Live with the house

Its important when moving into a new property to live there a few months before finalising what needs to be done and when.  Tempting as it was to just gut the whole house, its much better to see how it works and what needs to be done first of all.  As the purchase was going through we both felt that the moving of the bathroom from its current position wedged in behind the kitchen up to the first floor was a priority.  Now, after living here some 8 months the bathroom changes are right at the bottom of our 'to do' list.  Its crucial to realise that the most used rooms are often the priority when renovating - you want to live in somewhere that's nice.  Making a shiny bathroom is all well and good, but you don't live in it.

When we first moved in I carried out a thorough survey of the whole house, a useful way of making sure you familiarise yourself with all the nooks and crannies as well as giving accurate dimensions for planning out rooms.  

It quickly became apparent that the ground floor rooms, namely the front living room and slightly strange dining/reception room were our priority.  The dining room in particular was the logical starting point as it was a room which connected the house together - in the middle of the ground floor acting as an entrance reception and dining area, the room as it stood was rather dark and frankly quite odd.  We had real problems imagining what we'd actually do with it.  Roughly square in proportion, pinned between the stairs and kitchen, it would take a discovery under the carpet to act as inspiration for this space.