Flawed floor

In hindsight laying the flooring before doing demolition and building work was never going to be the best laid plan!  The catalyst was the rancid green carpet in the dining room, which proved just too much to live with.  And so it was that the first real DIY job undertaken on the ground floor was ripping up carpet and preparing the floor boards.  We opted for an engineered wood as opposed to laminate mainly due to its finish.  Engineered wood uses a thin veneer of actual timber rather than what is in effect a photograph with a protective layer applied to it as in laminate.  It has a very thin layer of oak glued to an MDF type plank, with a tongue and groove click connect system, very similar to laminate flooring, meaning its simple to lay.  The end result has a more authentic look where as in my eyes laminate can look a little cheap.

We used these people for the flooring.  Good quality engineered wood.  They also sell the underlay which acts as a vapour barrier apparently good for suspended timber floors like ours.  The underlay is a thin layer of silver foil with a spongy backing.  Its laid silver side down.  Apologises for the boring stock imageries, I couldn't be bothered to take any pics.

The flooring system went down fairly trouble free.  With old properties the floorboards can be a surprise when you remove the carpet.  Our old flat's boards had more undulations than the South Downs, nightmare to try and connect laminate when the lengths have to curve in both directions.  The floorboards in the dining room at least appeared to be reasonably flat, although the old underlay was stapled to these, which proved a right pain in the proverbial trying to pull all these out.  I actually ripped the old skirting boards off the wall (not original) and begun replacing these with new.  The skirtings go over the edge of the floor holding it down.  I decided against running the floor up to the skirtings and putting a bead around the edge as this never looks as finished, attracts dirt and I think looks a tad unsatisfactory, I'm getting a stickler for detail.

With the lovely new polished flooring laid I then made the clever decision to get builders in and start on some demolition work!

Live with the house

Its important when moving into a new property to live there a few months before finalising what needs to be done and when.  Tempting as it was to just gut the whole house, its much better to see how it works and what needs to be done first of all.  As the purchase was going through we both felt that the moving of the bathroom from its current position wedged in behind the kitchen up to the first floor was a priority.  Now, after living here some 8 months the bathroom changes are right at the bottom of our 'to do' list.  Its crucial to realise that the most used rooms are often the priority when renovating - you want to live in somewhere that's nice.  Making a shiny bathroom is all well and good, but you don't live in it.

When we first moved in I carried out a thorough survey of the whole house, a useful way of making sure you familiarise yourself with all the nooks and crannies as well as giving accurate dimensions for planning out rooms.  

It quickly became apparent that the ground floor rooms, namely the front living room and slightly strange dining/reception room were our priority.  The dining room in particular was the logical starting point as it was a room which connected the house together - in the middle of the ground floor acting as an entrance reception and dining area, the room as it stood was rather dark and frankly quite odd.  We had real problems imagining what we'd actually do with it.  Roughly square in proportion, pinned between the stairs and kitchen, it would take a discovery under the carpet to act as inspiration for this space.

Taking steps

Before we moved into the house I knew that the stair arrangement would have to be altered to reduce the feeling of them cutting the house in two.  As there is no entrance hall for the front door the only option available to us was to treat the dining room (middle room in the ground floor) as a kind of entrance hall or lobby.  This could be achieved by taking away part of the wall separating the stairs and dining room and thus opening up the staircase.  The stairs will in effect become part of the dining room rather than wedged in between two quite narrow walls.

How the stairs are treated when they become visible in the dining room was another question.  Originally I considered cranking them around 90 degrees so that you step down into the dining room rather than straight onto the front door.

There would have to be either a small landing created or the steps would rotate around.  The landing idea was quite appealing as it gave the stairs additional character and created a nice feature.  Further thoughts around this developed into constructing a thin timber and glass screen at the end of the existing staircase, so upon entering through the front door this feature screens the stairs from view.

I would finally reject these ideas as overly complicated and unnecessary, but I still like the concept and maybe one day I can use this somewhere else.

Sketchy Plans

Our house is rather unusual in that the front door is on the side and thus the stairs divide it in two.  This arrangement was a little unnerving when we first saw it as you arrive at the stairs as soon as you come in the front door.  There is no grand Victorian hallway or proper entrance.  It also means you have to walk past the front door every time you go from living room to the rear.  Its not the best feature, but one which we have to work with.

The sketch plans below describe the internal arrangement of rooms with the staircase dividing the house across its width.

Ugly duckling

Its true, our house is officially the ugliest and saddest looking on the street!  The fetching grey and brown pebble dash was not the first thing that attracted us to it.  Yet underneath there is a Victorian House, probably very late Victorian, on the cusp of Edwardian, but never-the-less a Victorian house, defaced by a 70s fad!  What drives someone to throw a load of grey stoney cement all over a house exterior?  It must of taken a considerable time to apply, and what with the scaffolding rising some 3 stories along the side, would have cost a lot too (it rather charmingly takes the skin off your knuckles as well!)

As you can see in the very fetching estate agents photo above, our neighbours have their lovely original brickwork in tact.  Its a shame, but removing pebble dash is just too expensive, so we'll just have to live with it.  Oh I almost forgot I have just read on Wikipedia that pebble dash can devalue a property by 5%...marvellous...

The plan will be to paint the pebble dash white.  We also intend to replace the UPVC windows in the front with traditional sash windows, which should also improve its kerb appeal.  Here's a quick photoshop mock up, the hedge, gate and bay trees will be the finishing touch.

First Late Post

Welcome to my blog detailing the on-going renovation and redesign of our family home.

I'm a little late in the game in starting this blog as we moved into the house back in June last year, however friends and family have commented that I really should keep a record of all the works we have done, so writing and updating a blog seems the most convenient way.

I will try and update the blog as regularly as I can pending interruptions from our 1 year old!  The purpose is to show how we are going about hopefully transforming an unloved house into a family home, rich in character and most importantly that works for us.  This will take the form of photo's and sketches of my ideas and how I can hopefully transform those into reality.  If it provides you with inspiration and some confidence to undertake similar projects in your home, then fantastic that would be a bonus for me.

So in a belated fashion welcome once again and any comments appreciated.