Think of renovation like the process of germination, where your home needs the right conditions to grow. Most importantly, we all grow our homes at different rates. We might compare ourselves in our renovation journeys and focus on those around us blooming quicker. Flipping houses into beautiful homes in less than twelve months – fair play! I see them too and take my hat off. However, we must remember to take pleasure from our own signs of home germination no matter how small they might be…
“The process of a seed starting to grow, or the act of causing a seed to start growing.
Definition of Germination. Cambridge English Dictionary
It can feel overwhelming and heavy on the bank balance when you first start renovating your home. It’s normal to feel that regardless the scale of your project. You want to see growth – those little green shoots of promise right from the get go. There might be future plans to extend rooms or change your home entirely but maybe, like us, they aren’t immediate. In fact, it turned out to be years before we really got going. Growing a home takes time and “Rome wasn’t built in a day”.
I want to show that home renovation is a long term process of gradual growth and germination. You don’t have to dive in on day one with a bulldozer, or require that large pot of gold to start growing your home. Simple measures can have a big impact and seeing is believing right? Being able to see that change in your home can give you that sense of achievement and spur you on. If investments are made, which is very likely at some stage, then get the basic conditions right for your homes future.
How do we trigger our homes to grow at the start of a renovation? Well, seeds need four things to grow: oxygen, moisture, sunlight and the right temperature. When the conditions are right, the roots push through the seed coating and start growing into the soil. Sometimes, we think a seed is dead and wonder why it’s not doing its thing. A bit like a run-down house, give it the right conditions and the germination process will start and you’ll see your home grow.
Here are our tips for getting your home growing during those early stages of renovation.
Light
At the beginning of your home renovation it’s a bit like comparing it to the start of the germination process. Most tree seedlings, will not germinate until an opening in the canopy allows sufficient light for growth. A good place to start with your home renovation is simply to let light in. It sounds too easy to have an effect but instantly your home will feel more open and alive! Trust me, just give it a go.
There were a couple of saving graces that came with This Home, for example the double-glazed windows (there are a lot) and the cavity wall and loft insulation. Now I know some of you detest double-glazed white windows but I blooming love ours and I would not be putting them into Room 101, sorry! In my humble opinion, they’ve been finished incredibly well and in a fashion that compliments This Home.
Our beautiful windows meant that any warmth was well retained and the energy efficiency of our home was at least on track. They were also one of the reasons I fell in love with our house. Their full-length add such scale to the rooms and I won’t ever grow tired of the natural light flooding in. In fact, we love it so much that we don’t have curtains downstairs and we can’t afford the cost! Don’t worry I’ve placed certain furniture away from direct sunlight exposure and, well, our sofas are on the list to replace one day…
Mirror Mirror on the wall, or off it, if you prefer. They’re the fairest and so modest of them all! Mirrors are practical helpers that can visually enlarge a space. Placing them in the right position is key to reflecting and bouncing light back into a room. Their talents are endless from creating an illusion of more space to giving depth and balance. They add interest and bring a decorative element to your home. Some great design tips from Oka here. It explains why they’re one of my buying addictions.
Another quick way to lighten up the place and get the house feeling alive again is to give everything a fresh lick of paint. For us, that’s always white. It allows you to bring a dated house with a confused colour palette back to a blank canvas. One that allows you to write your own story and turn over a new leaf for the house. Here, we love white walls – oh didn’t you know!? It’s a big giveaway on our Instagram. But in all seriousness, our belief @thishomegrows is generally to keep the walls white and let our furniture and collections do the talking.
Moisture
Moving into a house during winter is not the most ideal situation when there’s no central heating. I can still smell the dust burning from the night storage heaters that first night and only a couple even worked! I can picture us wearing our thick coats and dressing gowns in bed to keep warm. Yet they’re the memories that make me smile.
The heating, or lack of it was one of the main services that needed sorting. To give the house the physical ignition like water does to the seed, we needed to make sure the utilities were all connected safely. This brought about the unveiling of questionable wiring and dated pipework. Once all this was sorted the house came to life. Always check the basics: water, gas and electricity supplies before getting stuck into any major renovation work.
