The Old Victorian House

There has been huge progress this week. It is amazing when you knock a few walls out and open up the rooms. It transforms the space. This week the builders did just that and removed all the diving walls upstairs. It was previously two very small pokey bedrooms and outside, a small landing area. By removing all the walls, they have created a big open space and it is the first time that we have been able to visualise what our master bedroom, en suite bathroom and walk in wardrobe will actually look like. It has really helped us see what space we actually have to work with.

The plaster has come off many of the interior walls, which is no bad thing. We are going to completely remove all of this and when the block is exposed, we are going to spray it with a sand and cement mix. This will strengthen the walls and help a bit with sound proofing the walls between us and our neighbours.

In the hall and front room the carpet has been removed which revealed the original old victorian floorboards. Some of these are in a very bad way, so we are going to see what we can salvage when we take them up to insulate under the floors in these rooms. Hopefully we can save some from upstairs and use them downstairs. Either that or we will look at an alternative floor, possibly parquet flooring in the hall and front room.

More walls were removed downstairs in the lounge area. This area looks totally different now and really gives us a proper idea of how big our new kitchen area will be. We are also including a utility space in this room, which will give us an area for washing / drying clothes and some much needed storage!

Under the stairs, where there was possibly an old cloakroom will become our downstairs toilet. This is surprisingly big and we will take a small bit of space off the kitchen area to increase it’s size and make it possible for people to turn around in the actual toilet!

The builder has begun to break down the old extension also. The roof is gone and the old bathroom is no more. They cleverly reconnected the old “outhouse” toilet which they can use during the renovations. The builder told me that all that was needed in the cistern was a ballcock – the mechanism is probably 80 years old and it is in perfect working order. Personally, I think this looks a bit grim, but the builders are delighted with themselves!

They have also set themselves up in the front room and I have to say, they are some of the tidiest workers ever. I took a shot of the bay window again without those drab curtains hanging off it and it really is an impressive feature in the house.

On Sunday we had a very long meeting with the builder and went through layouts for the en suite and also how the new stairs will look when it is installed into the house. As this house is a split level house, we are converting the attic space to give us a 2nd bedroom. Working from the attic down to the 1st floor, where there will be our own bedroom, then down to the ground level where there will be the main living room, and finally down one level brings you to the kitchen / dining / living area which will lead out to the garden. The garden will no doubt be the last thing we get around to though, given how much everything is costing at the moment!!!

I am looking forward to seeing the old extension completely removed next week and the builders can hopefully begin work installing the steel beams and digging out the foundations for the new extension.

Stay tuned and thanks for reading 🙂