Our home renovations diary ~ before & after photos

Is that despair I see in his eyes

We have sold our home after 7 weeks on the market, and have moved into a delightful place across the road from Wimbledon Common (so we can keep an eye on them!) No more huge renovation works this time!

We moved into our previous Wombles home in May 2004... but how the previous man lived there, we dont know! The place was awful... very dirty (including dog pee on the carpets...), smelly (he was a heavy smoker), and very unhygienic (one's hand STUCK to the kitchen counter). But we were okay with this... for now. We bought the shell essentially, with plans to completely gut and renovate it. Here are some snippets of how it went...

Lounge - complete

Aah! :) The lounge/living room was the room we started working on first as we had to move everything into there asap, so we could live in here on our camping mattress whilst we worked on the rest of the place... (above photo). Wooden floors, newly plastered walls and the right dressing make all the difference in the world!

The grin soon faded...

I prefer painting on canvas! Having said that, we got stuck in and I did what I was told. (as any dutiful wife would... hehe). My husband has alot of experience in the maintenance and refurb industry and I am an artist and designer, so between the two of us, we thought we'd give it a go!

What's this I spy?

Dust dust dust A haven for asthmatics and hay fever sufferers alike... renovating and living in a building site leaves one with an extra coat of dust from morning till night.

Foyer - before

Ugh! :( The green on the walls was just 'divine'... we were sad to see that go... hmm

Foyer - complete

Aah! :) Coir seagrass carpets run throughout (apart from where the wood floor is), it's bright and cheery and now we can entertain and feel proud of our little piece of London. (An EXPENSIVE piece I might add! gulp).

Old and nasty

Ugh! :( The old kitchen area... this is the side where the plumbing kinda worked.... lol

Spanking new kitchen!

Aah! :) Our kitchen was installed the week of my birthday (30 Jan) ~ what a stunning birthday present! I hardly know myself as I cook now, and am experimenting and getting all excited re cooking again... 8 months is a looooooooong time to live sans a decent workable kitchen!