Welcome to gilford's House Renovation.........

[gilford]

Well, after being in our new (to us) house since Xmas we have finally got enough cash to start the renovation of the lounge

The house is an early 70's 4 bed bungalow which, when we bought it, needed a serious update

We have done almost all rooms now (can post pics if you wish but I wont bore you with them now) and the lounge and conservatory are the last 2 to do.

Anyway, here are some BEFORE pics (excuse the wife, she thinks she's photogenic!) -

[gilford]

Week one - Wallpaper


The job I hate most, stripping! It took 2 nights (around 8 hours) to get all the horrible anaglipta (if thats how you spell it) off

It must have had 20 years and 10 coats of paint on top of it

You will see in some of the pics below that there are pipes in conduit all over the room, god knows why when the rads were put in they were not chased into the wall Yet another thing to do..............

[gilford]

Week Two (Monday) - Builders start

At last, the day has come to start getting this room sorted

Friendly local builders (Who are also a member on this very forum ) turn up to start work and do a lot in the first day, although behind all that horrible red brick lies an old back boiler and pipework which has to be removed


All pipes are chased into the wall. At last, no more down system on show

[gilford]

Tuesday

Back boiler removed and all pipework sorted

All 10 holes drilled in ceiling for downlights but oh no, another problem! The ceiling isn't level so it has to be packed out and reboarded instead of just being plastered, poor sparky spent ages drilling those holes...............

New rad is fitted, at last the room will be warm

[Mrcon]

Looking good, glad u have ripped out that fireplace was Ugly, are you going to wall hang the TV over the fireplace? We was going to do something similar in out house, as we have a fire central and alcoves each side, cant wait to see how yours turns out.

[gilford]

Originally Posted by Mrcon

Looking good, glad u have ripped out that fireplace was Ugly, are you going to wall hang the TV over the fireplace? We was going to do something similar in out house, as we have a fire central and alcoves each side, cant wait to see how yours turns out.

Yes, plasma is to be hung on the chimney breast ( it has been there all weekend but I have taken it down tonight for the decorator tomorrow). I will get the rest of the pic's up tomorrow night.

We have ordered fitted oak units for the alcoves from a company called Neville Johnson, but sadly the fit date is week commencing 16th may

I really dont know why people fitted those red brick surrounds, and i bet it cost me more to pull down than it did to put up!! Lol

[gilford]

Wenesday/Thursday

Wednesday was spent reboarding the ceiling so no pics I'm afraid, plus I went down to the pub so....................

Thursday night, all work done

All the room is plastered and ready for the start of the install tomorrow

[gilford]

Friday Night


Well, the installers have left and everything has had its first fix

Just one pic for now, the decorator is coming next week along with the carpet fitter so I'll take some more then

It is so good to finally see this room coming together. I hope you all can appreciate it as much as I do, I still have nightmares about that red brick...........

[ooocamperooo]

excellent work coming along here...

looking forward till seeing the final piece...

[gilford]

Cheers bud, I'd give it 5 stars personally...............

[ooocamperooo]

hehehe it deserves 10 stars for all the hard work...

[SG-22]

looking go so far, coming along nicely

[elootos]

I seem to remember your red-brick lounge being mentioned somewhere before, and I can see you chose the right way ahead; rip it all out.

Looking all good so far.

[gilford]

Decorating - Day 1

Well, the decorator turned up bright and early this morning to start doing the lounge and conservatory

He did well today fair play, all the wallpaper in the lounge hung and he has sealed the walls in the conservatory, good job Arthur

He has done a particularly good job where the speaker wire exits the wall, which I was worried about a little

All the lounge walls need to be painted yet, we have gone for a plum/purple feature wall and the rest to be soft stone, the idea stole from the Dulux catalogue, credit to my very cunning wife

I just wish that the fitted units were coming next week along with the carpet and the wood flooring for the conservatory but we have to wait until mid May for it

Everywhere will be done lovely but we will have to just stare at those unfinished alcoves for another month

Anyway, what do you think -

[gilford]

Originally Posted by elootos

I seem to remember your red-brick lounge being mentioned somewhere before, and I can see you chose the right way ahead; rip it all out.

Looking all good so far.

Yes, I posted it in the DIY section to get some ideas as to what the hell to do with it! lol

I think what I have done is the best, bar knocking all the breast etc out but that would have been very expensive, messy, and come re-sale some people might have been put off with no chimney