Owning your own home

We now go live to my wife's reaction to this:

"we already have uncomfortable metal garden furniture with cushions. that doesn’t cost £3k. all the cutlery will fall through the gaps"

Maybe I should stick to shopping at the Range.

For a bedroom the aesthetic is a bit challenging. But It’s probably hard to achieve floating heavy duty drawer cabs and shelving for the money.

I’m now weighing up the pros and cons of Vitsoe vs hand made alcove shelving for our living room. Must stop reading this thread.

Vitsoe is growing on me and I like the flexibility it would provide. I worry that I’ll pay for custom shelving and after a year or two of living with it realise I should have specced it differently.

I did a set of heavy duty drawer cabs floating in alcoves and on a wall for a neighbour. Spreading the load for the fixings is tricky on a wall. In an alcove you can go through the sides into the wall which makes it easier.

I've made most of the alternatives to Vitsoe and I prefer it.

If you make alcove shelving then make a box first that fits in the alcove and make regular shelves to fit that. Don't try and make shelves to fit all the undulations of an alcove.

I've been happy with Vitsoe stuff, when I'm not I can sell it. I have moved shelves around quite a bit, added and squeezed in more storage in places. In the end I reached a point I never would from a plan but it works very well and feels customised to the purpose it has.

Weird isn't it. I really like it and think it looks great. Although in practice in situations like this I don't even notice it day to day.

The other practical advantage is you can take it with you. Vitsoe will even plan your existing system in a new space if you ask them.

I know there was some heat pump chat last week, British Gas entering the market with 5 years interest free credit
https://www.britishgas.co.uk/home-services/boilers-and-heating/air-source-heat-pumps.html

British Notgas amirite?

It's interesting. I submitted an enquiry but they're only doing in the south west at the moment apparently.

Ooh - actually something I could use for a change.

Is that the Pier range? Is it much cheaper than Vitsoe?

I have pallisade furniture - do like and usually able to find a good discount

When air source heat pumps are outside, do they need to be adjoining the house? We live in a terrace so have a side return which probably isn't wide enough for the '2m away from boundary' but also a terracey thing at the top which may be more suitable.

They don't have to adjoin the house but the further away it is the more any piping is going to cost to install

Thanks

It doesnt seem that much cheaper than vitsoe tbf. Havent looked deeply into it because its not my price range at all atm, but maybe 80% of the price on a comparable full setup ? It does seems to have more adjustability, probably is a bit lighter, etc.
It looks and feels more domestic, so vitsoe should be worried about losing the farrow&ball sub-group of modernist clients :)

farrow&ball sub-group of modernist clients

Who are those dicks with their multicoloured homes anyway. It's white walls and ceilings or GTFO 🤪

I got custom shelving (and alcove cupboards) for our living room which I was very happy with. Shelves were about £150 and it was about £2k in total (2 x cupboards, 6 x shelves all painted).

I liked them as I felt they looked like a part of the room rather than vitsoe or whatever which looks like an addition. But obviously each to their own on what look they want to go for.

I used to do a lot of alcove cupboards 20 years ago. About £250 per cupboard at the time, basically just a frame with doors planted on the alcove. Covered what most people wanted. Then I got better at it 🤦🏻

I'd never realised just how big they were until I clicked on that link

We have 20 year old alcove cupboards that are just like this.

Build quality is jokes but they look ok from a distance.

You’d probably have to pay £2k for them now which is very depressing

Should be a bit less for that style. I think the game changed a bit in the last 20 years because people have been renovating houses with teams while they're empty and this sort of work got specced and built by workshops more than on-site.

It might come back around to one man bands like me decorating and adding a couple of cupboards. Todays money for a simple addition like that would likely be £1-£2k depending on the door style as an estimate. Less if you find someone prepared to do it on a day rate and buy the doors ready made. Bear in mind late 90's carpenters doing this were making £250 per week.

Whoever did ours (probably early 00s) knew what they were doing, as I discovered when I got a new toy for Christmas.

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We had custom shelves in our last place and I loved them too. If I knew exactly what we wanted long term then I’d go that route again now, but we have a re wire to do next year and may end up moving things around so the flexibility of something like Vitsoe is useful for now. Once we’ve had the main work done I may well move it to a different part of the house and do custom shelving in the living room instead.

Love the look of that desk that goes with that chair

Thanks.

That was a last minute build out of necessity during the first COVID lockdown. The frame used an old IKEA bedframe and the top was a slab of spalted beech that was supposed to be a coffee table.

One day I'll get round to finishing the coffee table and building a proper desk.