Gracie House

The first thing I did in there was to buy a lovely mushroomy coloured paint (taupe kitchen and bathroom by dulux) from wilkinsons.

I know, I know - painting before taking a wall out was silly, but I so desperately wanted to see a difference in that room. I'm all about instant gratification!

So the first thing I did was paint the walls. Next we took up the tiles on the floor. They were cheap vinyl that hadn't been laid properly and all the gaps had gone orange where the water had leaked in.

They were incredibly well stuck down though, and my attempts to lever them off with screw drivers and knives resulted in shattered bits everywhere.

In the end the best thing for the job was a wall paper scraper. Use an old one though, it blunts them very quickly!

We managed to get tiles for the bathroom and downstairs WC for free as my mum had left overs from having her kitchen re-modeled, and Matts mum kindly bought us a builder to lay them as a birthday present for Matt.

We only had to buy tiles for the wall around the bath and shower. It turned out to be a total nightmare though, with the company we had ordered from dispatching 12 day late and then sending a mixed batch of tiles that were completely unusable!

Fortunately there are loads of tile shops in Bedford, so we managed to get some nice ones fairly cheaply and then bought travertine for the border.

We actually bought large sheets of mosaic tiles and cut them into strips for the border (much cheaper than buying border tiles) but I hadn't realised when I bought them that travertine needs to be sealed before you get it wet.

Luckily we could scavenge some sealer from family, as it turns out that is pretty expensive too!

I'm pleased with the results so far. Next jobs are to grout, fit new taps, new toilet seat and rain shower!!

- Kj
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