Four Of The Best Decisions We Made When Renovating

*This is a collaborative post but all thoughts on decisions we made when renovating are my own

It’s been just over 13 months since we got the keys to our house and started our home renovation. After a few months of crazed work replacing pretty much everything in the house we moved in and couldn’t be happier. A lot of people end up with home renovation regrets after doing a lot of work on their house. But thankfully we’ve yet to have any home improvement regrets.

I’ve previously talked about some of the investments we made that we don’t regret, but as s we’ve been in the house for a while now I thought I’d talk about some of the best decisions we made when renovating.

Best decisions we made when renovating- Opening out our kitchen diner

Originally our home had two seperate rooms for the kitchen and dining room. The dining room felt quite pokey and dark, and the kitchen just didn’t feel utilised. So we made the decision right from the start that we’d knock the wall down (after checking it wasn’t a supporting wall) to open out the room. Out of all the best decisions we made when renovating this one comes out on top.

The room is so much bigger as one space, it’s lighter and we use it so much more. It’s great for entertaining (not that we’ve been able to do that much) as people can sit at the table while someone is cooking/ in the kitchen. And everyone is still together so conversations can continue. Doing this just makes the downstairs of our house feel more cohesive as the room curves back round and flows into the office.

Opting for quartz kitchen worktops

The next decision that I’m so happy we made are getting quartz kitchen worktops. We spent quite a lot of time trying to plan our kitchen to make the most out of the space and choose things that would last. And I couldn’t be happier with our quartz. Quartz is non-porous so it resists staining so much better than other materials like granite, marble and concrete. And for a kitchen we want to last this comes in very handy. Stains and marks can be cleaned up so easily including tougher stains like wine, coffee and tomato.

Plus from a cleanliness perspective as it’s non-porous it doesn’t harbor bacteria or viruses which is very important. We chose to have a quartz drop on either end of our island so you can’t see under the island from either end. We also did the same thing along the side of our dishwasher. And although it added a bit to the cost it makes such an impact and makes it look much neater and more professional.

Best decisions we made when renovating- Moving the hot water cyclinder

Originally our hot water cyclinder was in a cupboard causing our main bathroom to be L shaped. We made the decision to change the cyclinder we had so we could move it into the loft. Doing this has made so much difference to our main bathroom that we’re currently renovating as it’s given us a lot more space. And we have a nice square shape as opposed to an awkward L shape. Our loft is still roomy so we don’t feel like we’ve lost space there.

This was actually a decision we made after getting the keys so one we initially hadn’t planned for. But the impact it has made is massive.

Not buying all the home accessories before moving in

Most of the home renovation regrets I hear are about people’s tastes changing, or things looking different once you actually live there. We did have some of the furniture already and bought some along the way, but I didn’t buy too many home accessories until after we moved in. I wanted to see how we’d use the space and what areas felt like they needed something extra. Plus we didn’t have the money to buy everything at once so by making decisions after we moved in I could prioritise what we bought.

Have you ever done a home renvation? Are you still happy with the decisions you made?

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