Summer Terrace - Day 1 - before and making a start

I'm going to try to live blog my latest renovation project.  No promises but I really will try!  Also, as I mentioned in a previous post, I am useless at remembering to take before photos so these are "before-ish" photos.  I should also confess it isn't really day 1 either but I have been too busy on other projects to make a start, so lets just all agree to call it day 1. (There is a good chance day 2 will be next week...)

I think this is a good point for me to say something that I find really important but is often overlooked.  You have to recognise that the property was someone else's home for probably many years, it might be dated but I'm not going to mock their home.  It's just a respect thing.  Yes, sometimes properties will be filthy and disgusting, but you don't know why, it might be a really sad story.  This property through is super clean, it was obviously well loved and cared for, just not updated to current fashions.

This project is a 1900's-ish terrace which has already had the loft converted making the two-up two-down into a 3 bed with a large master bedroom in the loft space.  It has high ceilings on every floor (great now, but ask me again when I'm painting the ceilings) and has loads of potential.

So here goes a mini tour with the current plans.....

The kitchen is being replaced with a different layout, creating more storage space with white cupboards and oak (laminate) worktops.

The fireplace has already been removed today in the process of making the gas safe. Fingers crossed to be replaced with a wood/multi-fuel burner.....I'll let you know how the budget goes with that one though.

The stairs are fine, I'll probably paint the bannister and spindles, etc. just to look more contemporary but they are fine and even the open tread stars conform to regulations (bonus!)

This is the smallest bedroom currently, but should become larger when the chimney is removed.  

The chimney is a main priority because it is not used and the chimney breast goes through the loft, 1st floor but not the ground floor and I have seen many cases where they aren't properly supported and therefore unsafe. 

(Excuse the boxes in this picture - the new kitchen arrived early!)

The bathroom, perfectly functional but being replaced with a modern white suite, probably in the same layout as it is now.

Bed 2 - the main change here and throughout the house is to re-route the heating pipes under the floor rather than being boxed in around the walls as they are now.  It technically isn't necessary but I don't like to cut corners.

The staircase and landing - this will (if it goes to plan) make a big difference, I'm hoping to remove large parts of each end of the wall and replace it with bannister which will let the light flow and make it feel less of a corridor.  As you can see here the light is on, there is no natural light here so I also want to add a window or sun tunnel.

Textured plaster (in the background - told you I was rubbish at photos!)

I'm not mocking it, it was massive in the 80's but so unpopular now that it has to go.  After long discussions with plasterers we decided that we could knock the points off and skim over it to make it smooth.  

However while I was stripping wallpaper elsewhere (you can see some at the bottom of this photo) I took some aggression out on the textured plaster and it turns out it is only a thin top coat and there is some pretty lovely smooth plaster beneath.  It should save a lot of money in plastering over it, but it is going to take me many hours.  

Then there is the top floor - I don't have a photo so I'll save this for another day.  Also, the top floor is a big dilemma for me, I've decided to add an ensuite bathroom up there, but I can't decide whether to leave it as a huge master suite or divide it and make an extra bedroom.  Others in the street have done both, and statistically the extra bedroom creates a higher sale price, but thats just statistics and we all know that a property is only worth as much as someone wants to pay.......decisions for another day.