IT'S RENOVATION TIME

We've lived in our house now for over two years, and with welcoming a new arrival in that time, redecorating was never top of our priorities, understandably I'm sure you will agree. However the boys are getting older by the minute and I've found myself desperate to get the house exactly how I want it bit by bit. It's no complete gutting and re-do situation here, it's more a few licks of a paint and a new soft furnishings job - thankfully because I am certainly no DIY professional. We wont talk about the day it took John 6 hours to put up a shelf. I'm wanting to make my house a home in short whilst documenting each step of it with you guys.



We live in a semi-detatched three bedroomed house, it's no vast expanse of space but it's not dark and dingy either, or at least I'm hoping it wont be when we're finished with it. Noahs room was the only one before this year that I was completely content with, I've shared it a couple of times in the past as I'm really happy how it turned out, it's monochrome and simply perfect for him. I'll most definitely be featuring a whole separate post on it, once we've ordered him his new bed next month. As for the rest of the house, well it's exactly that, not a home just yet and it all felt a little overwhelming when I began to think about what I wanted to get done, where on earth do you start? I really didn't have my mind set on how I would like any other room in the house to look apart from Patricks room so it seemed appropriate to start there, there really isn't much colour in my house but the little you do see is mostly in this room. I do have a specific style, it's quite Scandinavian and minimalist which doesn't exactly scream *paint my walls mint and decorate with colour* but, I wanted my boys rooms to be about them, not me. So though I have steered clear of digger curtains and lava lamps, I've definitely surrendered some of my taste in order to make them fit for little boys. I'm still yet to add the shelves to Patricks room, as an Ikea trip is so overdue, when we've endured the hellish trip (who enjoys IKEA with two children) then I shall too be showcasing his room.

Until then, I've made a start on our living room as you can see above, which I am enjoying sharing across social. It's actually turning out to be the most enjoyable to decorate so far, I think perhaps because we spend so much of our time in there that I can fully reap the aesthetic benefits. We've added blinds, new curtains, a lick of paint and it really is all about the finishing touches until we take the plunge from carpet to wood flooring. I love wood flooring, it looks beautiful and it's much more hygienic (yes we learnt that through potty training) but I desperately didn't want hard flooring whilst Patrick was so little for bumps and tumbles it made sense to hold off until he was steady on his feet - which is now so bring on the wood (oh god!). I haven't even thought too much about the kitchen, it's by far our biggest project as I absolutely detest it at the moment, it's dated, ugly and not one inch of it sits well with me, as I've mentioned neither me nor John are very DIY friendly so I'm sure it'll cause us no end of problems along the way. Though I'm enjoying sprucing up our home it's definitely testing our relationship almost as much as having a baby did. Whilst I thought to myself about the arguments we've had along the way so far, I decided to ask some fellow bloggers what they've found most stressful during home renovations, be it just painting a room or having an extension and here's what they had to say;

'Painting doors, radiators and skirting boards with gloss paint, that stuff is the devil' Dave - The Dadventurer

'Choosing the paint colour, it's agonising! Especially as the colour never ends up looking the same as the sample!' Julie - Pondering Parenthood

'The hardest is getting rid of all the kids whilst it's happening!' Jaymee - The Mum Diaries

'Getting it finished. Our extension was supposed to take ten weeks and took almost three years in the end. There are still snagging bits to sort now' Colette - Going On An Adventure