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| Rejoice shares her DIY stories after buying her first home. |
Ladies who DIY... Buying your first home
Saturday 30th August, 2014
SMART…Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic and time related. That would be a good place to start when defining the parameters for renovating a house. As a first time DIYer, I started off on the right path and asked people with experience before I embarked on this journey. The advice I was given was simple; take your time and do one room at a time. Very practical advice but alas it was given to a not so practical person. I want everything sorted…and I want it done now. This has led to my current dilemma - a messy house strewn with debris; work started in every room but not quite completed. I am convinced, however, that there is a method to my madness.
My husband, Herbert and I recently purchased a 1930s semi-detached home. Just agreeing on a house to buy was a process in itself. We separately came up with lists of the things that we were looking for individually in a house and the result was, as one can imagine, a house we could not afford. Herb wanted a big garden, a garage, a good sized kitchen and a conservatory (which I will admit is important to both of us as we are originally from a much sunnier climate). I was more concerned about the location, access to good schools, enough room to host family visiting from overseas and a place that we could raise children. Eventually we compromised and found ourselves our current house. The garden and the kitchen are both decent-sized, the location is quite nice and it does have the potential to be a wonderful family home (unfortunately no garage for Herb). The important thing is we are both happy with the decision we made.
The property was beautifully kept by the previous owners and personalised to their tastes and preferences. Unfortunately, we don’t have similar tastes. An important part of our journey has been trying to define what exactly constitutes ‘our style’. I would say this is part of the reason why I have started a little work in each room; in order to figure out what resonates with us and any ideas I have that shouldn’t be developed any further! So far, we have established that we prefer a modern, minimalistic, chic but warm look. What I hadn’t accounted for is that I would suddenly like African artefact's. We are from Zimbabwe but I would never have dreamt while I lived there that my home would be filled with African ornaments or art. I don’t know anyone who lives in Zim (as we call it) with any African home ware. I’ve accepted that it might just be a way for me to connect with my African roots so I will let it be and just go with the flow.
The biggest challenge we face is modernising the property. There are wall panels in the hallway, kitchen and bathroom. These are quite high up on my list of things to get rid of. There is also artex in the hallway, on the landing and in one of the bedrooms. Whoever decided artexed walls were fashionable did a great disservice to mankind and has further complicated my life. We have had the hallway plastered and it makes such a big difference; completely changing the feel of the space. My war against artex continues as we will have the bedroom and the hallway plastered in the next few weeks.
The house also had wallpaper everywhere! (I cannot convey my distress enough). I have decided that I definitely do not like wall paper, especially floral wallpaper. Some of my friends have decorated their homes beautifully with tasteful wallpaper but I know without a doubt that wallpaper does not have a place in my life. My mission to remove wallpaper started two days after we moved into the property. No-one explained to me just how much wallpaper can hide. I had some idea but I was not quite prepared. So we have painted the walls but need to get a couple of the walls re-plastered in the next few months in order to rectify the imperfections. I’m saving up for this (because as I said there was wallpaper EVERYWHERE) but I can’t afford to just sit still while my money pot grows. This means I’ve stirred up trouble in a different part of the house…
