I bought my flat in South London in July 2023 thinking all it needed was a few coats of paint. I learnt very quickly that it needed a significant amount of work to make it habitable. Over the course of 18 months, while living in a building site, I taught myself how to do pretty much everything including unplumbing a radiator, demolishing and re building non-load-bearing walls, insulating, plasterboarding, skimming, tiling, grouting, carpentry, floor-levelling, fitting coving, and finally - painting - the one thing I did actually know how to do!
I undertook my bathroom renovation alone, without help (aside from an electrician and a plumber), and wildly missed the 10-day project plan I had drawn up for myself. It instead took 10 weeks, and from the end of September to the start of December 2023 I lived without a bathroom - no shower, no working toilet, and unfortunately also no heating or hot water as my boiler decided it was the perfect time to stop working. However I am so proud of what I have been able to achieve from watching YouTube videos and spending an inordinate amount of time on Google.
One of the best things I did throughout the whole process was to start an Instagram account to document the entire thing. I would have never believed I could have supporters cheering me on from Hawaii and Australia, professional tilers congratulating me on my work, an architect offering to review and help me with a Building Control Application, or a new friend who lives 20 minutes away doing the same thing as me. I also managed to go viral twice - once with an embarrassing video where I accidentally snap a tile in half (1.6m views), and once with a sped-up grouting timelapse (400k views).
