Monday 15 April 2013

Early April Update

We have had a busy weekend at Albert House, Dael and Liam got stuck in and have made very good progress in finishing plaster boarding the top floor rooms, another session at this this week and I would say we are ready for the plasterer to do his magic the coming weekend. Every time I go up to the top floor I am amazed at how much natural light we have created by installing Velux windows, you really have to take a step back and look at the old photographs to see the transformation, imagination is one thing but the reality is even better.
Once we get the rooms plastered we can complete the finishing, by this I mean new grey electrical sockets which will be the metal " industrial type" with cable run in black metal conduit to give the rooms/ offices the masculine look I think a modern office space should be. We also have to sand down the exposed beams to give the rooms character and beauty which will complement the new work fantastically well. We will then be in a position to apply a base paint and then decide the final colour scheme and room layout, I think in the next month we should be complete and ready for furniture selection, along with goodness knows what IT equipment to support the Business needs of a modern world.

Work has also continued a the first floor with her Ladyship grasping the nettle and getting stuck into sanding down the remaining door frames ready for painting, I have to say her enthusiasm cannot be overstated, this is not light easy work, anyone who is willing to learn how to use ferocious power tools such as angle grinders and power drills with grinding attachments has to be admired, she loves it! not only that, she is very competent with these potentially dangerous, heavy and noisy pieces of equipment!

We have also made good progress this weekend in finishing three bedroom doors ready to be re-fitted, you may recall that sometime ago we removed the doors and had them chemically stripped, well, that is only the start. We set up one room for the preparation and sanding operations, and another room to complete the finishing process, this meant keeping as much wood dust in one room and another dust free room for cleaning and staining the doors.
Initially in room 1, we have to fill in any holes or imperfections with wood filler, then sand all the surfaces with 80 grit paper followed by 180 grit and then finish with 240 grit (the smoothest), I think I managed to use just about every tool I have available for this task, belt sander, orbital sander, various detail sanders and a Dremmel to get into the corners, so you can imagine the time and care this needs.(the orbital sander is my personal favourite).
  Then into room 2, before staining we have to have a dust free surface, we did this firstly by soft brushing any loose dust off the surface and then a cleaning with white spirit soaked in a rag, I have also read that you can wipe the surface with a "tacking cloth" to remove the last fine dust particles but I am not familiar with this technique and we do not have any!! when I next visit the DIY shop I will look out for this and give it a go, we have plenty of doors to go at!
At the end of this fine weekend we have managed to prepare the 3 doors and apply two coats of dark walnut stain to one of them and I have to say so far, it is looking good.
        





FIRST COAT


Friday 5 April 2013

Just Daydreaming

It is surprising how motivating it is after the previous weekends good solid efforts by everyone in getting two rooms decorated, it feels to me like a major step closer to completion. Now we have the wind in our sails we need to press on and get these two rooms finished, firstly the doors which have previously been chemically stripped and are ready for a fine sanding and then staining, all the doors will be fitted with new hinges, locks and probably crystal door handles, I`m not talking about "doing up" the old fixtures but sourcing new reproduction items. This is a good example of the sort of task that I particularly enjoy, mixing contemporary fixings with the beautifully crafted solid doors that have stood the test of time, it was always the plan for this refurbishment to keep as much as possible of the original and complement with modern materials which would not have been available way back in 1871. Hopefully during the next week we will have two doors completed and I will be able to share the photographs on this blog. 

When I find myself in this upbeat mood I occasionally allow myself to think of how the finished project will be, this week my thoughts turned to the "Big Boys Room or Gentleman's Room", I keep changing my mind of how this will be, for example is it Modern? Retro? Gentleman's club? My thoughts now are a classic cocktail bar look, with a white baby grand piano in the corner.
This one of my favourite classic pieces, Canon Suite by Pachelbel, have a listen to this and let me know what you think.      



Wednesday 3 April 2013

Easter Weekend

Easter is here earlier than usual, I have had 4 days holiday so it was  good opportunity to have a clear run at getting some jobs done without having to stop and start. Liam and Daels bedrooms have been a major focus of late with both of them at a stage where some final painting could be carried out. On Saturday, her ladyship and Adon were despatched on a mission to source the paint, brushes, rollers, trays and radiator paint, with a clear brief from the boys of what the colour scheme should be, blue and grey for Dael, mustard and a grey for Liam. 
Later that day the mission to paint commenced starting with Daels room, starting with a finish white coat on the ceiling and coving and then onto the walls with cutting in with a brush followed by 2 coats of emulsion, the blue was perfect and brings out the white of the the decorative coving and ceiling, however the grey was thought to be a little on the dark side so a a quick mix with white toned the effect down to a more pleasing finish giving a real modern feel to the room. The door frames were sanded utilising almost every power tool in my armoury to get the finish we required ready to accept the wood prime coat, I have to say this is time consuming and requires a great deal of patience getting into the decorative woodwork but well worth it when you see the final result, brilliant white complementing the rich colour scheme of blue, grey and dark walnut skirting.
Liams room was the same, a finish coat on the ceiling and then onto the colours, very brave to choose mustard and the darker grey, but again it works, a contemporary look in an old house, quite stunning really. Again the door frames were completed with patience and care, and again looking good painted white, we still have to finish with high gloss paint which will give the finishing touches to these beautiful rooms.
Nobody has yet decided on what type of radiator will complement their respective rooms (I don`t think they`ve even looked!) so for now the existing radiators will have a spray coating of gloss white radiator enamel.
What will the carpet be?