Temperature
The Aga was our savior and still is the most perfect bottom-warmer! It did make the kitchen so lovely and warm making it the really only habitable room. Once you get to grips with the beast that it is, it quickly becomes your friend. It’s sat here for over seventy years sustaining the owners before us and when we moved in during the dark depths of winter, it was the only inhabitant (bar us and Milly) that omitted a loving kind of heat that we wanted to preserve for the future of This Home.
I’m not saying go buy an Aga, what I’m saying is don’t judge items too quickly that have been inherited with the house. They might not work how you need them to right away but consider re-purposing, re-using or re-loving items found during your home renovation.
Our Aga’s a little battered and bruised from the decades of love and use but working well, so it was just a case of giving it a bit of rest-bite. We decided to reduce the Aga’s function to cooking only and introduce a boiler for hot water and central heating. Thankfully we both agreed that electrics and boilers called for experts and there would be plenty of time for DIY jobs. There’s more on how we used the Aga in our open-plan kitchen design here.
The difficult part was selecting a boiler that was suitable for the now but would serve our needs for the future of This Home (not knowing really what they all were). We ended up choosing a Worcester Bosch boiler big enough to factor in plans for multiple bathrooms. I can confirm it’s been so far successful!
Our next consideration was what style radiators. It fell into an important category for us, as it was our first opportunity to introduce some character into our home. Something that was always high up the list. We wanted to dilute the fifties feel and bring in some “period” features (as a loose term) with a modern twist. We purchased all of ours from Screwfix.
Deciding where we wanted radiators to be positioned became a bit of a headache over the first few months. Radiators, get a grip you say. But in my defence I knew they would inject style as well as much-needed heat! We ended up choosing traditional-style radiators and vertical ones for both aesthetic and space-saving value.
Oxygen
Throwing open the windows and giving each room a good airing can work wonders! You’ve just arrived at your new home and it needs to be woken up, so give it the nourishment it needs. If it’s got a hinge, open it and let the fresh air flow in. Remember simple measures for early germination, or home renovation!
As you can see from the original photos of this house in my post Buy A House On A Feeling, whilst lived in and well loved, it was a little claustrophobic. We wanted to let the house breathe but were not about to make it fully open-plan and couldn’t afford anything drastic. Instead, we got our thinking caps on and decided some small things would make a big difference.
By squaring off alcoves, removing pelmets and heavy curtains, exposing floorboards and replacing dark walls and carpets with light, the house felt like it had been brought back to life. You could really see the house renovation triggering that germination process and we could see This Home ‘growing’!
Next was to start furnishing, what goes where and with what. I’d recommend giving negative space some thought during your home renovation. It’s the oxygen the seed needs to germinate that a home needs to grow. Considering areas of absence in a room is as important as filling it with personal objects. We’re people of sentiment who like to collect and enjoy displaying items that represent who we are. However, it’s striking a balance and being careful not to clutter. I say it’s hubby who likes to collect but we’re both as bad as each other.
Throughout our renovation process, I’m learning how important those meaningful items are to a design concept. They have the ability to breathe life into a room and grow your home with soul. We wanted to spotlight our treasured pieces of furniture we’d acquired (and still do!). There’s a story for all of them, borrowed or second-hand. It’s taken us time to figure out where they belong and show their best self. It’s a work in progress, especially as we’re adapting rooms to suit family life. Your home grows with you.
It’s always daunting when you’re making critical decisions early on and about rooms you’ve barely lived in. It made me nervous, but making our home warm and comfortable was definitely a number one priority.
This Home’s got so much more to give and I hope you can relate when thinking about your home renovation. We’re enjoying unearthing its potential and our journey to date. Try starting off your renovation process looking at those basic conditions of light, moisture, temperature and oxygen. Get them right and your home will keep on growing!
What would you start off with? Let me know in the comments below. Happy home growing and thanks for reading.
Hols x