Owning your own home

Circulon have lasted me 10 years or so and are still going strong (apart from the frying pan).

Yeah, that was me... Not sure if Woll make saucepans, I bought two frying pans... I've used them both regularly since I bought them and they still look brand new, they cook beautifully... Would buy again in a heartbeat, removable handles make them perfect for ovens, etc...

Edit: They do make saucepans! Buy and forget...

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That is amazing. And yeah, you are prob right about the price, maybe even more. All the extensions I liked and referenced were around 250-500 which blew me away, even if I had that kind of money I'm not sure I'd spend it on making my house a bit nicer.

I love making the island the table too, I wanted an island but we didn't have the space or the money and after having a few dinner parties the extra space (through not having an island) actually works better for us, this design however might be the perfect combo.

Oh hell, I'd spend the money if I had it.

Edit: Looking at their other projects I dont think they are fucking about with anything sub 500k, everything is insane high spec.

I'm not sure I'd spend it on making my house a bit nicer

Especially if it means your garden is reduced to a small square deck.

But yeah that work is on the face of it pretty high spec. Not entirely my cup of tea but it does make go ohhhhh. Fun seeing the pictures of it being put together too.

At the time I totally would have gone for it, and destroyed the garden, but I am so glad I didn't! I'm loving having outside space, even before being locked away for 6 months.

When I was buying I saw quite a few places that were done like that, extended until their gardens were nothing and they were horrid, full open plan that was done badly and felt like aircraft hangers and a bunch of vellum windows which dont let enough light in, not for me.

Edit: that aesthetic is everything I love/aspire to, problem is I am not that person, I have far too few zeros at the end of my savings and I am incapable of brushing my teeth without getting toothpaste on my t shirt.

refers here to a "modest budget" lol - no way they're getting change out of 200k for that. at least. def think it looks like 300k maybe, with all that poured/polished concrete, new mass, loft conversion, new joinery etc

When I was buying I saw quite a few places that were done like that, extended until their gardens were nothing and they were horrid, full open plan that was done badly and felt like aircraft hangers

Yep. Saw some shockers in our search. Ended up going for the place where the rear reception and kitchen / dining are still separate with the later being extended out the back of the house to accommodate a better sized kitchen. Owner was like 'yeah some people want to spend all their time with their children but we didn't'.

Architects always claim the budget is modest... when have you ever heard of one say "oh yeah, it was a shit ton of money so we just went fucking nuts"?
Lad down the road got his extension and loft done 5 years ago and its simple spec and not massive, cost him 120K. A large % of the architects I approached wouldn't touch sub 250k budgets, yeah defo think its north of 300k, maybe not 500K, I remember seeing some 300-400k refurbs and they were this kind of level, maybe not quite so high spec, the joinery and the way the materials meet is insane.

Ha, yeah thats another thing, actually sharing the space with other people, with this WFH lark its a bit of a struggle at times with just the two of us, I genuinely sympathise with how hard it must be for folks with kids.

Went and visited a bi-fold door company (recommended by our contractor). Seems very good quality and reasonably priced for a 4.4m opening, but I would like to see alternatives just to make sure we aren't missing something.

Does anyone know a good bifold company with a showroom in or around London?

I went with Maxlight but was looking at them, 1st Sliding doors, IQ Glass and Slimline.

From what I could gather most the products were made of the same parts so not sure why prices varied so much. There was another one but they were really high end (despite looking the same) and came back with a quote of 20K plus for doors smaller than yours.

Have you considered sliding instead? Its quite a large area and the frames on sliding doors are way smaller which gives more light/open feel plus there is less to go wrong.

(Maxlight and IQ Glass have showrooms nearish London).

It looks cool but unless they’ve done something very clever with the bits not in photographs, I bet it sounds fucking horrible - every pot banged or raised voice is going to make you want to leave the room.

Loads of architect sex wee places are like that. Almost unlivable.

you come under the aspiring middle class slide on my Keynote

Good call, I imagine they just train the staff so they dont make too much of a noise when cooking and have no need to reprimand them.

If only Figma/LFGSS had plugin to pull in quotes...

Not sure how to get around the paywall, but I remember this article putting some numbers to ‘modest budget’ (and making me internally seethe a little)
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/how-an-internal-courtyard-can-add-light-and-value-to-your-home-gbn8s56bn

"oh yeah, it was a shit ton of money so we just went fucking nuts"?

did lol

Aye, I cant get in and cant be bothered to sign up to a free trial that I will forget to cancel... do you have a TLCR?

refers here to a "modest budget" lol - no way they're getting change out of 200k for that. at least. def think it looks like 300k maybe, with all that poured/polished concrete, new mass, loft conversion, new joinery etc

Full-house refurb although the spec is more modest on the upper floors it's still all bespoke joinery, douglas fir etc. They easily spent £6-700k on this.

From the Times article linked (about another property with a 'modest budget'): The cost of installing the courtyard and rebuilding and enlarging the kitchen came in at about £250,000; this included excavating the kitchen floor to give the room increased head height.

It's mental that 1/4 is is considered modest, and kinda. goes to show how disconnected The London is with most other places in the country.

I remember having a chat with a lad working the bar on a train as it passed through East London, he was saying how he used to live in Leyton (but moved up north) and has heard it is quite popular these days, he imagined houses must have gone up to something like 170k or above, he was shocked when I told him they are north of 500K these days and didn't understand how anyone could afford that. I agreed.

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I love a combo of oak and concrete.

I looked into getting a poured concrete floor (currently have kitchen over floor joists).
INSANE money, it's never going to happen.

We have a four metre bifold door put in our kitchen and used these guys:

https://www.capitalglass.net/#

I don't know if they have a showroom. I can't remember the exact cost, but they were very attractive relative to the one showroom that we visited in London (ODC glass in Chiswick).

Not going for sliding - the other option is traditional crittal style french doors. We could have two 1 metre doors which would give a large opening to the garden. Bit more expensive but probably manageable.