DevelopaDream

I know that when you are refurbishing a property, things have to get worse before they get better but the apartment is in a sorry state. Things moved fast last week and after the removal of the old bathrooms and the kitchen I felt excited by the thought of the new intallations. Co-ordinating this next phase though is quite complex. You need to understand the processes involved, have ordered your materials, booked your tradesmen and made a number of final decisions. From installing the pipes for the new sanitaryware to knowing where to place the new electrics you need to understand which order the jobs need to be done in and you need to get the timing right. Last week we installed the false ceilings in both the bathroom and the en-suite, then removed and reinstated the stud wall in bedroom three. This created an archway which will make this a much bigger bedroom. Though we lose the en-suite in here we have ended up with a far more useful space than before, which saw a small bedroom with bareley enough space to fit in a bed but no storage space but which then had an ensuite as big as the bedroom. The biggest challenge is having all the materials and tradesmen on site at the optimum time. You have to co odinate the plasterer and the electrician, the plumber painter and tiler so that they follow each other in the logical order and hope that the matereials are available as promised. This did result in a number of trips to the Dulux paint centre, Porcelanosa and Junction2 last week as the materials had all arrived but they could not schedule the deliveries in my time scale. I have to say our local Dulux centre were very good and followed me in the van loaded with £1,000 worth of paint to save my suspension. To save time I decided to spray paint the larger and higher areas which I have to admit has not been 100% successful. Due to a lack of preparation there are areas now which are flaking badly, particularly on the large ceiling so much for saving time!
On a positive note we are making great progress, I just need to get the sheeting up after the spray painting which makes the place look such a mess but which does protect my beautiful floor. Then we can re sheet and get down to preparing to hand paint all the detail on the dado and skirtings. I’ts all coming together and I will keep you updated as to our progress.