London 1930s semi renovation
Discussion
Haha St Reatham Hill. I heard someone talking about this as "the posh part of Streatham" recently. People are genuinely deluded, I tell you, and will believe anything estate agents tell them. It's still Streatham.
House was bought because I know the area really well, have tonnes of friends who have moved there, and found a house with double off street parking, only one bordering neighbour, overlooking a park. The last points in combination aren't that common round here...
House was bought because I know the area really well, have tonnes of friends who have moved there, and found a house with double off street parking, only one bordering neighbour, overlooking a park. The last points in combination aren't that common round here...
Have re-read this and laughed.
Original plan - partial renovation, Done by August.
New reality - total renovation, lucky to habitable by November
Original cost - £167k
New reality - £210k (excluding gardens)
Original plan - happy new wife in new home
New reality - new wife getting a bit tired of living in my flat, where we have rented two spare rooms to a pair of my single army officer mates; we had promised the place to the for August, but are unable to move out ourselves and I didn't want to lose them as tenants. Not exactly a romantic setup for us newlyweds.
I'm volunteering for a lot of business travel at the moment.
Will take some new pictures this weekend. In the meantime have these exciting pictures of wifi controlled electric underfloor heating going into a couple of the bathrooms, and some alcoves and tiling. Fascinating, eh?
[url]
|http://thumbsnap.com/iXTeF1LP[/url]
Original plan - partial renovation, Done by August.
New reality - total renovation, lucky to habitable by November
Original cost - £167k
New reality - £210k (excluding gardens)
Original plan - happy new wife in new home
New reality - new wife getting a bit tired of living in my flat, where we have rented two spare rooms to a pair of my single army officer mates; we had promised the place to the for August, but are unable to move out ourselves and I didn't want to lose them as tenants. Not exactly a romantic setup for us newlyweds.
I'm volunteering for a lot of business travel at the moment.
Will take some new pictures this weekend. In the meantime have these exciting pictures of wifi controlled electric underfloor heating going into a couple of the bathrooms, and some alcoves and tiling. Fascinating, eh?
[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/iXTeF1LP[/url]Edited by Harry Flashman on Friday 23 September 14:38
Harry Flashman said:
PS - those EcoLED lights that I bought from Guy? I was sceptical as they are not cheap, and there are cheaper LEDs available.
Turned out to be one of the best decisions I made. Will always use them from now on.
Couldn't agree more. Our whole house is done with the ZEP1s, with some additional wall mounted units inside and out. They've been brilliant - the sparky that fitted them was very sceptical at first and banged on about the cheaper options. He soon changed his tune when he opened the box and fitted a few. He reckoned they were the best quality he'd seen.Turned out to be one of the best decisions I made. Will always use them from now on.
Thanks! They are - to contrast with and complement the vanity unit painted in teal (F&B Vardo, for anyone interested). Looks really good with the chequered floor - we will be panelling the room and using a wallpaper above-panel to tie the colours in.
Each bathroom has a separate style. All slightly old-fashioned with modern twists (coloured or patterned tiles)
Each bathroom has a separate style. All slightly old-fashioned with modern twists (coloured or patterned tiles)
Harry Flashman said:
Thanks! They are - to contrast with and complement the vanity unit painted in teal (F&B Vardo, for anyone interested). Looks really good with the chequered floor - we will be panelling the room and using a wallpaper above-panel to tie the colours in.
Each bathroom has a separate style. All slightly old-fashioned with modern twists (coloured or patterned tiles)
Genius on two levels - the tile colour (unusual but effective) and lighting in the alcoves.Each bathroom has a separate style. All slightly old-fashioned with modern twists (coloured or patterned tiles)
I've had lighting in alcoves and alcoves in bathrooms but never lighting in alcoves in bathrooms.
Have some more photos - the nice looking stuff is going in at last.
Family bathroom - bright colour scheme, tanked with floor drain. Not sure marble and limestone floor tiles were the most practical choice, but they look good and are tumbled/rustic, so decent enough grip. Will also have hip high panelling and wallpaper above that to tie in the bright orange/teal of the tiles and vanity.
|http://thumbsnap.com/tzKGW12y[/url]
Loft en-suite shower enclosure - decent size at 1700mm X 1100mm, will have a screen otherwise the body jets will douse the room.
Guest shower room - proper wet room with no screen.
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Family bathroom - bright colour scheme, tanked with floor drain. Not sure marble and limestone floor tiles were the most practical choice, but they look good and are tumbled/rustic, so decent enough grip. Will also have hip high panelling and wallpaper above that to tie in the bright orange/teal of the tiles and vanity.
|http://thumbsnap.com/tzKGW12y[/url]Loft en-suite shower enclosure - decent size at 1700mm X 1100mm, will have a screen otherwise the body jets will douse the room.
Guest shower room - proper wet room with no screen.
[url]Edited by Harry Flashman on Sunday 25th September 22:28
Edited by Harry Flashman on Sunday 25th September 22:30
Harry Flashman said:
Original cost - £167k
New reality - £210k (excluding gardens)
Jesus!New reality - £210k (excluding gardens)
Am currently looking at a house with a similar layout that appears to need more work to it than yours did at the beginning - have you a rough breakdown of the costs per chance?
Have you lumped everything in with one builder or broken bits down?
Happy to e-mail you my (amateurish) spreadsheet if you'd like a proper costs breakdown. Should help with your estimating.
You can do this all a lot cheaper if you are willing to work yourself (see Croakey's thread, and Griffboy's for something truly inspirational). I did a lot of work on my current place myself, but am just too busy and have less inclination these days.
Loft conversion alone was £50k, to give you an idea of London builders' prices. That said, it was not the cheapest quote I got, but I liked the builder's work and attitude over the cheaper ones I got.
I source pretty much everything apart from building materials myself - bathroom suites, tiles, kitchen etc. We could have spent a lot more than this otherwise...
You can do this all a lot cheaper if you are willing to work yourself (see Croakey's thread, and Griffboy's for something truly inspirational). I did a lot of work on my current place myself, but am just too busy and have less inclination these days.
Loft conversion alone was £50k, to give you an idea of London builders' prices. That said, it was not the cheapest quote I got, but I liked the builder's work and attitude over the cheaper ones I got.
I source pretty much everything apart from building materials myself - bathroom suites, tiles, kitchen etc. We could have spent a lot more than this otherwise...
Edited by Harry Flashman on Monday 26th September 13:05
hardcastlephil said:
Harry it's looking great. The tiling looks like a good job - and some great colours.
Could I ask where the floor tiles in loft shower are from? I'd like something similar.
Cheers,
P
Mandarin Stone. They may not have many left as they were in the end of line sale...look on the site.Could I ask where the floor tiles in loft shower are from? I'd like something similar.
Cheers,
P
Edited by Harry Flashman on Wednesday 28th September 22:01
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