Follow the Conversion of the Old Shop: Final Stages of the Transformation

We have now reached the stage where there isn't a lot to photograph so the blog will not be quite so visual for the next couple of weeks until we move in and then start to let you see how it looks.

The carpenter is finishing off lots of bits and pieces as the other trades complete. The flooring has been ordered and will arrive on 20th to be fitted the following week. This is later than we had hoped but as it's a new product, and apparently we are the first people in the UK to order it, we are having to exercise patience - in short supply now as we are keen to get in! So we have made the decision to wait until the floor is laid rather than move everything in on the ground floor only to have to move it out again to have the flooring fitted.

The wall in the dining room is looking rather good now, it has had a coat of brick sealant so deepened the colour of the bricks and hopefully less dust!

It's amazing what hot water and sugar soap - or in this case household ammonia - will do for years of grime! This bannister was black when I started cleaning it on saturday morning.

The installation of the new stairwell window has revealed yet more rotten wood in the window cill so yet another addition to the carpenter's 'To Do' list.

The hall looks positively clean and bright following a good wash down! We have also discovered that the sample colour on the wall 'Corn Silk' (yellow in other words), is also a colour that it has been painted in the past as flaking blue paint has revealed a similar colour underneath.

With bulbs in the light fitting in the Snug we can photograph the newly washed shutters which are shiny clean - Thanks for the help on saturday GMcG!

The Snug is starting to look a bit emptier now that the various trades have removed all sorts of kit.

However, it's still a safe place for those expensive carpentry tools!

Mission Control is in the process of being walled in with the main access door awaiting construction and the smaller door for access just visible by the hinges closer to the front door.

With the RSJ safely in place and the other beams treated for anything nasty that might be lurking beneath (they are sound and have been given the all-clear thankfully!) the carpenter can box this in and make ready for the curtain pole. It will have to be of solid construction to take the weight of the curtains necessary to cover this window. We tried the curtains for this window out on Saturday and thankfully it appears that our speculative purchase at the local auction, even before we had bought the house, has been a success - final view when they are up of course.

The carpenter has repaired the front of the worst of the stair treads which makes a big difference.

Moonlit night in the courtyard - you can just see the wall that has been constructed around the opening to the rainwater cistern - still to be rendered for final finish. It is now full following the onset of autumn showers so ~2000 litres of water under the ground for the use of at some point.

The carpenter has now boxed in the area above the front window and that has reduced the traffic noise from the High Street as well as giving us the meang of fitting curtain rails - once it i painted of course!

It may not look any different at a glance but the asbestos gutters have been replaced with the re-cycled sections from the front of the house. Although that is not a long term solution as they will be renewed when we do Phase 2 at least it gets rid of the last (we hope) of the asbestos. Having said that given that we found some 'buried' in the undergrowth of the garden I may have to eat those words one of these days.

The carpenter has done it once again, the panel below the back bedroom turned out to be quite rotten - recurring theme as we get into the detail of the house - so he has constructed a new window ledge which looks really good and will also help with retaining heat as the space is packed with insulation.

It took some time to get it as this is a new product in the UK and apparently we were the first people to place an order for a domestic installation but the flooring finally arrived on Friday 20th. Installation to commence on Monday 23rd as it has to acclimatise for a couple of days.

Finishing off around the French Doors - renewing panelling - more rotten wood - and tidying up the top of the recess with mdf.

Mission Control is now behind wood panelling but with a couple of doors for ease of access, and storage of course.

Undercoat going onto the wood panelling in the kitchen.

White paint on the walls and ceiling of the Snug. We had to put undercoat onto this ceiling (and in the hallway) before we painted it with emulsion. It seems to have done the trick though, with a few minor blips, as it looked as if the ceiling had previously been painted with satin finish paint but under that it did not appear to be very clean so as it was washed it looked clean but then immediately bled through. Fingers crossed for now that it has stabilised it.

The raiwater cistern has now been rendered - something else to paint at some stage, perhaps we should paint it with luminous paint so nobody drive into it in the dark!

Yes you can see a floor being laid so it is now Monday 23rd September and in a day the kitchen/dining room is largely complete. It looks great and makes such a difference to the room.

Another view of the flooring from the other side of the room.

Almost transformed - Moving In

The bulk of the work is now complete with a kitchen to be sourced and lots of painting to be done but enough to move in.

The Dining Room. The great news is that the curtains we bought at the local auction - even before we had the house - fit!

The - current - kitchen area with shiny new range cooker and not so shiny picnic table.

Our bedroom with the wardrobe that seemed very large in the London flat and is now dwarfed by the height of the ceilings in this room.

The Snug which appears to be very cosy as the heating comes on in the evening and the shutters are closed. Typically we cannot find the power cable for the big TV - it will turn up at some point but at least we have a smaller one which is fine for now - not much time for TV!

Another view of the Snug with boxes of books waiting to be unpacked but painting to be done first.

