Home Renovation Update | Good Fronds - Sustainable living blog

If you’re a regular reader you’ll be well aware of our ongoing home renovation. Work has almost ground to a halt over the summer months. To stay motivated and to keep you posted, I thought I’d share a little update on what’s going on. Not only that I thought I’d share a few future project ideas and inspiration. Without further ado here’s a little home renovation update…

A little context for anyone just joining us. Mr T and I bought our 1960s home in Manchester city centre around two years ago. Finding the “perfect” home is almost impossible, when looking for houses it helps to imagine the potential of a place and then get creative. We’ve been very slowly renovating. I’ve been trying to document and share our progress and project inspiration here on the blog.

The Kitchen Renovation

Back in January of 2018, I first shared our kitchen interior inspiration. With all home projects they seem to take quite a while to turn into reality. The trick is to enjoy the process as much as possible. Dreaming up ideas and planning a home renovation project can be a fun opportunity to get a little creative. My usual method is to start a Pinterest board, gathering ideas to get a clearer idea of what you hope to achieve. Then begin looking around at where to source your kitchen from, your lighting and all the little accessories. Get quotes and weigh up the costs. Plan the project, then get started!

We actually started work on the kitchen renovation in December 2018. Our kitchen was finally finished in March of 2019. When we finally shared our kitchen renovation reveal in March we were so happy. The kitchen renovation project felt like a bit of a slow labour. There were days and dark winter evenings when we wondered what we’d gotten ourselves in to. We did a lot of the work ourselves. This included totally ripping out the old kitchen, knocking down several walls, laying the floor, this list goes on. All whilst working full-time. The level of dust was unreal. As with most things in life, I guess the harder you work on something the more gratifying it is when it’s accomplished?

Having a fully functional kitchen has improved our day-to-day life beyond belief. Like having plug sockets that work, storage and lots of worktop space to actually prepare food. It’s the little things!

The Bathroom Makeover

The bathroom was the very first project we tackled in our home. It was the space that needed the most love and attention. You can see our full before/ after Bathroom Makeover Reveal HERE. This was our very first time at doing any kind of home project together. It was a challenge at times, with the long evenings, not having a loo and of course the chaos! Despite the challenges it was very enjoyable and fun. We love our bathroom now and it really is a sanctuary. Sometimes it’s great to look back at the progress we’ve made thus far. Looking back at the progress, helps me to stay motivated and get excited for future projects.

What’s next?..

We’ve been very slowly gathering ideas for the upstairs of our home. You can follow our Bedroom Interior Inspiration board over on Pinterest. The process of looking at furniture is quite enjoyable, we always love to mix antique pieces with modern. Personally I’m a little obsessed with navy blue paint, Mr T is not totally convinced but hey I may very well change my mind before we get around to actually tackling the upstairs rooms!

The next area to tackle on our list is the hallway, we’ve made a start at ripping out the old ill-fitting skirting boards and taking up the crusty old vinyl flooring. Currently it’s a bit of a building site just waiting for us to start work. We’ve put off work properly until after summer, so we can enjoy the light evenings and avoid long hot, sweaty DIY days! I’m excited to keep updating you on our progress, so many ideas and projects in the pipeline.