Our renovations plans for 2019…

I said recently that I feel like our flat will never be finished, it’s such an on-going project and for the most part we’re happy with that. We have all sorts going on with travel, the coffee shop and work so we like that we can dip in and out when it suits.

Honesty though, I feel a bit like I’m in limbo with this place. I love it here, we’ve been here nearly five years and it’s a great place, but I know it’s not our forever home – but I still want it to look nice!

Mainly I see this flat as a dry run for when we eventually get (and inevitably renovate) a house. I’m trying to make mistakes and learn from them while we’re here, rather than in our forever home.
Despite this, I love making little changes in our flat and I think if we have the funds and we think it’ll add value to the flat/we can learn from it/I can share some of the process on here, we may as well go for it!

Here’s a little look at what I’m hoping we’ll work towards this year…

Redo the living room

I love our living room but it’s in need of some serious TLC; hopefully it will be getting plastered and painted next week, and then I might change out some of the older furniture we have, like our TV cabinets.
I would LOVE some open shelving built in somewhere but I can’t decide where – maybe the wall where the door is? I just love open shelving so much and I think it would bring so much to the room. I think I might have to mock up the room in Photoshop to see how it would look, I find it so hard to visualise it.

Plan a closet

This is the area that’s bothering me at the moment because I just cannot make a decision on it! At the moment, I have the open shelving in my alcove above so I use the rail for all my hanging clothes and then I have a rattan dresser for everything else. Jordan has a big old wardrobe, but it’s really not in good condition and he wants something else.
I’d love to either build in a wardrobe along the wall next to my open shelving, and maybe get rid of the shelves, or just buy a big quad wardrobe for us both to be kept in the spare room (my office).
I’m thinking about relocating and getting an office at some point, so I could hopefully turn this whole room in to a closet for us both, which would leave the bedroom a bit more minimalistic.
Decisions, decisions! I guess a built-in wardrobe in the bedroom would be more ideal, so I might go with this option.

A bathroom update

I know, I know… not very essential but I feel like we never really finished this room (story of our lives!). It looks very bare, and I’d love to inject some colour in to it. I’d love to change out our meant-to-be-temporary IKEA sink unit (four years later it’s still there…) for a dark wood number, but I find the sink options in the UK are slim! I’m yet to find something I truly love, which is why we still have our IKEA unit. I’m thinking about getting this Bath Store unit, with a little washbowl on top.
I’d also like to put some wood panelling back in, even though we removed the last stuff (it was too high) and maybe paint it a lovely green or terracotta, and then I’m considering getting some beautiful House of Hackney wallpaper for the wall above! I’d like to rent this flat out one day so I think it deserves to be a bit on the quirky side!