Shed

What we have

A bog standard shed with a bodged roof. Well, three roofs actually, with foam sealant squished into the window frame. And boards nailed across it on the squiff. It's also full of the previous owners' stuff from bath panels to random bits of wood.

It's a shed.

The treasure within

 

What we want

A shed that we can fill with our garden necessities and is easy on the eye.

My DIY skills are a bit basic so I paid a local handyman to cover up the messy roof, fix the window and straighten up the boards.

Next step, paint!

Project: the sunny room

What we have

A 5x3m white PVC conservatory with clay bricks and patio doors. Strip lighting, moss covered roof, and blue carpet. It's also South facing.

What we want

A comfortable room we can eat and lounge around in. Some plants to bring the outside in, softer lighting and more practical flooring. Some way of reducing the temperature in the Summer.

Materials

• Paint: Primer, Dulux White Cotton Quick Dry Satinwood, Wickes Interior Varnish Natural Oak Satin         
• Fabric: 1970s family curtain material 
• Flooring: Online Carpets Modus Concrete 585 Vinyl (£7.99 per square metre) 

Accessories

• Furniture: IKEA Applaro Corner sofa (£416), existing antique dining room table (flea market find), existing Kartell Thalya Dining Chairs, IKEA Applaro Bench with Shelves (£91), existing IKEA SkogHall Table.    
• Sail shades for the ceiling 
• Tools: Bosch Multi-Sander, Karcher K2 Pressure Washer 

Work

• Clean the PVC inside and out, wash down woodwork
• Sand skirting boards, sill and table
• Prime sill 
• Paint skirting boards, sill and bricks (latter using watered down paint)
• Varnish the table
• Take up carpet and put down vinyl
• Clean and change blinds
• Assemble new furniture

Challenges
A couple of the double glazing panes are blown. We don't have the budget to replace these.

No budget for new blinds either so I'm planning to clean them and cut off the scalloped edges.

Fabric for the cushions

IKEA Applaro Corner Sofa

IKEA SkogHall Table

Dining Table

Where are all the sockets?

We've not long moved in. Some things are as I imagined. Lots of birds in the back garden, quiet and the can't-quite-believe-we've-bought-a-house feeling.

Other discoveries are 

• A musty smell. 
• One socket in each of the bedrooms. Of which, two are in the built-in-wardrobes. Very handy, not.
• The previous owners left enough crap to fill the shed including tins of paint, bits of wood, a bath panel (?) and enough bricks to build a sizable wall. Oh, and a satellite dish.
• The garden is full of mostly dying plants

Everything is now in the right room but everything is topsy-turvy. The 'playroom' is a toy storage room as the boys still play wherever we are.

Anyway, slowly but surely we are doing little jobs around the house and weeding the mud pit garden.