Week Nine – more plastering, decisions on hold

A few small changes have happened as we’ve finished week nine.  Basically, plastering, electrics and plumbing have continued.  It’s not glamorous or pretty, but it’s a good step in the right direction.

The floors are still coming up in the kitchen area, but we haven’t been able to move to begin the extension as we have to make some changes and our architect is on holiday for two weeks (and the structural engineer doesn’t seem to want to return calls).  At least there is plenty for our contractor to do in the other floors.  This will push back the finishing time a bit.  Oh, well!

The wall has gone up in one of the doorways to the kitchen.  It’s going to make a huge difference.  We’ll now be able to do laundry without worrying about getting a door in the back.  Yay!

They installed the skylight into the loft bathroom and have figured out where the toilet, etc, will be placed.

We’re going to be making some changes to the front of the house.  With the installation of the windows, the plaster/pebble-dashing came off in chunks.  So we’re going to have the contractor remove all the plaster (YAY – it’s ugly), put new smooth plaster on and paint it white, which will go nicely with the red brick.

Week Seven – small changes

This week brings with it a few small changes and a few concerns and possibilities.

Possibility: to be able to lower the floor so that we have higher ceilings.  Most of the 1920s houses in London seem to have very high ceilings.  Our house doesn’t really.  But there is a LOT of space under the house so we can move the floors down (which is good, especially as we’re doing underfloor heating in the entire ground floor).  This will be a great thing.  You can see below all the space under the kitchen that exists:

Concerns:

Can we fit in the bi-folding doors that we want?  Can we fit the kitchen furniture that we ordered? TBD.

The little changes – they have begun to plaster a bit and rip things off the walls.  The master bedroom has been pretty much stripped.  Lighting and electrics are being laid.

Main bathroom – ready for lights & plastering.

No more pine cladding or ceilings or plastered walls in the master bedroom

Plastering has begun in the office and in the loft bedroom.

We can see that things are coming together a bit more but it also means there are more questions.  We shall see what comes over the next few weeks.  I’ll post again in two weeks.

Week 6: many changes

Just back from a two week holiday to the States and it’s been a while since I last posted.  There are fabulous changes in the house that I can’t wait to share.

From front of house – you can see the new bay windows in the living rom and master bedroom

As you can see the new roof with new tiles has almost finished. It’s been very well insulated and the tiles are solid.  This is a view to the back garden and the park behind us from the extra bedroom.

The interior has also had quite a lot of changes – actual walls are up, new windows are in the front of the house, the bathrooms are beginning to take shape and the walls are starting to come up for the extension.

Loft bedroom facing the back of the room.  The two holes will have small doors for loft storage.  Behind the wall on the left (to the left of that hole) is where the shower rooms will be (small corner shower, toilet & sink)

Bay windows in the master bedroom. They still have to get rid of some wood around it (can’t wait).

Beginning to insulate the uninsulated office.  It used to have a small unused fireplace behind the ladders which we tore out and filled in with brick.  All of this will be insulated and then plasterboard will be placed on top.

The main bathroom.  They took out the windows and the wall separating the bath and the toilet.  Instead, they installed two Velux windows into the roof ceiling (it’s angled).  This will allow us to put our bathroom furniture in different places.

The walls are going up for the extension!

This is the office again with the new windows.  Because we took out some built in storage it’ll be so much better for us to use.  I’ll be able to fit in a small sofa or large chair to use for a psychotherapy room.

We’re very happy with the progress so far.  I have some more things to order but have to talk to our contractor about them.  Busy and exciting times.