We’ve just finished some remedial work on the conservatory and replaced the front door.

Firstly the front door; last year Lila managed to put her hand through one of the panes of glass on our front door (not while she was mad with me or anything like that). So we replaced the pane of glass but knew we needed to replace the rest of the panes before the children had an accident with the door.

So we chose a solid oak door that we hope looks right for the place. It doesn’t need to be an exterior facing door as it sits inside our porch which takes the weather. Carlos was kind enough to install – photo below.

Next the conservatory. The original conservatory looks and functions like a kitset from Wickes; in short it’s pretty basic, not well insulated and was constructed by a previous house owner.

We decided against rebuilding the whole conservatory as we don’t plan on living here long term and we’re not likely to recoup the money so we went for a modest renovation.

We’ve replaced the door, resealed the internal walls and installed coving and skirting boards. We won’t really achieve the warmth we need without replacing the windows and brickwork but we’ve ended up with a much nicer interior and more space for the children over winter.

Next is the driveway wall, hall carpets and laying decking in the backyard. Roll on the bonus and spring.