1. Take your time

This process is even more complicated than you think. Give yourself time to think about what you really want to have – get your friends and family over and tell them too! You’ll probably find that they will come up with an idea that you hadn’t even thought of, which could completely change what you had in mind. Think about the things you want from your new kitchen/bathroom/whatever. Is it more storage space? A particular layout?

The whole process takes a long time too, so bear this in mind before you start. If you’re aiming to start work at a particular time then plan things way in advance and be prepared for it to not quite happen as you expect. We had hoped to be building over the summer last year, but despite everything else being in place we couldn’t find a builder – and when we found one he couldn’t start until October. Which was then November because the previous build was delayed! So be prepared.

2. Planning permission

The planning permission process also takes time, so if this is something that you need to have I would recommend getting someone to draw up some proper plans for you. When we had our roof done, the roofer put us in touch with an architect/planner who turned out to be a really great find! He came out and measured everything, talked about what we wanted to do and drew up ideas and then re-drew changes. He also submitted the applications for us and responded to the council at various points – this was so helpful. If you can find a planner who is happy to do this, then go for it! Their inside knowledge is priceless, and it certainly helped the process to go much more smoothly for us.

3. Finding a builder

We came unstuck at this point – I’m not going to lie, for us this was a nightmare! We knew that we would have to get 3 or 4 quotes for the project (this is standard and if you’re planning a big project like this it’s a must) but it was really difficult to get reliable quotes. And by that I mean that builders were coming to talk about things with us and then not sending a quote for a month, or not even replying to phone messages to get them to come to speak to us in the first place! Anthony (our chosen builder) gave us a quote first and then we were let down by so many after that, including by people who had been recommended to us. With hindsight we would have picked him earlier, but even though we liked him we knew that we needed a few quotes and so the months ticked by… We have planning permission for a 2-storey extension but needed to do it in two stages – lots of builders were trying to put us off doing it this way, but we had to because of our budget. So basically, it’s a bit hit and miss! But you are in charge – it’s your money and if you don’t feel 100% happy then don’t pick them. Ask for and check out references if you can, to see what previous work carried out is like.

Anthony actually contacted us once our planning application had gone in. Your application will be public so that neighbours can look at the plans etc. if they wish to, and this means that builders can also access your details and may choose to get in touch with you about the possibility of carrying out the work. He sent us a brochure and a list of references, but other companies varied greatly! We were lucky in that he was obviously not trying to pull a fast one, but you need to be careful about choosing your builder. You shouldn’t really be paying any money up front but should see some work being carried out before any invoice is paid. Anthony has always been very up front with us about this from the beginning, and we felt very comfortable with him and his team doing the work. As I said before, you have to have confidence in your builder so don’t choose them if you have any concerns or doubts.

4. Your budget

Once you have got a few quotes, you’ll (hopefully) be able to choose a builder that can complete your project within your budget. But there are some things to bear in mind. The main thing is that unless you are some sort of multimillionaire, you will go over budget! We were so careful with our budget and had a good amount of contingency money, but things always take more time and money than you think. We needed extra work on the foundations, which meant extra costs for the planner and structural engineer, as well as the actual foundations.

People have different opinions on how much you should have as a contingency, and this will obviously depend on how much money you have. I’d say aim for a minimum of 10% of the overall budget, and then have a back-up plan in case you go over that (!!). Keep an eye on how much you are spending as you go along, and ask your builder to quote you for prices as you go along if you need to.

5. During the build

As the build is progressing, you’ll find that you spend a lot of time on the phone sorting things out! Anthony was brilliant at keeping us posted with what was happening, and he used to ring me every week to give me an update on what had happened that week and what they would be doing in the coming week. Fab! If your builder doesn’t do this, don’t be afraid to ask them to or to just ring them yourself. It was so good to know where we were up to. Be prepared to have questions about things that you haven’t thought about – where do you want sockets/light switches to be, for example?

Depending on what you are having done, there will be a lot of disruption in your house. With a kitchen there is obviously quite a lot – no washing machine, fridge and washer in the living room, lots of microwave meals etc. But remember that a) it isn’t for long, and b) it will be worth it in the end! We had stuff everywhere – the bed in the front bedroom was collapsed so that we could use it as a storage room. We did keep our bedroom clear just so that we could have one room without chaos, and I am SO glad that we did this! It was actually a lot more stressful and more tiring than I thought it was going to be. The kitchen fitting happened during a really stressful time at work, so I just felt completely overwhelmed at some points. During the last week, it felt like the end was so close but it was the longest week ever! I was desperate to get some sort of normality back, but at the same time I knew it was just for a few more days and I had to keep reminding myself that. So I guess what I’m saying is don’t underestimate how stressful your project could be, but try to keep your end goal in sight.

