Demolition Derby - The Trilogy

Well, another weekend gone, along with another wall. This time Chris was left alone in the house with the hammers and the kitchen partition wall was quick to go. This wall was basically built under the stairs, creating the meter cupboard and what would have originally been a pantry. We decided a while ago that we would get rid of the wall to give the kitchen some added depth and open up an otherwise hidden window. Now, with dependencies on other work looming, it was time for it to go.

The revealed space under the stairs

The new meter cupboard which will eventually be closed
off with a reclaimed door from the airing cupboard.

The other activity for this weekend was the complete removal of all the rubbish from the garage. I'm sure though it won't be long till this little womble has another pile of rubble to climb.

Womble Heaven

Chris was in his element today - in the garage full of rubble and things us everyday folk have thrown away. Think he hopes to keep something, surely we can't throw everything away!

Awww... comfortable in the rubble

In womble heaven

Demolition Derby - Part Deux

Well, it's Saturday and we've had another 'smashing' day at the house. Having got bedrooms 1 and 2 all plastered and essentially finished, all bar the decorating, we decided to start the knock through of bedroom 3 and the current toilet (which is to be moved across the hall into the main bathroom). The plan was to make a good sized 3rd bedroom, and having now knocked out the framework we know we've done the right thing.

Jac got the honour of the first strike. Yes, it was -3C today so
we needed the layers, although probably a heatwave for our
Canadian friends - Hi Rus & Caroline :o)

Once the plaster board was off it just left the wood frame,
just like the bathroom but without the poured concrete...

...so Chris made it into firewood for the recently discovered
fireplace downstairs - not that we can light it yet.

So having removed all the internal walls between the 2 rooms we just left the last wood frame onto the hall so a joiner can make a new doorframe. I reckon we've gained at least 3 foot onto the length of the room now, and it feels much bigger.

View of the resized bedroom 3 from the hall

Chris's new computer chair

Getting plastered

The builder has been hard at it since New Year getting the 2 main bedrooms skimmed. He finished all the prep work before Christmas with bonding coats and the odd bit of plasterboard so this last week has been all out plastering.

Work started first on the back bedroom, which has dried out nicely and is ready to have a coat of paint and its skirting patched back up...

The chimney breast wall where the fitted wardrobes used to be

Smooth dry walls

The next room to be skimmed was the main bedroom at the front of the house. This was only completed today so still a little patchy (plus with no real heating its going to take a while to dry).


Once this room is all dried out we'll be able to get it painted up and get fresh new skirting and architrave stuck back on.