Lower Ground Level - November 10th, 2009

The lower ground level has been the storage and heart of all construction and renovation throughout this project. This level has seen and experienced first-hand the majority of all of our project overhaul more than any other level or area of the house. The changes and improvements in this area are of great importance to us because they signify the light at the end of the tunnel in our project, for now at least.

We finally decided that the lower ground level is to become a separate residence from our house. This area will become an independent one bedroom flat/apartment and will begin making money for us as a long-term or short-term investment. The flat has been organized to be entirely independent (gas, electricity, water, security system, sound-proofing, entrance etc.) in a way that will allow us to separate it officially one day as its own property on the Land Registry, if we so choose. On the other hand, after a few years go by we may decide to "reclaim" the space, so thankfully enough our architectural designs will allow for such an option. But, for now we have agreed to begin letting/renting it out at the end of January.

below: main entrance, two newly enlarged wood casement windows.

open-plan living space

below: (right) open-plan built-in kitchen (far right corner) utility room is slightly visible

(below) fireplace turned into built-in storage shelves

below: entrance to your back and looking deep into the space - the red beam is where a wall will be erected soon (Nov. 14 or 21st) which will separate the living area from the bedroom, study space and bathroom. (left) the pink wall is the entrance to the utility room (accessible from the living space. Next to that (on the other side of the red beam there is a wood door frame - the bathroom is located behind that door. The bathroom is accessible from the bedroom side. The study space is located at the back on the far right corner. There will be a 1mx1m skylight installed to fill the backside of the flat with natural light and the study will be directly under that area.

New bathroom windows made almost airtight...

Some of you already know about the build, but for others that don't I'll fill you in on our most pressing issue to date.

It is Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 and we are still without heat in the house. Until last Sunday we were living without heat, PLUS two major holes with drafty air streaming inside. Now we are simply living without heat and only small holes in various locations. Therefore, the two photos below are a real advancement in our renovation project, and we've decided they deserve their own post on our blog :)

Really interesting pictures (heavy sarcasm), but this is another milestone for us.

The two windows that have been open holes for roughly 3 months have finally been installed with proper wood casement windows, insulation and bricked in properly (we hope). No more showers with cold drafts coming through (again, we hope).

below: (left) 1st floor bathroom window & (right) mezzanine level bathroom window

Ahhh...again, we love each challenge that comes with climbing any hill or mountain in order to make this a successful renovation project, but heat will bring us to the bliss stage in our project. Heat is scheduled (in theory) for November 13th, 2009!!!!!!!!

Old original pine floorboards & staircase get stained...

below: (left) staircase from 1st floor leading down to mezz. level

(right) mezz level landing leading down to ground floor

Publish Post

below: coming down the stairs from first floor to mezzanine level landing (guest bedroom 1 straight ahead & mezz bathroom on right)

below:

Guest bedroom 1- before & after stained floorboards

below: guest bedroom 1 - mezzanine level

below:

looking down into main entrance corridor from landing on mezzanine level

(that's SweetPea on the step & Josie down below)

Wood Floors

Our wood floors & staircase were professionally sanded and lacquered

from October 19th-21st, 2009.

below: reception room

below: looking into reception room (from dining room)

below: looking into dining room (from reception room)

below: (left) dining room & (right) both dining and reception rooms

below: First coat of lacquer on the floor - spectacular color!

5 STAR LUXURY status achieved!!!

So, we had the door installed and the wood floors laid. Next post will include photos of the sanding and staining processes (VERY MESSY process & stage), but here we will show you our 2 favorite NEW luxuries of our life, as of October 31st, 2009.

OUR NEWLY RENOVATED DOOR!!!!!!! Isn't she lovely???

Colors we're considering at this stage, but still undecided.

1) Mocha

2) Velvet Chocolate

3) Kashmir beige

BATHROOM shower glass!!!!!!!!

Have you ever taken a shower squatting (for lack of a better word) weeks on end? Yes, well it's highly overrated. Shower glass works wonders because you can relish the height of your shower and be as messy with the water as you'd like. BTW, we finally got hot water on site on October 10th.

Major changes!! October 17th, 2009

October 17th, 2009

The newly renovated front door is finally put back in her original place!!

Our newwood floor is completed on the ground floor.

The 7 fireplaces have been swept, lined and the hearths have been cemented for new use.

LGL entrance lower-level front garden cleared of most hedges - finally!

below: Jamie (builder/carpenter)

Jamie & Antonio installing our original door back into her place.

Hearth of the dining room fireplace

below:

Charlie, our chippy/carpenter, is putting in the final touches on the floorboards in the entrance corridor. (left photo)

(right photo) finished photo of entrance corridor (to be plastered & skimmed Nov. 19th!)

below: Entrance corridor - finished wood floor with the door :)

below: dining room

below: LGL entrance - cut back hedges in the lower front garden area of the house. We are waiting for the electrician to put his lighting in the well area and then we'll render the area white and put ivy and various low-lying flowers

Two main rooms on ground floor get plastered & wood floor is laid...

We see progress, but still major dust - everywhere ...

Ground floor plastered! yay! We're taking shape...slowly, but surely...

Dining room was bonded and awaits the plasterer's magic touch...

Plaster is dry and new African Iroko wood floor is being laid!

(reception room)

Dining room - beautifully skimmed and now new floor is being laid

Lower Ground Level - September 28th, 2009

I know it's messy to look at and difficult to discern what is what. It will get clearer to you eventually, as we move along.

(top photo) the area to the left will be the open plan kitchen space for the lower ground level

the door frame to the right of the photo is the utility room

(bottom photo) pink area is the entrance to the utility room & the door on the left side leads into what will be the bathroom

new brick column to support large steel beam overhead, just for extra support

The blue plasterboard has been used because it is a special sound-proofing material that hopefully will create a sound buffer between the LGL and ground floor level.

Leading to the garden - the back of the lower ground floor