So as promised here is the much more exciting and juicy blog on all the stuff I messed up on with our two year renovation. If you want to read about my more positive renovation wins you can check out last week’s blog here.
But I know it’s all the bad stuff that we really learn from so here are my lessons that will hopefully save you from similar mistakes.
MY 10 WORST RENOVATION MISTAKES
1. GOING FOR COOL LIGHT IN THE KITCHEN
What I mean by ‘cool light’ is the temperature of the light emitted from the bulb. All my training, research and advice I sought told me I should use cool lights in the kitchen. Cool light is great for task lighting and white walls look better under cool light because they keep their white appearance. But warm light is so much more homely and friendly. In the end, I went for practicality and went cool. It was the wrong decision. I hated the contrast from the rest of the home, and it just had a bit of an operating theatre vibe about it. I should have listened to my own advice. Kitchens should feel like the rest of the home, they aren’t just for cooking they are for living in, and warm light is much more flattering and friendly.
So if you want my advice go warm. I didn’t and it cost me £400 to change them all.
The two fittings on the left over the tall cabinets are ‘cool’ and one over the panelling on the right is ‘warm’, you can really see the difference.
2. GOING FOR WOOD FLOORING OVER THE UNDERFLOOR HEATING
Our underfloor heating is great so I don’t regret that for a minute. But I do regret not going for tiles. I always knew tiles conducted heat better than a thick piece of wood. Anyone with GCSE science could work that out. But I’ve never loved the look and feel of floor tiles. So I thought we would go with the wood flooring and just accept I had to crank up the heat to get the room to a snug temperature.
I did my research and saw that you could allow engineered wood to be heated to a temperature of 27 degrees. That’s really hot, right? Wrong! So it turns out when the floor itself reaches 27 degrees the floor is nice and warm but the air temperature is only about 19 degrees. And once the floor hits 27 degrees the UFH switches itself off. We could override the system and allow the floor to get hotter but then we ran the risk of causing permanent damage to the wood. It’s the same for vinyl floors, if it gets too hot the glue can start to melt. So the only flooring that allows you to whack the heat right up is tile. And that’s what we should have done.
Having said all that I really do love the look of my floor. It’s painted engineered oak so it matches the rest of the ground floor and I just adore my white floors. So if I knew then what I know now would I really go with tile? Would I prioritise heating over the look? I’m not sure. We’ve reached a happy medium now. The floor feels nice and warm underfoot and then we installed a wall heater which does a great job of pumping out heat to warm the air temperature up so it is snug and cosy in here. So even if it wasn’t a mistake it was definitely a learning experience!
The wood floor that probably should have been tiles 🙁
3. NOT HIRING A PROJECT MANAGER
I took on the role of PM and wow it was tough. It’s not just the coordination and scheduling of all the different trades that are tricky, but it’s taking ultimate responsibility for things like window measurements and floor levels. Because each trade was bought in to do their individual part they didn’t have the end goal in mind so didn’t care about setting things up perfectly for the next part of the process, they just did their bit and left. So even if you don’t have a PM it’s a good idea to have a lead builder on the job who has the same vision as you knows what the end goals are and will be there until the end. We were just doing it as cheaply as possible but it really took its toll on my stress levels.
4. LETTING TIME SCALES DRIFT
It took over a year to build and fit our kitchen. And I still don’t really know why. The guys did an amazing job, it’s all bespoke and the quality of the finish is amazing and it cost a lot less than Neptune who we copied. I normally manage things very tightly and am not afraid to put pressure on a situation to get results. But because they were a two-man band giving us a really good price rather than a big profiteering company making a crazy markup, I went easy on them. It’s much more personal when you are dealing with a small business and you need to protect the relationship because you can’t just deal with someone else if things break down. So it’s just something to be wary of when buying small or local, it’s much harder to manage.
