So it’s been fairly silent on the blog when it comes to the living room. As you might remember we had a big demolition round.
And this is the point where we pick up:
We tore a lot of things out already, but we still had to do more. Like stripping all the old plaster from the wall. In the next picture you see one of the living room wall partly stripped.
Picture perfect living room
After we did that we did nothing for a while in the living room, so we were able to set up our table and chairs here.
At one morning I was sitting here drinking my morning coffee and posted something on Instagram. And I also made this shot:
And it was so funny to me. Because if you don’t know we have this huge renovation going on, this could even pass for a nice interior picture. With the soft light through the window, the rustic brickwork and the striking red chairs.
When in reality this is the way it actually is:
Dust and tools all around. Chairs that don’t match and a grubby floor. But it’s ours!!!
Progress was made!
After finally getting everything done in terms of demolition we could start making some actual progress!
So the walls are bare and we closed off the hallway.
And a big step forward was the placement of our en suite door.Â
The alignment needs to be altered slightly (it’s positioned to much to the right of the frame when it’s closed in my opinion), but what a different feel this already creates!
Love, love, LOVE the en suite door.
I must admit I would have preferred to sand down the door and paint it first, but now it’s hanging there I will have to make it work.
Insulation
And then it was finally time for some big changes. Starting with the insulation of the living room. And the bay window looks different already.
And so is the wall:
The other walls are not ‘outside walls’, so they don’t have to be insulated.
About the insulation
I haven’t talked much about the insulation itself. But as you can see (clearly and repeatedly) we choose Unilin for our house.
Unilin is a PIR product (a thermoset plastic foam) and relatively thin compared to other insulating materials. The also offer one of the highest insulating values.
We were a bit limited in the ways of insulation we could pick, because we don’t have a cavity wall (this was not custom building practice back then) and we can’t insulate from the outside of the house (because it would alter the house and you need a permit for that).
So while it is not the cheapest material around we decided we would do it anyway, because the house could be (a lot) more sustainable. We won’t be able to do all the modern ‘green’ upgrades, but where we can we will.
Plasterboards
And then it was time for the plasterboards to be placed!
The wall and the bay window was done. As well as the ceiling. The wall with the en suite and the (ex) doorway to the hallway have not been done. They will get stucco right on top of the brickwork.
So that’s it for this update. Next one will be a big one, because that will feature stucco! And hopefully paint as well?