Now when I last posted I had just ripped out the old bathroom with some help from Charlie and almost finished the new one. Following that I took delivery of a large mirror from John Lewis which really helped make the room feel that much more finished and looks great.
It also looks really good looking through from the bedroom and although very much still a building site in there I thought I would drop in a photo of what it looks like when sitting in bed.
The next real job was to start boxing in the old bathroom area to make the new walk in wardrobe/dressing room area. The main reason for this stud work was to hide all of the pipe work on the ceiling from the flat above and on the wall coming in from the new bathroom. This job probably took a little longer than it should have but it was at a particularly crowded stage of the build. Never the less I had some enthusiastic help from "Bermuda" (Tom) and got the job done in a weekend.
With that done and the room plasterboarded, a stage that I think I must have forgotten to photograph. It came the time to tear down the last non structural wall that existed in the flat when I purchased the place. This was a little piece of trivia that I reckon the wall must have known because it put up quite the final stand. Although it was probably the smallest area of wall that I had tried to remove, it was a wolf in sheep's clothing. With one side being the old shower cubicle and one the current kitchen it was made up of:
- A top layer of tiles
- An old layer of tiles under that
- A layer of waterproof plasterboard
- A layer of normal plasterboard
- Then the stud work that must have been reinforced at some point
- Then for some ungodly reason 2 more layers of pasterboard on the other side
- Followed by a layer of tiles
- Followed by the Kitchen cabinets and worktop
It was like an 8 course meal of hateful, plastery, sharp, uncompromising, misery, and as if to warn me of the woes that were to follow, after removing the second tile and placing it on my rubbish pile I turned around to find that the only piece of of the wall that was eager to come away, the third tile, had done so to meet the side of my head in an almost choreographed act that left me stumbling around living room in a less than graceful ballet, cursing the bastard piece of ceramic. Anyhow, after that little encounter, and a pause to assess how bad the bleeding was and whether a hospital trip was in order. It wasn't. I continued to battle with the wall, and did so for most of the day. I won.
While carrying down the loads of rubbish down to the car James from the basement flat saw me lugging the it all back and forward and offered to give me a hand. This was much appreciated after it all and I think he was happy as it was the first opportunity that he had had to see the source of unending racket and rubble.
Next I had Charlie back up for a few days helping me remove the rest of the island in the kitchen and it was the real beginning of what I though of as "Phase 3"; the living room end of the flat. Not that this part of the flat had been dust free for all of this time by any means, but it was still a little bit of a haven from the destruction at the other end.
Anyhow, aside from leaving me without a fridge or freezer, something that most who have visited during the build would probably argue made little difference to anything, given how poorly stocked I had kept them when they were in place, the removal of the island unit really opened up some space.
It was around this point that I had managed to get Darren to come back an do the plastering in the wardrobe/corridor/dressing room. It is such a boost when a room gets plastered and it was not long before that was dry and Will was kindly helping me out and painting the ceiling.
Quite the Michelangelo...
During this painting Bermuda was also back up helping out by removing the last of the wood-chip wallpaper from the living room end ready for the plasterer. An unrewarding job so also greatly appreciated.
Following that came some really hero work. Rather than strip wood-chip wallpaper off the existing, already cracking, ceiling. I was advised by Darren that it would be best to use some 9.5mm plasterboard on top of it and skim that. Chasing channels for lighting and finding all of the joists to screw into is a dirty, unenviable task that Will dedicated a full day to. We worked with such efficiency, aside from the odd tape measure duel that broke out from time to time while mounted the opportune distance apart on our stallion stool and step ladder, that the job was completed within the day. I was surprised and relieved that it was done so quickly, especially given it was a task which made up a mental milestone or rather obstacle for the progression of the build. It was the last dusty destructive work.
Lighting plan.
A job well done, with Bermuda finishing off the last of the wood-chip.
Finally, on the Friday night before the Saturday that the plasterer was due, Will came over again to help finish of some of the little jobs that needed to be completed before the plasterer came. Cables for the TV chased into walls etc. This was one of those evenings where you probably push the limits of your neighbors patients. Chiseling a brick wall at 10pm is probably not cool.
Next thing next, Darren was back and plastering. So quick in fact the photosynth was unable to capture his leg (or is he levitating to plaster that ceiling?). This was really interesting to see as I had not been in for any of the previous plastering jobs and really did not know the first thing about how one would go about it. I'm sure I was very annoying asking question after question.
With that job done and the lights in, things were starting to look good in this end of the flat. So much more space was opened up and to top it all off I had a week of holiday starting which was to be solely dedicated to progressing the flat. This was made even better as Charlie had offered to help for the week as well. To put that time scale into perspective, we are now 1 week ago.
So the beginning of the week started with a big list, drawn in true builders fashion on the wall. Unfortunately, the list was written up in no particular order and it was only upon assigning the logical steps to each point that we realized that point 2 was to paint the wall. I have yet to check how far through the list we got.
Painting the ceiling was high up on it however and almost immediately Charlie managed to headbutt the fresh pain leading to some localized premature graying. A look that he decided was too much of a hassle to rectify prior to an evening meal at TGI's. A meal that marked the date of and was celebration of Will's belated transfer with our work project to South East Asia. Great news for him but a sorry loss on site (that is when he is not standing around posing for a time lapse)
The next jobs included (point 2) painting the walls, removing the remaining portion of kitchen, and routing the internet cable under the floorboards. A job done with the aid of an improvised hooky tool made from a coat hanger and a length of wood.
At this point we also fiber boarded the rest of the floor readying it for the wooden flooring. An exciting step on the way to some dust free living. It was an expensive few days, as the floor went in closely followed by the new Ikea kitchen. This is probably hands down the largest Ikea flat I have set about building at 63 boxes or 4 car loads I am still assembling the last bits and pieces now.
The unit on the left above the oven required a little bit of modification in order to house an extractor fan designed for a different Ikea unit. I was pretty happy with the modifications to the cabinet which Charlie took to calling "The Beast" after its slightly over engineered support structure.
We are creeping ever closer to the end of this mammoth blog post at this point and the kitchen is coming along swimmingly. In fact, below are the most recent photos that I have of it in its almost complete state. I may tag a few more onto the end of this post when I get a chance. Failing that you will just have to wait until next time.
Temporary worktop prior to getting the full thing.
All that was left to do at this point was finish off the floor. A job that Bermuda popped over on Sunday to help out with but left at about 90% completion to watch the football. I just don't know how he tore himself away from it. Never the less the last portion was finished at around 7 on Sunday night and marked the end of what was a tiring but very productive week/month/month and a half.
