Each year, for the last two years, I’ve put together a round-up blog post which details what we did in the house in those last twelve months.

You can read the 2023 round-up via this link or the 2024 round-up via this link.

2025 was another busy year though I imagine 2026 is going to get a whole lot busier!

Without a doubt, our greatest challenge is finding time. Days are too short but I’m so grateful to have family and friends around me who are so helpful and supportive, whether that’s by looking after Arthur for the day so we can crack on with renovations or, in my Dad’s case, giving his time, skills, tools, materials and everything else to help us move the house on.

Anyway, I’m so proud of what we achieved this year. It’s been non-stop but in total, we completed three rooms: Arthur’s bedroom, the porch and our upstairs bathroom, and installed a new fence too.

I’ve been documenting our progress in detailed monthly posts all year but at a glance, here is everything we did in 2025.

January (Read full update)

In January we celebrated Arthur Bear’s second birthday then, after catching cold/flu we started pushing on with the landing, adding the remaining architrave to the doors, the skirting boards and putting the wall lights up. We also stripped the stairs by applying Klingstrip.

February (Read full update)

February was all about the stairs in particular we did the spindles, stripped back more paint and sorted the creaks in the stairs themselves.

March and April (Read full update)

These two months were all about progressing with the landing, putting the conving up and finishing off odd jobs on the stairs.

May (Read full update)

In May, we made strides in the garden, preparing it for the decking we were to install later in the year and also knocking through from what is now the playroom into the kitchen/dining room.

June and July (Read full update)

Another combined monthly update! In June and July we did more on the garden, eventually rolling out turf and sorting out the guttering and starting work on the decking.

August and September (Read full update)

It seems I did a lot of combined monthly updates last year… we must’ve been busy! In August and September, we did a lot of different jobs, from working in the garden on the decking, which was completed during this period, starting work on the playroom, and also adding some carpet to the landing.

October (Read full update)

October saw us focus solely on the playroom, with my dad plastering and fitting the panelling in the room. He also had a little apprentice in Arthur!

November (Read full update)

As we approached the end of the year, we continued on with the playroom, getting it painted and decorated and fitting the flooring. Fun fact – this is the exact same flooring as in our living room, one of the first rooms we completed, back in December 2022!

December (Read full update)

The final month of the year saw us finish the playroom just in time for Christmas. At this point, the room wasn’t fully furnished, with bits of furniture arriving throughout December and into January.