Our attic conversion was a great success, the extra usable space combined with the excellent built in storage was the perfect solution for a growing up family, our two sons are best of pals most of the time but like most siblings they fight, and as they got older it become clear that they needed their own space. We could not afford to move house so for us the solution was a loft conversion that would become our third bedroom but we could not raise enough cash for the quotes we had been given, fortunately we have a friend who had worked for a loft conversion company for a few year and he offered to help, his experience and advice was invaluable and lucky for us he was happy to trade working days, he needed a new central heating system and my husband is a plumber/gas fitter - deal done!

We decided to make the most of this opportunity to increase the size and value of our home and fit dormer windows to increase the usable space and the natural light, we added plenty of feature lighting that we hoped would create atmosphere. As soon as the plans where passed we go to work, getting the materials in was one of the biggest problems, carting them upstairs was just a pain, the rest of the project thankfully went well albeit spread over a quite a few weekends.

I tried hard not to clean up too much on a Sunday but it seemed that the less clearing I done the more mess and dust was settling and being transferred from room to room Monday to Friday, in the end every Sunday evening was spent doing a thorough clean up and to be honest I think this paid off in the long run.

Finally the conversion was complete, the next job was decorating which was my task, again this was to be done over the weekends and during the evenings, pretty much whenever I could. I enjoy painting and have done plenty of it in the past but with the angles of the ceilings and exposed beams along with the storage units fitted around the edge of the room it seemed to be taking forever, especially as I could only commit short period of time in any one day, it felt like I spent more time preparing equipment and cleaning brushed than painting.

Despite being very motivated it was difficult to get on with and to be honest it was begging to feel like a lead weight, a friend of mine again offered to trade working days which I thought would make the job far easier but after a review of what work was still to do and the time it was taking it actually helped me make the decision to call the London handyman services to finish the job. Trading days meant that there was not a huge labour bill allowing me in the end the luxury of paying to get the decorating done and in three days the room was complete and ready for lighting, furniture and a teenage boy with a few posters.