Plumbing, heating, bathrooms and kitchens. It’s amazing how different my internet browsing history is these days. No longer am I visiting of pet sites and shoe stores, oh no. I’ve got a whole different kind of shopping to be getting on with now that I’m planning to buy a house and it’s all very DIY-focussed. I figured it would be useful to make a list of the things I would need when we start work on our new home, and where better to do that than on my blog??
I’ve literally just discovered that there’s more than one type of boiler in the world, and now I’ve got to consider radiators and pipework too. Thank goodness for YouTube, otherwise I’d never know how the hot water flows around my bathroom! At the moment, my research is focussed on heated towel rails for the bathroom and I’ve been investigating super-stylish radiators. I’m completely fascinated with pinning photos of loft apartments with Victorian cast iron radiators – dream on, eh? Even so, I’d love to get have that kind of detail in my home in the future.
For the bathroom I specifially want a heater that can keep the bathroom cosy all the time, look really lovely and still be used to warm my towels. I love that cosy feeling when you’re wrapped in a warm towel straight out of the bath, can’t wait. Just give me a heating catalogue and I’ll be happy for hours!
Hot water
On the subject of bathrooms, I never knew that choosing plumbing supplies could be so much fun. Okay, the pipework itself might be a little bit confusing at the moment but at least I’m learning something new with all my household DIY research! The bathroom sale adverts that have been running on the TV throughout January have been luring me in and the Tile Trader website is a permanently open tab on my iPad. Yes, I’ve even found myself browsing the local branch of Wickes. That is SO not like me. But things like mixer taps and fixed shower heads are just so beautiful and sculptural that I just can’t help getting carried away. And who doesn’t want to have a rain effect shower head, eh??
Even the kitchen sink
Did you realise just how much kitchen sinks cost?! I had NO idea until I started looking. It’s easy to spend upwards of £100+ on something that I consider to be a really basic design. Even in Ikea and B&Q I was surprised at the prices of sinks, taps and drainers. Sure, I’d probably go for the cheapest one possible and not really worry about the design but hubby has some specific requirements for a new sink. It needs to have one of those little ‘mini sinks’ between the main bowl and the drainer. Okay, I suppose he’s not exactly being demanding but even that little extra design feature adds ££s to the price. I did some shopping around and actually found a suitable sink on Ebay, and with a nicer drainer design than any others I’ve seen (blimey, I never knew I’d write such a dull sentence!). With fixing kit and waste etc it still worked out at less than a third of the price of other similar sinks we’ve seen, so I think that’s the winner.
If you’ve stuck with me to the end of the blog post, thank you. You’re obviously as interested in DIY shopping as I am at the moment! If you have any tips for places to buy household products – kitchens, tiles, flooring etc – at low, low prices I’d love to hear about them – please leave me a comment below and share your thrifty decorating finds 🙂
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