ceiling has now started to sag slightly. All rather annoying.

 Biggest Planned Project for 2013 – The Loft

We already told you about our plans for the loft here. We hope to start working on the project early next year.

Have you completed any projects in the last year? Or do you have any house improvements or changes planned for next year?