Daisy Bridgewater made a few crucial mistakes along the way when renovating her Elizabethan house.
Yuki Sugiura
We have spent 14 years up close and, at times, uncomfortably personal with our builders. I often feel as if Radio Two and the hammer drill have been the soundtrack to our family life. Even our nearest and dearest appear to have grown tired of the whole thing. Visiting the other day, my sister wondered out-loud whether this was the first time we had ever not had a skip outside our house, and she had a point – the renovations of our home in Suffolk have been painfully slow. The original house was Elizabethan, alterations were made in the 18th century, then the Victorians put their own stamp on it and on and on it went through every new owner. As its latest custodians, we completed our own renovation in September, more than a decade after we moved in as a family of five with three growing boys. The irony of finally finishing what the Georgians started just as our youngest left for university is not lost on me.
It pains me to admit it but there is a good chance those 14 years may have gone smoother (maybe even faster) had I not made a couple of crucial mistakes. Here are some of the many things I got wrong in the process, and the lessons I learned the hard way.
1) The builders aren’t there to look after the dog
They are not there to sign for parcels or to take the bins out on the day that you forgot. Similarly, don’t over-share with the plumber, even if the intimacy of discussing your soil pipe makes you feel like they already know too much. I don’t think I will ever recover from suggesting, freshly back from holiday, that we install a bidet, trying to explain their benefits to men in steel toe-caps as the colour crept up my face.
2) Don’t let anyone else make decisions for you
Don’t pretend a project isn’t going to take up too much headspace. You will need to dedicate real time to it, even if you have appointed an architect or interior designer. Research the aesthetic that you are after. Become an expert in floor finishes and bathroom fittings. Make a mood board. Have an opinion on grout colour. Accept that you may have to take calls at work about extraction ducts and surface heights. These are important decisions which, if left in the hands of your builders, may not go entirely your way.
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