Property Fixer Upper

29/12/2025

Finally completed on this house after agreeing a price on Oct 6th. After bidding and chasing other properties for well over a year this is a relief. The house buying process in this country is a joke. Modern method of auction is expensive, slow and a barrier to anyone wanting to buy. It has good bones I think but needs a full refurb. This one is going to be a faster Reno and hopefully rented out in 4 months. PropertyJourney PropertyDevelopment InvestmentProperty UKHousingHouseRenovation FullRefurb PropertyRefurb RenovationProject FixerUpper BeforeRenovation RenovationLife RenoInProgress PropertyReno

11/10/2025

04/03/2025

2 weeks (and a bit more) in the making. The office Reno that just kept going…. Didn’t help that I had to route the heating pipes to the new rad which should have been done. The soldering was really tricky with a s**t blow torch but got it done. Walls needed re plastering in sections. Also had to reposition the sockets because the design had changed. Cut 9mm mdf panels and painted which is time consuming stuff. We repurposed some white ikea units, taking off the base and repainting. They came out 10mm further than the window so I had to lay an extra sheet of plasterboard over the window reveal and plaster it!! Put a shelf above the units for books which I think looks great. We were waiting more than a week for the oak countertop from Wickes (£270) and once cut and fitted it looks superb. I’ve glued and screwed it all together and I must say it’s turned out much better than expected and looks like a cohesive built in job. All credit to for the design and colour (bit of an early birthday present) Some blinds to come for a pop of colour. If anyone wants this doing for them it’ll be about 10k 😂.

23/02/2025

Easily one of the best reviews the house has had. When you work for months on a house there are thousands of decisions that are needed. It’s so much hard work but I’ve always tried to be thorough and never taken short cuts because I’ve seen the result of this in other houses (and my own). Most guests don’t notice the attention to getting it right, but some do, and that makes it all worthwhile

30/11/2024

The first reviews have been coming in for the new house and it’s a relief that guests love it. When you put so much care and attention into a property it’s a really good feeling for people to recognise and enjoy it. Clayton street is a firm guest favourite and was my first doer upper. I’m on booking.com and rated exceptional as well but wouldn’t recommend them. The glitches in their software, weird ghost bookings and calendar clashes, guests who aren’t rated so don’t give a monkeys, late paying, appalling customer support are just a few issues with them. Airbnb by contrast is an absolute breeze. Honestly my gripes with booking.com could fill an account on its own. The deep retrofit on Penzance st is also great for energy bills but another post will come in that when I have more data. Links in bio.

01/11/2024

So next doors shed/outhouse looked an absolute state from the bedroom window so I said I’d fix it for the old dear at cost. £225. Never done a roof before but thought, how hard can it be?? The felt had failed years ago the underlying osb board was soaked and crumbling. I was going to reboard and felt it but this corrugated corraline board makes a lot more sense. It’s so satisfying making up the wooden frame. One thing with renovating properties is that you get to learn that you can do pretty much anything with a bit of research, care and attention to detail. Also I couldn’t possibly make it worse

14/09/2024

The house is done and the living room is the biggest space that needed to be right. It was stripped of wood chip and the ceiling was boarded out and re plastered, coving and dado rails added. lots of work getting the walls right and insulated the outer wall with 100mm celotex. Floor is concrete so could only fit 20mm xps board which is better than nothing i suppose. Got some absolute bargains in there. The fireplace was knocked out and got a wooden surround off eBay for £5. The leather armchair was £20 off fb marketplace and just needed some TLC. The tv console was £30 and I just painted it up same with the bookcase that was about £15, all solid and better quality than modern equivalents.
Obviously I took a steer from where lots of the homey stuff are excess purchases that clutter up our loft space otherwise. It’s just a great excuse for her to go out and buy more stuff..🙄