Just a couple more really random things to note: firstly, dust will get everywhere. In fact, it goes beyond everywhere! People told us this before we started, but you really cannot imagine how dusty it is until you actually do it. If you can pack things away or cover them up, then do that as much as you can. Dust will get in places that you didn’t know existed! Secondly (and this is an obvious thing to some), make sure you take progress photos throughout your renovation or building work! I’ve taken loads (partly to share on my blog) and it has been great to look back on the progress that has been made.

6. After the build

There will probably be some things that you need to wait to finish – this might be because of your budget or because you can’t find the right item, but that’s ok! We are yet to fit some blinds at the back because we can’t find what we are looking for (although we aren’t sure exactly what that is anyway!) and because we didn’t quite have enough money. We spent a while looking for a table too, and have arranged to pay for it in instalments to make it affordable. We’re not going to rush to get some of the other things we need or would like just so it can be finished either. Don’t be afraid to hold out for the perfect thing, even if it means doing without something for a while.

I hope you have found these tips helpful if you’re planning your own big project. It will be stressful, but I promise you it’s worth it! Don’t forget to leave your own tips in the comments if you’ve got any to add. And for anyone in the Newcastle area who is planning a project, I would highly recommend Anthony – you can find his contact details here. Tell him I sent you!

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If you saw my ‘before’ post, then you’ll know that we had a lack of space in terms of storage and worktops. Not anymore! We’ve probably got more workspace next to our new cooker than we had in the whole of the previous kitchen – it’s mad but brilliant! The kitchen we chose is from Howdens (who were brilliant) and it’s Glendevon in flint grey. We loved the curved corners and I’m so pleased that we decided to splurge on getting these, as it works particularly well on the bit that goes around the corner from the ‘old’ kitchen to the new bit.

I’m really pleased that we chose to match the floor with the worktops – it works so well. This is American pecan wood-effect laminate flooring and worktop. I love the look of real wood but we couldn’t afford real wood flooring! But it doesn’t matter at all – this looks just as good. We’ve got an area where we’ll put a table, and it will be really good to be able to eat in the kitchen. When it arrives we’ll be living in here I think! This is where it will go (you can just about see it – the light wasn’t great today as it’s pretty gloomy outside!):

I’m standing at the front window looking at where the garage used to be for this next photo. You can get a sense of how the old garage and old kitchen have been combined – it’s such a big space!

It’s lovely and light with the window and door. We haven’t got blinds for the back windows yet, mainly because we couldn’t find what we were looking for. We’ll have to get them put up soonish though, because it’s a real sun trap at the back! In the old bit of the kitchen, the sink has stayed in the same place, but the washing machine has been moved in there and we also have a dishwasher (yay!). Not that we’ve worked out how to use it yet, because we keep forgetting to buy some dishwasher salt…anyway, this is working out well in this area. We’ve got our cutlery canteen over here because it didn’t open fully where the upper units are. We got one of those pull-out larders, which we would highly recommend if you’re redesigning your own kitchen! The boiler has been boxed in here too, so it looks much neater.

Please excuse all my washing up here!

The units are really good quality, and it’s so lovely to have more storage space. We had forgotten about so many things that we had for our kitchen, and it was great to unpack them all. We also discovered that we have quite a mug collection!

Although I love so many things about our new kitchen, our cooker has to be my favourite part. I have dreamed of having a range cooker for so long, and it’s amazing. We chose a Cookmaster by Leisure and it’s really easy to use, and with 7 burners we should have enough cooking space now! It took us a while to decide what to do about tiles, as we had seen these lovely mosaic tiles that we wanted to have. After much thought and discussion, we decided to have an upstand around all the worktops, with the tiles as a splash back only. This was a good decision – having these tiles all around the kitchen would have looked a bit weird, especially in places where the space isn’t very deep (like around the sink). I think the tiler was pleased too – it would have been a nightmare job for him!

We are so lucky to have been able to complete this project, and are so pleased with how it has turned out. It still feels really surreal to be honest! I can’t wait to get trying out new recipes and to get the final touches done. Here’s to fun times in our new kitchen!