5. CHOOSING LOOP PILE CARPETS
This isn’t a mistake yet but I am anticipating it might be! I’m not a massive fan of wall-to-wall carpets. I love hard flooring and rugs. But upstairs we had disgusting orangey hardwood floors I couldn’t afford to replace, and I couldn’t be doing with sanding and painting them all like I did downstairs. Plus I wanted more of a cosy vibe. So I considered about eight thousand carpets and the only ones that didn’t make me want to puke were wool and loop pile. The most anti-family friendly carpets you could choose.
They were fitted six months ago and so far so good. They look and feel amazing. The only spills we’ve had have been really small and I’ve dealt with them quickly so I’ve just about got away with removing them. But I know I shouldn’t be using my Shark vacuum cleaner on a loop pile carpet because of the beater bar but how else am I meant to hoover up all the crap? And because they are wool they just soak up stains so the minute someone has a nosebleed or I spill some paint or a cup of tea they are probably doomed.
6. HIRING A PAINTER / DECORATOR
I painted the entire house myself apart from the kitchen/dining reno which was mostly new plaster so I couldn’t face all the mist coats. I hired a ‘professional’ and he was absolute shit. He didn’t even unscrew the sockets and light switches he just painted around them, badly. His work was patchy and sloppy. So I had to do another two coats myself. The moral of the story is no one will care as much about the finished result as you. So if you can do it yourself then do it. I can’t do much but I can paint so I’ll always do my own painting from now on!
7. NOT CONSIDERING SAMPLES IN SITU
This is a classic mistake and I can’t believe I committed it. I chose a cotton trim for my stair runner. I went to the guy’s workshop and saw the samples and had my carpet with me so made my choice. My big mistake was not borrowing the sample and taking it home to see it in situ. It’s looked like a pale pink in his sunny bright workshop. It’s actually brown in my dark north facing hallway. So unless you check everything in situ you will never know how it will look in your own home. Lesson learned.
Should have bought the sample home, lesson learned!
8. ORDERING BESPOKE WITHOUT SEEING IT
Another fuck up. This time I ordered a dining table without seeing it because we were in lockdown and the workshop was miles away. I had to go bespoke as we needed a more square shape to suit the space. Also, I hate it when you can’t cross your legs under a table so I wanted a bespoke height too. It arrived and the size was perfect but the tabletop looked shit, really cheap naff pine stained to look like oak. It had looked great in the photos but IRL it was gross. Of course, we couldn’t return it because it was bespoke. So we are now having to have a new top made for it.
It’s fine to order stuff without seeing it if it’s off the shelf and returnable. The worst that can happen is you lose £30 for them to collect it but if you’re going bespoke then see it if you can.
9. HIRING A FRIEND
We have a beautiful front door which we believe is the original but sadly the stained glass was long gone and replaced with ugly safety glass. But it just so happened our lovely neighbour makes stained glass, winner, winner. I designed the pattern and told her about the colours I envisaged. She didn’t have any samples just a catalogue. Well of course you can’t appreciate the colour of glass in a catalogue because you need to see it with the light shining through. But I didn’t want to be a whiney brat and insist on her ordering samples for me so I trusted her. You can guess the end of the story and the moral is to be wary of hiring friends or family.
10. DOING IT IN STAGES
This was a win and a loss. We did the structural work and then lived in the shell for months and months whilst I planned the kitchen furniture, lighting and electrical layout. This was great because it meant we could live in the space and appreciate it before committing to a final layout. And I changed my mind over and over again.
But the huge downside was it consumed a year of our lives when it could have all been done in a couple of months. We endured a long period of chaos, mess and disruption but I kind of loved how it evolved and the layout is 100% perfect. I’m not sure it would have been if we’d rushed through it. Who knows. It depends on your personality but doing it in stages isn’t for everyone.
The shell we lived in for nine months.
So those are my major mistakes. I hope it gives you a bit of an insight into renovation life and helps you with your own decisions. Luckily most of my mistakes related to the process rather than the end result or were able to be corrected. Apart from the bloody flooring! But we all get things wrong. So if something does screw up don’t give yourself a hard time about it.
If you would like any help with your renovation then why not get in touch or join the discussion below?
Sarah x
