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Rebecca Saxby | Home DIY | Upcycling

@thecosyfixer

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🏡| Building a home using what we already have
🛠️| 20+ years renovating, repairing & upcycling
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I’m only renovating the bathroom, but somehow the whole house has joined in 😂

There’s painted trim on the kitchen table, a bathroom supplies department where my office used to be, and a bed I stripped this morning with every intention of remaking it. Still pending.

I love creating a home and seeing it slowly come together. But family life, work, hobbies and the washing all carry on while I’m doing it.

These photos were taken today, without tidying up first. A little wander around our lived-in home, including the lovely tidy corner we barely sit in at this time of year.

In a couple of weeks, everything should be back where it belongs. For now, this is what our home looks like while I’m busy making it ours 🤍

#realisticinteriors #livedinhome #slowinteriors #homerenovation #thecosyfixer

realistic interiors | family home | slow interiors | creating a home | renovation reality by @thecosyfixer

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2 days ago

That first brushful of paint is the turning point for me 🧡

After all the stripping back, making good and behind-the-scenes work, I’m finally putting the room back together. The bathroom I’ve been picturing in my head is starting to appear, and that’s such a lovely feeling.

And this colour… Burnished Apricot by Valspar. Quite happy to spend the rest of this renovation staring at it 😂🧡

Slow interiors | DIY renovation | bathroom makeover | creating a home | home transformation

#slowinteriors #diyrenovation #bathroommakeover #creativehomemaking #thecosyfixer by @thecosyfixer

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2 days ago

Four unwanted holes don’t make a perfectly good bath rubbish.

It still holds water. It still does its job. So I couldn’t justify removing it, and very likely sending it to landfill, without at least trying to repair it first.

The result might not be completely invisible, but the holes are filled, the bath is staying and that is one less enormous thing being thrown away. I’ll happily take that 🤍

#repairnotreplace #slowinteriors #creativehomemaking #reuseoverreplacement #bathroomrenovation

slow interiors | repair not replace | reuse over replacement | creative homemaking | realistic interiors | bath tap hole repair | tap hole repair | solid stone bath by @thecosyfixer

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5 days ago

I don’t expect my home, or my taste, to remain the same forever. But that doesn’t mean everything in it has to be replaced whenever I change my mind.

Our sofa became three pieces. Old curtains became chair fabric. My coffee table has worn several different looks, and the bedside tables I bought twenty years ago have followed me through two house moves and one regrettable millennial-grey phase.

Now I’m filling four unwanted holes in a perfectly good stone bath because I can’t see the sense in sending something so solid to landfill when it still does its job beautifully.

I suppose it’s my version of the old-fashioned “mend and make do”. I’m not reluctantly making do, but choosing to look again and see what else something could become.

Homes evolve. Sometimes our belongings can evolve with them.

#slowinteriors #creativehomemaking #reuseoverreplacement #thoughtfulhomemaking #sustainableliving

slow interiors | creative homemaking | use what you have | reuse over replacement | homes evolve over time by @thecosyfixer

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7 days ago

Not quite central-heating weather, but definitely cosy-fire weather 🔥

If we’re going to use our log burner, I want to be thoughtful about what we burn and where it comes from. Our logs and kindling are sourced locally, and just down the road there’s a lovely chap who makes these little compressed sawdust briquettes from what would otherwise be waste. They give the fire an extra boost while making use of something that might have been thrown away - which I love.

I buy our wood at the beginning of summer and store it in the dry, giving it plenty of time to season before we need it. Dry wood gives us a hotter, cleaner burn and means we need less of it.

On evenings like this, we can warm the room we’re actually sitting in without turning on the central heating - and using the top-down method means the fire is properly going in under ten minutes.

Cosy, considered and making use of what’s available locally. My kind of Saturday evening.

#logburner #cosyhome #slowinteriors #sustainableliving #thoughtfulhomemaking

log burner | top-down fire method | locally sourced firewood | dry seasoned logs | cosy home by @thecosyfixer

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10 days ago

I’d rather give it a go and ask for help if I need it than never find out whether I could do it. There’s no shame in making mistakes, or needing a hand. You’ll never know unless you try 🤍

#diyrenovation #creativehomemaking #homeimprovement #realisticinteriors #slowinteriors

give it a go | learning new skills | diy renovation | realistic interiors | creative homemaking by @thecosyfixer

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11 days ago

I’m fairly sure a watering can and a piece of kitchen towel aren’t mentioned in the official plumbing handbook… but they told me exactly what I needed to know 😂

This solvent weld joint will soon be buried behind the wall, and I wanted to be completely certain it wasn’t going to leak before I boarded it in.

So, one full watering can down the waste and a piece of dry kitchen towel tucked underneath later… completely dry. My highly sophisticated plumbing test worked.

Renovating with what I already have often means adapting ordinary things to the job in front of me. It might not always be the conventional method, but somehow we make it work as we go along.

