welshdude
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Registered: 6th Feb 03
Location: Swansea. Drives: 2006 Impreza STI
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Bought the house my with my girlfriend last summer and have been doing it up since. Its almost complete with only a few finishing touches to be made here and there.
It a 3 bed detached with a converted garage. When it was originally put on the market it was up for £162k but it needed way to much work and was never gonna go for that sort of money. When we went to see it, it had been reduced to £135k from £149k. We put in an offer of £124,950 so as to avoid stamp duty and it was accepted after a long wait over the weekend (its nothing like 'location location location' leads you to believe when they get back to you in 10 mins!) I think the bloke needed to sell as it had been on the market for over a year, the generally dated look must have been putting people off.
The first major part of the refurb was a new kitchen which we bought from MFI before it went bust. It cost around £3k with applicances (fridge/cooker/washing machine) and was fiited by my girlfriends step dad so saved lots of cash on labour.
Some Pics of the kitchen
Before:
Being stripped:
Finished:
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welshdude
Member
Registered: 6th Feb 03
Location: Swansea. Drives: 2006 Impreza STI
User status: Offline
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The next big improvement was double glazing, just in time for the freezing winter we had last year. The house is around 20 years old and still had its original wooden windows that were looking very tired, so out they came.
The new windows have a wood effect on the outside and white on the inside so it doesn't darken the rooms like it use to.
Old Windows;
Just after the old door had been ripped out;
New Door Installed;
All finished
The windows cost £3k and the labour was £800, not bad for both front/rear doors and all windows!
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welshdude
Member
Registered: 6th Feb 03
Location: Swansea. Drives: 2006 Impreza STI
User status: Offline
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We had stripped the hallway of the dado rail and wallpaper and painted it magnolia. This still left the stair case and carpet to replace which has been time consuming.
The old spindels and hand rail were knocked out in favour of some new pine. This only took 1 day to do but then almost 3 weeks to finish the sanding and varnishing.
Old Stair Case and Carpet from when we first bought the house;
Finished hallway with new carpet;
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welshdude
Member
Registered: 6th Feb 03
Location: Swansea. Drives: 2006 Impreza STI
User status: Offline
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Some before and after pics of the rest of the house
Dining Room Before;
After
Living Room Before;
After
Converted Garage
No after pic but its now it got painted magnolia walls.
[Edited on 04-04-2009 by welshdude]
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DannyB
Premium Member
Registered: 6th Feb 08
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Lovely mate, done a good job there 
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PaulJMcT
Member
Registered: 13th Oct 07
Location: Falkirk
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Fantastic job all round but loving the stair way, looks a lot fresher and modern.
Hat off.
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a_j_mair
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Registered: 23rd Jan 04
Location: Scotland
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looks like you have done a good job there
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_Allan_
Member
Registered: 24th Mar 04
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Nice, Kitchen is exactly what me and the g/f are after in a new build we're looking at. We can choose similar units, worktops and tiles etc..
Think we seen a similar table and chairs in Homebase that we both liked.
[Edited on 07-04-2009 by _Allan_]
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drunkenfool
Member
Registered: 7th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Drives: Audi R8 V8
User status: Offline
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Nice one  Im thinking about going into property development with a mate as a bit of a career decision after uni, tempted to do a course in something as well so I got some proper skills apart from general DIY skills. Looks like youve done a good job though, the kitchen is 100x better than before
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Fad
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Registered: 1st Feb 01
Location: Dartford Kent Drives: 330cd
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Very good work there chap looks like a great deal of added value to the property 
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16vKarlos
Member
Registered: 27th Oct 07
User status: Offline
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I Like This.. NIce Build.
Karlos
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