I showed you how the kitchen and bathrooms turned out in our London flat after the extensive renovation.  It took 6 months instead of the projected 8 weeks.  We had serious issues with the management company who were particularly useless.  They held up the job for a couple of months with endless paperwork and permits. Read Post

I never got around to posting about the flat renovation I did last year.  The flat got finished during the summer when I was back in the USA. Here’s a quick refresher of what the flat used to look like – good bones but seriously dated.  It was a large 2 bedroom flat with one bathroom. Read Post

Wow! So much has happened and yet so very little progress has actually been made.  Welcome to the world of home renovation… The Flat Renovation The renovation of the flat is going apace.  The builder said 2 months to complete but 4 months along, we are still another month from completing.  The funny thing about Read Post

I’m feeling antsy on the interiors front because Casa del Dumpo is back in the planning application process.  I wanted to make some minor changes to the planning application that was granted to the developer from whom we had bought the house.  Typically, the minor changes got bigger as soon as we started looking at Read Post

New developments sprout up in our area on a regular basis.  I know there is a lot of old housing stock which is getting bought up and refurbished.  There are also refurbishments of refurbishments.  On our former street in St. John’s Wood, a house that had been completely redone by a developer was then refurbished Read Post

We bought Casa del Dumpo with two alternative planning permissions in place.  One option allows for the refurbishment of the current house which would result in a modernised  Mock Tudor house.  The second option allows for a total rebuild but along traditional lines. With its brick facade and a pillared entrance, in my opinion, the faux Greek/generic Read Post

Our summer home has been having a facelift over the winter.  The wish list I set out last year for our architect was definitely ambitious.  Due to budget and timing constraints we have had to cut back completely on adding the garage.  I won’t get to visit our house until July but we have been Read Post

Bricks and stones won’t break my bones, but they can send me into a state of frenzy.  The only way to not drive yourself crazy is to be fairly organised.  First, though you need to come up with the inspiration!  After all, you have to know what to organise. I always envision what I want Read Post

I always start a house renovation with such positive thoughts.  Usually, the positivity lasts until midway through construction.  I’m not sure how long I’ll be sanguine this time because I’ll be supervising the process from across an ocean.  I’ll either be stressed because I won’t know what’s happening or blissfully ignorant.  Mr. N is pretty Read Post