After buying a house recently and getting pretty hands on I thought I'd look back and reflect on the ups and downs, tips and what I might do differently (if money was no option). If I won millions in the lottery I'd love nothing more then restoring some of these tired looking Victorian terraces back to their former glory, but that's highly unlikely, so I'll start with the one for now...
This rather sorry looking terrace house is typical of many in the East London area, and when I say typical I don't mean just of the layout. Unfortunately all of its original features had been destroyed including the brick facade which had been cruelly covered in pebble dash! Follow my journey as I re-cap each week of the renovation, from the moment I first got the keys to having a house I didn't mind eating in.
After a rather long time to-ing and fro-ing after putting our offer in, the exchange finally happened one raining November morning. And I didn't waste one second hanging about once I have those keys...everything had to be ripped out to reveal what was underneath....
The living room bay had quite a bit of damp which needed to be sorted ASAP to keep the mortgage lenders happy, and of course me!
When originally viewing the house I wasn't sure if the ceilings were Artex or not, but to my luck for some reason they had just been wallpapered with a few coats of paint.
The dodgy paneling which was put on the walls in the living room, dining room and up the stairs was first on my hit list for removal... which turned out to cause more issues then expected with hall the plaster coming off with it!
The second bedroom also had a bit of damp but nothing that a bit of ventilation (and new plaster) wouldn't sort.
The dining room with the continuation of the hideous cladding.
The kitchen leading off of the dining room.
The previous owners had extended over the side to create a bigger kitchen with a ground floor bathroom leading off of it. Here you can see where the existing back door would have been which has now bee replaced by the opening, which allows some much needed light into the otherwise windowless dining room.
The bathroom leading off of the kitchen, not ideal but typical of the Victorian terraces which only have a one story at the back for a scullery.
The day I got the keys it was heavily raining, which was a lovely surprise when I came in the find the ceiling was leaking! I suppose the only plus side of this was that it became evident that the ceiling was not Artex as feared.
After exploring the house in a little more detail I wasted no time in ripping everything up that I could just to see exactly what I was dealing with. Which ultimately turned out to be a lot more then what I had first expected...
First up was the carpet and laminate flooring to see if the original floorboards had been left.
I had had a random dream the week before that the original floorboard were hidden under layers of dust, rotting underlay and hideous laminate flooring, and for once it turns out dreams come true! Armed with my trusty crowbar all the living room, dining room, bedrooms and stairs flooring was up!
End of day 1