We shall rebuild it better, and more beautiful than before....

The Rebuilding of the Flat....

Well, it has finally happened. I have at long last become a home owner after successfully buying the flat I was previously renting (along with a couple of my friends) from another friend of mine (there`s a funny story behind that, but that is for another time).

The flat was originally bought by my friend as a "do-er-upper" but he never got round to "doing-it-up". I on the other hand am going to do it and with the £6,900 I managed to end up with over and above the mortgage and all fees, I am now doing just that. The flat is to be completely redone over the coming months with a new kitchen, bathroom, flooring, furniture, doors and it is all to be repainted. The kitchen is already purchased, both cabinets and appliances. I have the new laminate floor with underlay and damp proof membrane for underneath it all. The new beds and bedroom furniture is on its way.

Images from before we started to trash the place (well we have stripped some of the paper of the walls already.....)

Part 1 - Monday 8th March 2004 - End of the first week.
(well I say 'week' but really only about 3 evenings worth)

Work has now begun on the flat and so things are starting to get messy..... Wallpaper is being stripped, old doorframes are being removed and things are generally being broken up and removed from the flat. I will try to give weekly updates as to the progress (or lack thereof) during the project and let you see what we are doing to the place.......

The first week actually started with the removal of the doorframe (well 75% of it) to what was Simon`s room (going to be Scott`s room when it is finished). About 90% of the wallpaper in the hallway is now off and I have removed the skirting from all the doorways. Place already looking brighter without the horrible 70`s wallpaper that lived there before, even though we also seem to have about 4 layers of ancient paint underneath the wallpaper to get through yet. Other than that, not much else has actually been done due to most of us being out the majority of the week. Next to be hit (after we have finished with the hall`s paper) is the kitchen as the new cabinets etc are going to be arriving next weekend with all the appliances arriving this Saturday (along with most of the bedroom furniture), so with any luck, next weeks progress report will have slightly more visual things to show.

Part 2 - The second week

Week 2 begins with more clearing of rubbish from the flat. Then we started on the kitchen - finally the kitchen is being destroyed!! (well some of it anyway). Work elsewhere in the flat has temporarily stopped due to there being bugger all room anywhere now.... There is a lot of stuff out of the kitchen and until I get to the tip, no room really to put it all! But we are getting there. The kitchen seems so much larger now with the cabinets on the right gone, giving an indication of what it is actually going to seem like when all the new units go in as I am not going to have anything on the right, everything is going to live on the left and at the end of the room.

Part 3 - The third week

Well, that is all the new appliances for the kitchen here now (except the American Style Fridge Freezer/"Food Center" - it arrives this weekend...... There is now a major lack of space in the spare room as the existing kitchen appliances and bit and bobs are gradually filling up all available space to clear the kitchen ready for its revamp.

I have started to ready the back corner of the kitchen ready for the new Fridge Freezer to go straight in as there is simply no room anywhere else for it. This basically means that I will have to complete one corner of the kitchen as far as new floor, painted walls etc which is going to be fun but will be worth it in the long run.

My trusty Wickes Wallpaper Steamer - A godsend when stripping wallpaper and highly recommended if you are planning on doing any stripping. It has a large steamer thingy (and a handy smaller one) and has helped do all that we have in such a short time.

Ok, end of the third week and finally there is something starting to show of the new look. The new American Style Fridge Freezer (or American Food Centre as it is described on the Currys website!!) arrives tomorrow and due to the distinct lack of space in the flat, I have had to basically finish one corner of the kitchen where the f/freezer is going to live so that when it gets delivered, it can be plugged straight into its final home. This of course means that this will be the first part of the flat to be totally finished in the new style. Due to the timescales required to level the floor with self-levelling compound, leave to dry, plaster the walls, leave to dry, lay the floor tiles, leave to dry, paint the undercoat and grout floor tiles, leave to dry, paint final coat and do skirting, I have had a bit of a rush on this week. Getting there though. Just the final paint coat (technically as it is Once Dulux stuff it doesn`t neet undercoat but with the walls being the fun and joy shape they are and not having time to replaster the whole wall, I am applying undercoat quite thickly to help cover the minor bumps. Will look good when finished.....

Will add in an image of the (semi) finished wall with skirting hopefully before f/freezer goes in and both when f/freezer actually in next week.

Well, the fun and joy of stupidity is a wonder to behold sometimes.The end of week 3 should have seen the delivery and installation of the new American Style Fridge Freezer into the hastily finished section of the kitchen. What the end of week 3 actually saw was the delivery people turning up at the door saying they can`t deliver the thing because it is more than 2 steps up!!!! You would have thought that 3/5 in the address would have given them a clue that it was possibly not a ground floor flat but no, this was only discovered by them when they arrived so I had to cancel the order and find the fridge freezer somewhere else that would deliver up-stairs.... Enter Comet to the rescue (which means now that every appliance in the new kitchen is from Comet). Slightly different style of Fridge Freezer (side-by-side style and 1.5ft<sup>2</sup> smaller) but at £200 cheaper than the Curry`s one I was supposed to get I am not complaining too much and as they can get it delivered up two flights of stairs, it means I should be ok. I will believe that when it is actually in my kitchen though. But hey hum and all that. Such is the fun a and joys of rebuilding a flat. At least they are able to deliver the fridge on the same day the kitchen units are due to arrive which is handy.

Anyway. To round off the week, a photo of the finished corner of the kitchen that the fridge freezer is going to live in and an indication of what the rest of the kitchen will look like on the other side to the cabinets.

Part 4 - The end of the first month - The fourth week

Well, this week saw the end of the first month of destruction. Hopefully by this time next week, we will have more to show of the place but this week has mainly consisted of more stripping stuff of the walls. The hallway is now almost totally done with just a small bit next to the door and the area around where the server is living left to go. Have started on the kitchen`s final destruction as it will need to be ready for the kitchen to go up. Still undecided as to what I am going to do about the kitchen and might just get somebody in to do the thing for me rather than me doing it. It is not so much laziness as the fact that I need rewiring done at the same time and as it is better to have it done at the same time you are doing the kitchen itself, it makes more sense to have them both done together which means better for somebody to do both than have to work round what you have done. We will see though as I am still not sure how I am going to do things. Tuesday (30th) sees the arrival of the kitchen units and the fridge freezer (hopefully - after last time I will believe they can do it when I have it in the kitchen!). Anyhoo, some shots of the destruction continuing.