Rendering me speechless (how spend a lot of money)

So this is my first blog post and maybe my last.. I will have to see if I have the commitment to keep this up.  The idea was to use this a sort of scrapbook of our home renovation.

We will be transforming a three bed (heavily extended) semi-detached with my husband and partner in crime.  We have a little form already having updated/renovated a two bed ex-council flat in North London.  A change in job enabled/required us to move out of the big smoke to Hitchin and also allowed us to get a house instead of a flat.  I am very excited by the idea of having a garden...BBQ's/Garden chairs/flowers and herbs. They can't be that much work right?  I guess we are going to find out.

The house we bought is in dire need of an update.  The previous owners were getting older and although the house has been a much loved family home not much work has been done on it for awhile.  We are hoping to have a lot of fun and create a great home for us in the process.  This brings me to our first big challenge, the rendering, we knew it was a problem when we bought the house. But the estate agents had a quote form a local tradesman to say that the repairs would be in the region of 3,500.  A lot of money but doable with our budget.  Unfortunately we are now getting quotes which are a lot higher, like twice the amount. Ek!  First big scare.  Fixing the render is a must so we will have to stump up the cash.  And that isn't even touching the cladding which is also a must...  For now I will end with a shot of our fugly house, hopefully one day it will be less fugly.