I was pregnant during the time we were renovating our house. We bought it cheap and in its original condition, it was an old semi-detached which had been converted into two flats and needed to be converted back into a house. It was a funny looking thing with a kitchen on the second floor and the narrowest hallway I had ever seen, although it could have been that I was so wide due to my pregnancy that it just seemed that way.
I was determined to complete the works before giving birth and thankfully my work place Bluebird Care Barnet were so accommodating and allowed me to work flexible hours and complete the work before I had my baby.
At first we found an architect we really liked and who was recommended to us by a friend. The architect was in charge of submitting all the plans to the council once we agreed on a design and she gave us a list of builders to choose from which was obviously the next big decision we had to make. Luckily our neighbour at the time was a builder himself so he was able to give us lots of tips on how to choose a builder and what to put in the contract.
At first we hired a project manager to oversee the works, but as the architect was so involved and, as I discovered I had a natural talent and love for project management, I soon became the sole person in charge of the project and all its aspects. I was helping a very lovely lady through my work at Bluebird Care at the time and she loved it when I showed her all the options and designs we were considering.
For me, the best moments were when I had to choose the items that would cover the walls and surfaces and give my house it’s personality, like the light fittings and wall colour and kitchen fittings etc. I am proud to say that I handpicked every single item in my house from the tiles to the timber boards that assembled my decking.
We also had some setbacks like when our neighbour objected to our plans for a raised deck and we had to let go of our dream of having doors opening out from our kitchen onto a deck overlooking the garden. We eventually managed to reach a compromise that allowed us to carry on with the works after making some changes to the design.
Nearly one year after we started the process we moved into our new house. The baby was born a few months earlier and we were so happy with the nursery we set up for him. I chose the curtains from a little independent shop in Notting Hill when I was just walking about one day with a friend and fell in love with it. Every time I walk into his room I am reminded of that day and it makes me smile.
I love our new wide corridor which we achieved by moving one of the walls in the house and our boy, who just turned two, loves racing up and down that corridor pushing his toy trucks. I often think to myself what a good decision it was to move that wall and give up a few more centimetres of room space and have such a nice and wide hallway.
It was amazing to see it all come together. Much like pregnancy, it had its ups and downs and moments when we thought we would not be able to achieve what we wanted, but in the end we got to take home a beautiful baby which will make us happy for the rest of our lives.
I feel so fortunate to have been able to do this and I know that my workplace played a big role. My direct manager Larry Berkowitz and the rest of the team at Bluebird Care Barnet were so supportive of me during that year, I could never have done it without their help and understanding.
No comments:
Post a Comment