In this weeks blog, we knuckle down to the mundane renovation tasks that no one likes- wall paper stripping and getting ready to decorate our early retirement renovation project. We realise that after the speedy work of the builders last week, that we are falling behind on the other tasks that are needed to keep the project moving forwards. We do however still find time to get out and about and have some adventures exploring the Yorkshire Dales- the place that we now call home!
We are currently into day 3 of wallpaper stripping the stairs and landing- the dreaded lining paper has returned and it is our nemesis. Note to self- if we ever think about using lining paper in a house- think again- unless we want to make life hellish for any future owners- then if so put it on every walled surface! We have found that we need to tackle each of the layers individually- each treated with copious amounts of steam from our trusty stripper. We have the wallpaper layer (easy), painted layer (more difficult), brown under layer (easy when steamed) and the dreaded gunky adhesive layer (hell on earth to remove- requires too much elbow grease for any substance known to man!).
As we wait for the plaster to dry from last week, we realised that there are so many things that we need to do to get ready for the next phase of work. We know that we need to blitz the decorating before the kitchen is fitted and the electricity is second fixed. Linked to this, our electrician is going to need our light fittings, that we have not yet thought about.
In addition, we know that for our kitchen to be fitted on time, we need to have the appliances purchased and delivered- which we haven’t thought about up until this week. Furthermore, we also need to think about the soft furnishing and curtains to keep the house warm and snug. The list seems to go on and on, but we have reminded ourselves that this is actually the exciting time of the renovation- it just takes a lot of time, energy and thinking! Consequently, we have spent far too much time this week online, searching for the right products and placing orders. We have boxed off the kitchen appliances, bought metres of curtain material and supplies and have still yet to make a decision on our lighting!!!
Bathroom developments
We had a meeting with the bathroom company we are thinking of working with, and to be honest, we didn’t really get the answers that we required. After an initial meeting at the house, that we thought had gone well at the time, they then provided a quote that was so out of line with our budget, we couldn’t really fathom what they were thinking. The quote included over £500 on a loo, when we said that we just wanted the cheapest, plain porcelain loo produced. It included £700 (+VAT!) on un-named sundries possibly such as adhesives and grouting…that’s a lot of glue in my estimation. The final concern was the labour cost of over £2500 (+VAT). When we asked how long a job that cost would cover- we didn’t get an answer- just an embarrassed silence! We pointed out that we have had on site last week a minimum of 2 builders every day, with most days having 4 or 5 lads on site- all coming in at a labour cost similar to the plumbers quote.
They are looking again at their quote to see where they can bring it more in line with our budget expectations. Currently the smallest room in the house is commanding the biggest budget- this cannot be- watch this space!
Floor covering research and ideas
It seems a reacuring theme from suppliers that their initial quote for work is eye-wateringly expensive and they then expect to be talked down. For us this is really wearing and we just wish that these companies would be transparent from the off.
The initial quote for flooring the downstairs with Karndean really stung- again due to the labour and sundry costs- working out at more than £100 a square meter!!! We went back to them and they immediately started to revise their position, saying that they always preferred their initial quotes to be a little generous so there are no nasty surprises with the final cost. Our argument against this position would be what if the initial quote was a nasty surprise in the first place!
To cut a long story short, we have had them round this week for an accurate measure and site assessment to hopefully come up with a more realistic quote that fits our budget. We will see…
Electric radiator decision made
Fate is a wonderful thing. Regular readers of this blog will be aware that we have been torturing ourselves with a decision about what heating system to install to replace our 1980’s storage heaters. We only have electric in the village so our choices are somewhat limited.
After days of pondering we stumbled upon a solution in a soft furnishings shop in Settle of all places. Not that they sold heaters or anything, but the day was freezing and the shop was toasty warm. We found that they had installed Havaland electric radiators that were heating a huge space. They didn’t look too bad aesthetically, so we did a bit more research on them and have decided to take a punt on them to see if they work. We only need 4 for the entire house, and we will have a lovely wood burner downstairs as well to help out with the heating.
Ideally in the future, with the potential for Government grants and the prospect of our pension lump sum, we will look for something more sustainable such as a solar or heat pump system, but for now these heaters will serve our needs well. We do not envisage spending days on end in the house in the next few years, we want to be our and about adventuring. If it is really cold, we will fire up the wood burner that will not only warm the house, but it will also warm our souls!
Local explorations
We put out a YouTube video earlier in the week based on our favourite travel and adventure guides- the Wild Guides. If you are interested- you can find it here.
This inspired us to revisit the chapter on the area that we now live in- how strange it was going back to the book that we used so extensively when we simply dreamed of living in the Dales- and it is now a reality! We found a hidden Lime Kiln that simply blew our minds. It was so close to the main road, and yet we had no idea that it even existed. It was enormous and awe inspiring to wander the vast caverns of the kiln and explore the remnants of an industry almost forgotten in this ere. The industrial revolution was a mighty change that we now find hard to even comprehend. They somehow just made things happen, with unbelievable industrial solutions.
It was so lovely to get out and about in our local area. We are still pinching ourselves that it is even real, that we now live in the Dales- permanently! We have no excuse not to get out everyday and explore what is around us. We are definitely counting our blessings.
YouTube shock
We put out a video on our surprises from our first 6 months of early retirement and we could not believe how it flew. We had a plan, and talked to that plan, but it was basically a talking heads video that used some of our stock footage from the last few months- not a complex video to produce in any way. We cannot believe how quickly interest grew in this episode. Now don’t get us wrong, it didn’t go viral or anything, but for us it was our own sort of mini-viral! We sat in the car at 3pm on a Wednesday and just watched the views amass. We couldn’t work it out, until Jackie realised from the analytics that over 50% of our viewers are from the US and the US was waking up at that time. The world really is getting a smaller place with technology advances, but it just fries our brains that hundreds of people from the US are taking time out of their mornings to listen to us chew the fat…mental!
If you want to see what he fuss was all about, the video is here.
So that is it, another busy week, and if we are really honest, we don’t know where it has gone. Life is moving so quick at the moment and we are running hard to catch up. Each day we remind ourselves how blessed we are to have the freedom to pursuit our dreams and make our early retirement aspirations a reality.
Have a brilliant week,
Richard and Jackie
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