Moving fast!

It's all go at the house and looks like we are on schedule to move in around 19th June - I cannot believe that we are nearly there. It's been a bit of a journey from sale agreed November 2013, keys April 2014, planning permission September 2014 and work commencing October 2014.

As with any building project there are ups and downs, but we had an extra 'hurdle' as the house is a protected structure so we needed to work with the conservation department. It has been challenging but with a bit of flexibility (from our side) we are happy with the results so far and excited to be living in this beautiful house.

A big help has been our builders - Howard Building Contractors, they have been brilliant and always on hand to give good solid advise when another issue appeared.

Our house has been repainted pink as following advise from the Conservation department, we had to submit another Section 5 application if we wanted to change the colour. We submitted this but as this would take another 4 weeks, scaffolding was up and we needed to keep moving - pink it was to be, so now all cleaned up in beautiful Peony Prize it remains the Pink House (much to the boys dismay but they will get over it).

Here's a few pictures of progress to date.

Pretty in Pink - just the door to be done.

Basement - Nordic Elements' new Studio

Newly restored windows and walls in Drawing Room (oldest part of the house)

Hall ceiling being fixed and painted - not for fainthearted!

Kitchen made and installed by Wabi-Sabi & designed by Morwenna Gerrard - soooo excited.

New coving and ceiling rose as there was none in this beautiful room.

En-Suite in master bedroom- glass screens by Wabi-Sabi based on my own design.  

Basement stairs back again after a full reconfiguration of the basement which had previously been converted into a 2 bedroom apartment. 

Guest Loo - getting there.

First fire in the new stove, marble surround all restored and beautiful - all done by Buckley's Fireplaces.

Boys room - total transformation.

Paving nearly complete - house lovely pink again.

Wall planters ready for some plants.

7 weeks to go....

Will we be able to move in on the estimated date of completion?? who knows, but so far so good although a few challenges along the way.

The windows have returned after being restored by Callaghan's - great job, they have been restoring the frames and re-fitting the windows during the last 3 weeks and finally we can begin to see the house taking shape.

So much happening on-site, the whole house has now been re-plumbed and central heating installed as there was any, each room in the house was previously heated by a variation of stoves.

We are fitting two solid fuel stoves in the two reception rooms and the original marble surrounds are being restored in the process all done by Buckley's.

The garage shed is finished and ready for cladding with larch. This will be a very simple contemporary and modern finish with an 'invisible' door.

As for the external painting, we have decided to keep the house pink for a number of reasons, one being to change the colour we would have to apply for planning which will add more time and we need to get the scaffolding removed. Secondly, I quite like the idea of keeping the pink although I am not a 'pink' girl, but kinda funny with my 2 boys and husband although my eldest thinks it's embarrassing :-)

We are all so excited about nearly being there and ready to move into our house. We left London nearly 2 years ago and have been waiting for this since end of November 2013 when we went sale agreed on the house, but it will all be worth it as we will have a very special home for our little family.

Here's a few pics from the last few weeks of progress

The view up the street from the scaffolding.

Restored windows going back in, frames being fixed painted etc - nearly as new!

My studio taking shape, concrete floor ready for polishing.

What shade of white to choose......

Garage Shed ready for Larch cladding.

Inspecting the roof structure - one of our main challenges......

David would love to add a balcony on top of the house but might have an issue with the conservation department......
 - nice view though on a sunny day!

The ' Challenge' old roof structure cut down and new fitted onto the old one about 10-15 years ago, but now adding uneven pressure on latch and plaster ceiling in boys room causing cracks.... 

A few wires.... from one socket in each room to well many more!. 

En-suite pod in the master bedroom ready for tiling and glazing to go in.

Windows, plumbing and wiring - all happening in the boys room.

Drawing room nearing finish.

Windows, chimney re-pointing, painting, roof inspections all happening on the scaffolding.

Restored window going back in - proper daylight again. 

My 50 shades of grey..... but which one??

Windows & more digging....

Well it's well and truly a building site, lots happening and Barry & his team are working away with lots of machinery on site - much to the boys excitement.

All sash windows have been removed and taken away to be restored, the frames will be restored on site.

The basement is moving ahead slowly but a few issues have cropped up that had to be dealt with and it is now being lined with a special membrane as part of the damp-proofing.

The terracing at the front and back of house is beginning to take shape and soon the mounds of soil and rubble will be levelled out again and we may see a bit of our garden again.

Windows removed for restauration 

Marcus: Mummy can we have a swimming pool?

A bit of Spring amongst the mud & madness of a building site

Front terracing taking shape

Back terracing taking shape as well!

Slow but steady progress.

Basement being damp proofed

Hall

Hall

We have a gorgeous hall in the house. From entering via the front door, you come into the main hall with the original arch which had some patio style doors installed (not originals) which have now been removed. We are planning on installing Crittal style doors in this arch for heat preservation as the staircase is big and very high with a huge window on the 1st landing which is approx. 3m tall so lots of light.

The ceiling of the stair case is beautiful barrel shaped with 3 ceiling roses. At present there is no ceiling lights but I think it would be stunning to hang some very simple bulb design lights from the ceiling rose by the window and a single pendant on ground floor and the top landings.

Below are some pictures of how it looks now as well as some images on the lights I have in mind.

View from top landing

One big window = lots of light

Hall stairs barrel ceiling  & roses

Buster & Punch - Nude 6.0 Lights

&Tradition  - Marble Light Pendants

Basement stairs & guest loo to be re-installed 

Doors gone - ready for new Crittal style doors to go in

Old hall doors - now gone

Bannister details - all original and in good condition

Basement

Basement Update

The basement had been converted into a 2 bedroom apartment years ago and we are incorporating this back into the house with new stairs and a total renovation.

The basement has now been totally cleared out and ready to be re-modelled. The space is being fully renovated to deal with damp issues and re-configuation which will include a mud room, laundry room, wine cellar, my office and a spare room with an en-suite + lots and lots of storage space.

The space will be designed to allow as much light in as possible with light walls and finished off with a polished concrete floor with underfloor heating throughout.

Wine Cellar to be

The view from 'my office to be' to the garden (at present)

Office to be

Office to be

Laundry Room & Storage + stairs to be re-introduced

Beautiful old stone wall hidden behind plasterboards.