I am a little behind my extension posts but writing from our sofa in the living room is clearly not as comfortable as typing away in our dining room (to which I do not have access at the moment). Anyway, our third week of building works went according to plan and it was definitely the noisiest and the most interruptive week to date. Our builders started working on the electrics and plumbing which is why I was figuring out our floor plan in my previous post. Last week, I finally found the perfect spot for our designer radiator and decided where the switches and plug sockets will go. You can also read about Week 1 and Week 2 if you want to know more about our project so far.
The builders were insulating the roof this week and they also drilled holes for our spotlights. I always knew I wanted spotlights for this room. They look contemporary and we have them (almost) in every single room in this house. Since we are having spotlights, the builders had to insulate the ceiling a bit differently. You also need to make sure the ventilation is adequate and use good fire rated spotlights. A lot of people told me that you cannot have spotlights in a sloping roof but that’s simply not true. A good electrician will know how to install spotlights in a sloping roof and if they advice you otherwise they either a) do not want to do it because it’s more work, or b) are not skilled enough to do it in the first place. Since our ceiling is sloping I decided to go for angled spotlights which will allow me to choose where to place light. You can choose to highlight a picture or an architectural feature which makes them so much more versatile in comparison to fixed ones.
The most frustrating part this week has been having restricted access to our kitchen on two consecutive days. This was so that our builders could knock down part of an existing wall that will widen the kitchen entrance. It also meant that we had to move our free standing fridge to avoid getting any dents on it. It is very annoying when you do not have access to the kitchen, especially with a toddler in the house, but we actually managed fine. Builders also put up some dust sheets so that the dust wouldn’t get everywhere (although I am not convinced this made a big difference).
There is something very scary about someone knocking down existing walls in your home. I trust my builders but I hated watching them do it! I was worried the whole house might collapse and kept telling them to be very, very careful. I think they found it amusing to be honest and guaranteed that they have done this a hundred times before and that there was nothing to worry about. Needless to say, our 2.5 year old daughter hated all the banging and kept putting her fingers in her ears. Her favourite sentence at the moment is ‘Bye, bye Noise!’ and she calls it the noisy room 🙂
Luckily, everything went according to plan and now our house officially looks like a proper building site. If I wanted an exposed brick wall this would be the right a time to do it :). Builders also removed the door and the frame between the kitchen and the dining room so that it will feel more open-plan. They couldn’t go too high on the door frame as otherwise they would have had to cut into the beam (which we didn’t want to touch).
Also, our new radiator arrived which I am very excited about! It was really tricky figuring out whether we should have a vertical or horizontal radiator. Since I love a good design, I had to go for a statement/designer radiator in the end. We got our radiator from Hot Interiors and I must say their customer service was excellent. I love our radiator! It’s quite tall and slim and definitely a statement piece. I cannot wait to see it in the room although we will leave it last as we don’t want to get any paint on it.
So, that’s it for week 3! I am getting more impatient each week and dealing with the builders and multiple incoming deliveries is keeping me very busy at the moment. I’m not complaining though, as it’s a very exciting time for us and we cannot wait to see what the room will look like when it’s finished.