The front window now with two coats of external gloss so hopefully ready for the winter.

The blue in the hall stairs and landing covered with an initial coat of white - by the painters though - the height of the stairwell is such that it seemed sensible to get someone in who had the kit to get to it safely.

View from the other end of the landing

First coat of 'Corn Silk' on the walls which looks great, even though the doors only have undercoat at this stage.

A view of the landing with the first coat of 'Corn Silk'.

The big front bedroom, now painted and curtain rails up.................

and the wardrobe built which means all of our clothes are now unpacked and in their place - for now anyway.

And of course we did find the cable for the TV, at the bottom of a box, so now installed on it's new Ikea TV table.

A bit of assistance from the painters makes a big difference to the hall and we now have 'Corn Silk' walls. It is a warm yellow and makes the hallyway really bright. Spookily when we were doing the prep on the blue walls the colour underneath was yellow so going back to what it was.

The upstairs landing also painted which has been great given the height of the ceilings. Just the satinwood to do on the woodwork.

We have now moved all of our possessions into the house as you can see from the boxes stewn around the big front bedroom in amongst the ladders and the ongoing painting.

The wardrobe has now been constructed in the large front bedroom so clothes now hanging up instead of languishing in suitcases which are all tidied away in the loft!

Oh dear, the 'bubbles in the floor' didn't go away so we had to have the flooring lifted and relaid. The first fit wasn't up to standard and the supplier of the flooring (Select Line, Swindon) stepped in to fix the problem and did a good job. However, we had a further two weeks of inconvenience with everything that was in this room strewn all over the house and no ability to cook.

I think we have our own micro-climate in the courtyard as it's the end of october and this rose is still blooming based in autumn sunshine.

This flower bed is due for removal when we install the patio but I think we really will try hard to keep this rose given it's resilience to builders over the last few months and re-appearance in the autumn sunshine.

The weather wasn't kind to us when the painters started and we had lots of excuses as to why it took so long but eventually the front windows (white of course) and doors (British Racing green) are painted for the winter coming in.

The utility room is taking shape; M did a great job fitting some units from Wickes and a lovely Iroko worktop sourced from Worktop Express http://www.worktop-express.co.uk/

The worktop in detail after ~ six coats of oil.

It's the 1st December and the kitchen has arrived so this weekend was spent in the equivalent of an assault course there were so many boxes. We bought the kitchen from Wren Kitchens in oxford eventually having started with aspirations of a German kitchen and then took a reality (and a budget) check.
http://www.wrenliving.com/

View from the kithen end of the room - and the first sign of Christmas with the star in the window - no room for a Christmas tree just yet!

The assualt course that will be a kitchen within the week!

Day 1 of the kitchen fitting. The overhead cupboards in the corner are the reference point for the 'straight lines' as they had to pad the walls by about 40mm to get it flush given the way the bend in the wall works.

View from the French Doors to the end of the kitchen and the fridge-freezer.

Man at work!!

Day 2, it's coming on - most of the units are in now - protective layer still on the doors so the colour is not as it will be when finished.

Belfast sink in-situ with the Iroko worktops, which we sourced separately from Worktop Express as we were pleased with the quality and service when we did the utility room.

Our 'luxury' item is a set of fridge drawers for the island as the fridget freezer won't really be big enough when we have everything finished and start entertaining again - hopefully in the New Year.

Day 3 - the Island is in situ and majority of the work completed with the finishing off to be completed. Another Henry on the floor to clean up with - they have been a feature through this project!

Another view of day 3 activity

Oh how it made me smile to walk into the kitchen on the Thursday evening and be met with this sight!! we still have to source splash backs and are thinking about glass so they will be the next job but for now we have a working kitchen and we love it

The Island is opposite the French Doors to take advantage of the light and (hopefully) warmth of the spring and Summer days next year. The pictures on the wall are of the Old Baker and his wife etc that are on the History page of this blog.

The Island is not complete as the Fridge Doors had to be ordered seaprately so they will arrive at some point.

Lots of cupboard and worktop space to fill up now!

You can sort of see the bend in the wall here as the range cooker is placed at that point but they did a great job of making it look like it just slotted in.

Even better we now have an integrated dishwasher!

Interestingly the glass fronted cupboards lift up so S will need a step to close them given the height they go up to.

Thanks to Harvey and Mark from http://www.rk-renovations.co.uk/ who did a fab job on the kitchen fitting we are very pleased with the end product.

Insulation in between the joists in the archway which will stop the draughts is the bathroom and the shower room.

View of the archway looking towards the courtyard

The debris from the old ceiling in the archway.

Archway now boarded over - we hope to be able to recover some of the old panelling and line this to make it look more in keeping with the age of the house.

The bedroom window - or at least it will be when the fitters have finished.

This is why the windows ultimately had to be replaced not refurbished - pity they had not noticed that at the initial survey as it has taken months to get them sorted out.