Does anyone else approach jobs like this, or is it just me?

#usewhatyouhave #diyrenovation #creativehomemaking #slowinteriors #realisticinteriors

use what you have | diy renovation | creative homemaking | slow interiors | realistic interiors | diy plumbing | unconventional diy by @thecosyfixer

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14 days ago

The electrician left a little trail of destruction, so I’ve been following behind and tidying away the evidence 😂

Ready-mixed filler and I are officially finished. Powdered filler lets me mix only what I need, and there’s no half-used tub quietly turning into a brick in the cupboard.

#diyrenovation #homeimprovement #plasterboardrepair #realisticinteriors #creativehomemaking

powdered filler | plasterboard repairs | DIY renovation | home improvement | realistic interiors by @thecosyfixer

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16 days ago

I’ve been renovating and fixing up our home for years, and the biggest lessons haven’t really been about painting, plumbing or choosing finishes.

They’ve been about slowing down long enough to understand how we actually live.

Where will we put down a cup of tea? Where does the lamp need plugging in? Will that door become annoying? And have I remembered that houses are rather fond of revealing an unexpected problem at 4.45pm on a Sunday?

I plan carefully, keep room for my ideas to change and use qualified trades for the work I don’t do myself. I’d much rather create one room thoughtfully than rush through an entire house simply to call it finished.

Homes evolve over time, and every room teaches you something useful for the next one.

What has renovating taught you?

#slowinteriors #creativehomemaking #homerenovation #realisticinteriors #thoughtfulhomemaking

slow interiors | creative homemaking | realistic interiors | DIY renovation | homes evolve over time by @thecosyfixer

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17 days ago

This landing genuinely was one of the things I loved when we viewed the house.

All that light. The open staircase. The feeling of space…

But after living here for years, I now realise its greatest contribution to family life is providing the perfect drying rail for a super king duvet cover 😂

Pretty and practical. Exactly how I like my home.

Where does everyone else dry theirs?

#familyhome #realisticinteriors #creativehomemaking #cosyhome #thoughtfulhomemaking

family home | realistic interiors | creative homemaking | lived-in home | thoughtful homemaking by @thecosyfixer

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19 days ago

I genuinely love plumbing.

I’m less enthusiastic about plumbing while wedged between two joists with one arm disappearing into the depths of my house 😂

Moving the radiator meant getting the new flow and return pipes through a tiny existing void. I could have opened up considerably more of the house to get better access, but I really didn’t want to create another job if I could find a way to work with what was already there.

And this is exactly where push-fit connectors earned their keep.

I’m perfectly happy using compression fittings or soldering copper when I’ve got the room, but in a space this tight I couldn’t comfortably get the tools in, and there was absolutely no chance I was introducing a blowtorch into a cramped hidden void surrounded by the fabric of the house.

Push-fit meant I could make the connections safely in the tiny amount of space I had and get the radiator pipework exactly where I needed it.

But I’m also about to cover all of this back up.

So before a single piece of plasterboard goes anywhere near that wall, I’ve temporarily looped the flow and return together, refilled and repressurised the system and checked my new connections.

Because finding a tiny leak now is mildly irritating.

Finding it after I’ve plasterboarded, skimmed, painted and finished the bathroom would probably finish me off 😂

If you’re doing your own plumbing, pressure testing your work before you hide it away is one of those boring little jobs that can save an enormous amount of swearing later.

Anyway. The radiator pipework is moved, the system holds pressure and I’ve acquired several new bruises.

I’m calling that a successful day.

#diyrenovation #bathroommakeover #diyplumbing #homeimprovement #creativehomemaking

diy renovation | bathroom makeover | diy plumbing | push fit connectors | pressure testing | home improvement by @thecosyfixer

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21 days ago

We went into demolition day with high hopes 😂

The plan was simple. Take the tiles off, accept there’d be a little bit of damage underneath, skim over it, make it pretty and carry on.

The bathroom had other ideas.

We now have so many holes in the plasterboard that I’m fairly certain I can lie in bed tonight and look through the wall at the toilet. I’m joking… but actually I should probably go and check that. 😂

So it looks like we’re taking off far more plasterboard than planned, replacing it and skimming the walls properly.

No biggie. Just another plan changing approximately five minutes after I started.

But genuinely, this is why projects going wrong don’t really bother me anymore. Very few things I do go exactly to plan, and I don’t see that as failing. It’s usually just an opportunity to figure something out, change direction or learn a skill I didn’t have before.

And sometimes that new skill is plastering.

More often, it’s patience. 😂

Day one and we’ve already changed the plan. This bathroom makeover should be fun…

#bathroommakeover #diyrenovation #creativehomemaking #homeimprovement #slowinteriors

bathroom makeover | diy renovation | home improvement | creative homemaking | realistic interiors | homes evolve over time by @thecosyfixer

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23 days ago