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So the kitchen project is a really big deal for us – it’s the biggest project we’ve ever undertaken and it’s the first thing we’ve ever done from scratch with a blank canvas. I’ll be honest, it’s pretty scary! The budget wasn’t limitless and you don’t realise how much things are going to cost. This is amplified when you’re buying everything at once too! You want to make the right decisions, you don’t want to waste money, and there are some things that you decide that you really don’t want to compromise on. My friend Donna has a mantra that she lives by, which is ‘save and splurge’. She told me this before we started, and it’s so true! Save on things where you can so that you can splash out on certain things that you really don’t want to compromise on. When it comes to work like this, this is the best piece of advice ever – thank you, Donna!

I love looking through magazines/blogs/Pinterest at home styling and ideas for the home, and I often see things and think that we could make it work in our house too. But every home is different and a lot of things just wouldn’t work in ours. Although I really love having a nosey in people’s houses, one thing that bugs me a little bit about styled interiors photos is that I’m wondering what it looks like behind the camera! Just where do they put all that extra stuff?! I’d love to know! Anyway, we spent a lot of time chatting about what we thought the kitchen should look like. When it came to selecting the kitchen fittings, we discovered that we both found it easier to list what we didn’t like than what we did. Tom doesn’t like Bristol sinks (gutted – I really love them!) and I didn’t want anything too dark or old-fashioned. We had a little look around (and also at our friend’s new kitchen) and decided that we really loved the glossy units, especially the ones with curved corners. They are just so beautiful! We found the one we chose in Howdens, which is a trade-only company (lots of builders have an account there, so ask if you are planning this too).

We had a list of things that we wanted from the new kitchen, which included more storage (see below!), more workspace and more light. Our old kitchen was really dreary at night with its one little light! I also had two things that I really wanted: a range cooker and a dishwasher. Tom wasn’t so fussed about the dishwasher – we put it on the maybe list because if we couldn’t afford both then I would rather have the cooker every time! Howdens have a kitchen designing service, and they did a brilliant job of making the best of the new space. I’ve realised that functionality is a big part of our style – it needs to work for us and we need storage space! We have discovered that generally we have the same style too, although I’m probably a bit more adventurous than Tom when it comes to colour. Our kitchen will reflect that – we’ll have pops of colour but it will be predominantly neutral, but this will make it light and bright. Yay!

It has been weird having to make decisions about fixtures and fittings when we’re not used to thinking about stuff like that. The builders have been asking me things over the last couple of weeks about how we want things to be or look, and I’ve been like ‘Erm…’ – it’s mad really because we’ve had so long to think about it! It’s really fun to be at this point choosing the final things to go in there. Who knew that things like spotlight covers could be so exciting?! I can’t wait to share the finished kitchen with you! Although 5 years seems like a long time to have not done a lot to our house, I am so glad we’ve had that time to live here and find out what works and what doesn’t so that we could plan and think about what we really want to do. A lot of planning went into it, and I’m pretty sure it will be worth it!

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There were so many people working on our kitchen that day – the plasterers and electricians were here in addition to the usual team working on it. The tiler came over to discuss what we’re having and the cooker was delivered too. And in the middle of that I was doing my marking…crazy!

We took some photos on Tuesday after the builders had gone and it was brilliant to see the size of the new kitchen. I’m fairly good at imagining things, but the space feels much bigger than I thought it would. It’s so light with the big windows too – our front window is 182cm wide!

Since then it has been all go – the plasterers and electricians were even here yesterday (Saturday)! Our kitchen was delivered yesterday too, so that is going to be fitted this week. There are so many boxes in the kitchen now! We also have lights, which is just amazing – it means I can take better photos after they have finished for the day too haha

I spotted this on the box of handles – this is a musician’s joke, haha!

The rendering has been finished outside too. Pebble dash isn’t the prettiest thing in the world, but we had to have it so that it matched the rest of the house. As much as I’d like to paint it, I know that once we do it’s a job we’ll have to do every other year or so and I’d rather spend the money on something else to be quite honest! So this matches the house perfectly.

So, all of the construction side of things is complete now and there’s just a week to go! Can you believe it?! The kitchen will be fitted from tomorrow and the decorator is coming on Thursday. There’s just one thing that will have to wait until the week after, and that’s the tiling (because the tiler was fully booked this week). We’ve decided that we’re just going to have tiles for a splash back now, so it’s a small-ish job for the week after. I can’t actually believe we’ve got to this point! I’ll share some more photos with you next week…exciting!

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