Internal Photo updates

It has been a long time since I have posted anything. Antonio and I took a few weeks off from all major work having to do with the house, apart from the interior painting and such. Let's just say it has been an emotional and psychological roller coaster through this project, and one that we hope to end soon.

We only recently began the demolition of our old lean-to in the back garden and finally construction of our extension has started. We have been told it will take between 8-10 weeks for completion. We began one week early and hope that everything (front & back gardens included) will be done by the end of June. Our nieces will be arriving at the beginning of July for a few weeks so we hope to have the back garden landscaped, patio completed pizza oven constructed and barbecue ready to go for our first family dinner!

This blog is to catch up our readers on the progress that was made in the house and outside from my last post. I have only shown one photo of the ground floor reception room because we have been using the Reception & Dining Rooms as our storage rooms for our amazing collection of boxes that contain all of our kitchen and dining paraphernalia (for lack of a better term), most of which will go into the extension (once it's completed).

Enjoy the photos and I will update soon!

All photo captions are below each photo and work in a left to right description.

Front of house at end of March 2010

Front door color dilemma: Antonio likes it white, but since we're living in London it is essential that we give the door a color. Giving the door a color gives the house and door an identity. We had mutually chosen a color some weeks ago, but now Antonio is wavering to leave it white. We should have it painted its official color before the arrival of my nieces on the 5th of July 2010 (I hope!). I'll keep everyone posted :)

From Mezz landing looking at hallway and main entrance door

From main entrance door looking to mezz landing (Piccolo Uomo)

Looking backwards from mezz stairs

Door to left leads to the Dining & Reception rooms

Door to center/right is the main entrance door

That's Josie sitting next to our hallway radiator

Door to right leads to the Dining & Reception rooms

Steps leading up to mezzanine level & door next to "Piccolo Uomo" leads into the Mezz guest bedroom (to its right is another door which is for the Mezz bathroom)

Steps leading down go to the current "Dirt Pit", but also to what will soon be our cosy den, 4th bathroom & utility room which will open up onto the extension.

Steps down to Mezzanine level

Our original mahogany banister is currently being stripped and repaired, along with its 37 spindles.

Door on right is to Mezz bathroom

Door in front is the Mezz bedroom (bay window bedroom)

Our beautiful planks and Antonio's craftsmanship at installing the new banister & spindles. Antonio stripped, sanded and installed it all by himself. (Great Job, Cutie!)

Master bedroom door in front and 1st guest bedroom to the left.

Master bedroom - we're still without closets, so we're surviving with plastic containers (very classy!) :)

Master bedroom - we love our windows! (note: old torn chair is a Victorian chair that I will be re-upholstering myself in August - Antonio has a love/hate relationship with that chair :) )

Landing to the "white room" & bathroom; The "white room" which is serving as a storage space now til we get a carpenter in to build closets & shelves.

Top floor bathroom (black & white) with our "signature" walk-in shower :)

Shower & our new window (we re-opened it)

Landing looking back to master bedroom with the "white bedroom" to my back and bathroom door (to the left in photo)

Reception room (sigh) - it's serving as a storage space for our china, crystal and kitchen items meant for the extension area.

Cornicing/Coving for the Reception & Dining Rooms

Our last and final major work left in the main part of our house (basement apartment excluded) is the cornicing and coving. Today, our coving artisan, Gary, began putting up the cornicing in our reception room. It should be a 2 day job, but he and his sons have been ill so currently he is working solo. Due to this, he predicts the job will probably take him 4 days in total. I'm not bothered by this small delay because in the grand scheme of things it is a drop in the bucket.

Once Gary has completed the cornicing he will come back for two more days to put up our ceiling roses. There is a slight delay with this because I've not found the precise one for our rooms. We'll need five in total and it's a big decision and one that must be made with great care. We've begun picking out our lighting recently. We discovered a fabulous glassmaker in Italy (right outside of Venezia) that does amazing work, but very particular pieces too, so picking out ceiling roses that don't compete isn't easy. Once those are chosen and installed that's it for Gary's work.

Our decorators will begin prepping and painting the walls, cornicing and skirting the third week of January. We're expecting that to take them a good two to three weeks, depending upon how fast they are. This all means that essentially by February 15th we should be completed 100% (except the extension which will commence in May). Wow! It will take the whole renovation project to 8 and a half months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will post a few more photos by this weekend, but these will be among the last that I post until each room is painted and completed so that I can post the before, middle and after photos together for comparison.

Here are a few photos to see Gary's progress.

(captions below photos)

(a) reception room ceiling with bay window

(b) note that there is no architrave on this window yet and we're

hoping it will fit at the top without needing to trim it down.

(c) only one length on this wall complete (reception)

(d) beautiful corners

Just for something a bit different...

Basement apartment progress

(captions below)

(e) Kitchen Area: --> new lighting & will be tiled with black porcelain next week

(f) more kitchen (without the kitchen really :))

(f) preparation of water/damp proof subfloor for the wood floor

(g) living area -> more preparation for wood floor to be laid tomorrow (31/12/2009)

(h) kitchen area --> creating a division line for the tiles and wood floor to meet.

December 2009 accomplishments ...

We are getting closer and closer to the decorating side of this renovation project and we feel almost close to relief, yet the changes are slightly slow for our taste (now that we're entering our 8th month into the renovation).

We've had to make some really important decorative decisions and purchases that will put the house back to its original (if not better) status. We're hoping we've chosen and continue to choose the right details to do this house justice.

(All captions are above the photos)

Last major carpentry work (check!)

*Our previous builder (who was a complete cowboy!) forgot to put in a door, so FINALLY we got to see a door frame put up and a door to go with it!

Wood doors hung (check!)

Plastered Hallway (check!) Photos: before & after

(below: going up to mezzanine level or down to the "dirt pit" (aka where-the-extension-will-be-in-May) - all beautifully plastered also here!)

Sanded & stained wood floors on first floor (check!)

Master bedroom

Plastered basement apartment (check!)

(a) kitchen space (left) & utility room (right)

(b) kitchen space (left); utility room

(c) utility room (left); living space (center); doorway to bedroom (right)

(d) bedroom doorway (left) & living space (center)

(e) bedroom looking towards entrance to living area

(f) bedroom - facing bathroom doorway

Cornicing/Coving installed on First floor (check!)

Second largest bedroom

Master bedroom cornicing/coving

Cornicing/Coving installed throughout hallways & landings (check!)

Wood architraves purchased, delivered and installed around windows & doors (almost complete - check!)

Wood doors painted (almost complete - check!)

Electricity mains to house separated from basement apartment (nope!)