Mercian House,
9 Darwin Court, Oxon Business Park, Shrewsbury, SY3 5AL
The Estates Office,
20 Salop Road,
Oswestry SY11 2NU
14th January 2022
And just like that, a new chapter has begun! Welcome to 2022!
Every year, rather than a resolution, I plan a list of ‘things’ that I want to achieve. 9 times out of 10 I have forgotten about them by February because they are a mental list, not written down and with no time frames or plan to achieve them. I set myself up to fail before ive even begun and I’m guessing I’m not alone!
Instead of something that I am going to do for me, this year it is all about my home.
We have been in our house for just over 4 years and the list of jobs has gone up and down throughout these short 4 years. I think that this is mainly to do with the fact that it is not possible to redecorate, remodel and plan major works in a home without having a clear plan and time scale. Both my husband and I have full time jobs as well as two children and two dogs. It’s hard to find a spare minute so this year, my resolution is to STICK TO THE LIST and plan plan plan!
Planning
I started by making a list of all the ‘jobs’ that I feel need to be done in our home. These range from painting the woodwork to building an orangery (This might take more than a year to save for! But the dream is real). Instead of doing it alone, I involved my husband/handy man as he will need to know it inside and out! He will also need to agree to it otherwise I may need to add, learn new skills, to my own list!
After we had this all written down, we then prioritised them. This took a lot longer than putting the list together as we both had different ideas on what was important, essential and what could wait. This naturally formed a list of works (eventually) that we can work through. We also made a decision on which were for this year as it was quite a long list. We broke it up into three years and it is now pinned up in order ready to be ticked off.
Putting it down on paper and having a smaller list to work through for this year has suddenly made it feel achievable. Before, it was an overwhelming and daunting list of jobs and all I could see was £ signs all over it and a little feeling of dread that we needed to have the perfect house right now. The anxiety passes and all of a sudden, I am excited about getting on with the work.
Budget
As I said, the fear about how much this was all going to cost was filling me with dread, to the point where I didn’t want to start anything. After breaking it down we were able to then look at costings. For example, the first thing on the list was to redo our son’s bedroom. He is 6 in February and has been asking for his room to be redecorated for a few months now. He wants monochrome, loads of lights and LED strip lighting and a little desk for him to read at and do his homework. We started looking for inspiration on Pinterest and took a trip to Ikea so that he could find some ideas that he liked. From there we started putting together a mood board with costs of paint, a new bed, bedding, and lighting etc. At the end of the planning, we knew how much we needed to spend, where we needed to get it from, and we have allowed ourselves a little extra as a contingency in case we find something really cool or for any further works that need to be done. We have also done this with all of our 2022 jobs, and we have looked forward to 2023 as there were some bigger jobs such as a new bathroom. With this we have worked out how much we need to save, and I am going to enjoy watching that pot grow!
Who and how!
The best bit, how much work can you force your husband to do to cut costs! This is a great conversation to have and one that always causes arguments. In my head he is Handy Andy and in reality he is Wing it Will! This discussion also cam up with budgets as there is some work that we need a professional for such as wiring in new lighting, new sockets, tiling and other trades that we are not able to try or learn. Out a name next to who does what then work out how many quotes you need. I love learning a new skill so when we redid out cloakroom, I tried tiling for the first time behind the sink then on the small windowsill. I still look at it with great pride!
I am now really looking forward to watching our home change and develop this year and might even share a project or two throughout the year in our blog!
If you have something that you would like to know about or feature, then get in touch stephanieeiken@rogerparry.net
Here’s to all of your 2022 projects!