How do I bathroom / kitchen / extension? etc.

Similar vibes and only £51

ikea ostana (£15 if you can find one) imo

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ikea lillholmen without the metal surround installed ?

We've officially got a working oven, fridge and sink. Just need to attach a couple of cabinet doors and it's basically done apart from the decorating.

I can finally drink proper coffee again

Moving so quickly!

Have you insulated the suspended floor also? If so, would you mind sharing details?

Yep. The builders put wooden battens across underneath the joists, popped about 10cm of insulated panels in there, and sealed up joints with expanding foam. The old floorboards - much to the horror of my architect who has tried to talk me out of it, no kidding, about ten times - will go down in a few weeks, get sanded and sealed. The new bit of building has a concrete floor and battens will go on there so that reclaimed floorboards can seamlessly (hopefully) run throughout. So much of the old floor was rotten and joists and all sorts of supports are being replaced. Makes you wonder how many Victorian houses in London are in need of the same treatment.

, popped about 10cm of insulated panels in there, and sealed up joints with expanding foam.

Did you check that the ventilation is good underneath - air bricks clear, etc?

The builders did. I have two vents at the front, which ended up a bit too high because the floor dropped there when levelled against the back. But they've hollowed out a channel so that a breeze will get through behind the skirting from there. And at the back, under the new extension, there's an air brick connected to a plastic pipe that runs through the concrete into the old floor cavity. All seemed sensible to me, but I'm no expert.

much to the horror of my architect who has tried to talk me out of it, no kidding, about ten times

What were their reasons?

Seems like it’s so normalised to just pour a shit ton of concrete everywhere at the moment, and I’d have expected an architect to value reusing the original floor for sustainability and looks.

Underfloor heating is nice I guess, but not 10 times nice!

Sometimes people want to reuse things which require a lot of effort to make good as a final finish and still represent a compromise.

I laboured for a mate on a flat in a post war block. The owner (architect) wanted to keep the original doors. Luckily I wasn't working there when they were doing the final finish, but ircc was at least couple of days to strip the doors to a state where they could be assessed properly. At which point everyone agreed they were fucked and not actually that nice anyway. I want to say the final cost of each internal door ended up being something nuts like £1k including all the fucking about with the original doors.

I just don't think he sees the appeal of original floorboards. He keeps telling me that modern laminate can look convincing but that's just nonsense in my opinion. A lot of our boards aren't salvageable - quite a lot. But we're getting reclaimed boards from elsewhere to fill gaps. His last suggestion was because "the boards are in bad shape and can't be used". I've told him at literally every single stage of this long process that this is non-negotiable and he raises it every time. Really frustrates me. I decided very early on that him and the builder aren't equipped to do the floor so I instructed a specialist floorboard guy and have been trying to make sure they don't screw up too many boards, and that they leave the right surface for him to work. I still come home to find they've screwed temporary boards down on top of original floorboards and put big holes in them, or cut them in two to get underneath.

I'm definitely guilty of this, but I'm not wasting anyone's time but my own. I spent probably 40 hours stripping and repairing one bedroom door and there are two more to go. They look a state in some places, and the patches aren't to everyone's taste - but it's what I want to do. But original floorboards are something I really want to keep, and the specialist guy said it wouldn't be a problem. So he's got the work and the builders are just leaving that bit.

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Nice - I like that range - I found this too - which I like. I would just defo go ostana if it was available @cozzzzzzzz.
But Maybe I’ll just get over myself and get a standard 30 quid bathroom globe with a plastic base - it’s not going to be very visible.

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I'm not sure they're suitable for what you're after, but as a general FYI TLC Electric have their own lights. Some of them have a nice solid utilitarian look to them.

I still come home to find they've screwed temporary boards down on top of original floorboards and put big holes in them, or cut them in two to get underneath

Christ, I know most builders are generally not into this sort of thing but that stinks. I'm much the same as you — our floorboards and joists are fucked, but the idea of concrete and modern laminate just doesn't compute. We'll be trying to get reclaimed boards and doing a lot of the work ourselves I think, whenever we get around to sorting out the downstairs.

Nice work on the door, too! The patches are becoming

To some extent there is a conflict of interests. Trades want to save time and effort where possible. Carefully removing floorboards is harder, but it also means you might have to get labourer A to do it instead of labourer B, because you know you can trust them to be a bit more careful/remember what they were told...and they still might need some supervision to make sure they don't take a shortcut. Different trades also have different gaf levels too.

I mean I'm probably more in your camp overall.

We got a load of freecycled periodish four panel doors for our place. Replacing our shit looking doors with new ones would be a lot less effort than making good these ones, trimming to size and finishing.

Plus we still need to find another matching one for our downstairs as we're one short 🫠

I laboured for a mate on a flat in a post war block. The owner (architect) wanted to keep the original doors. Luckily I wasn't working there when they were doing the final finish, but ircc was at least couple of days to strip the doors to a state where they could be assessed properly. At which point everyone agreed they were fucked and not actually that nice anyway. I want to say the final cost of each internal door ended up being something nuts like £1k including all the fucking about with the original doors.

That's the problem I guess, dealing with old things is time consuming and holds no promises. Much easier and cheaper to chuck stuff out and buy new, but just externalises the problem.

We also had a cast iron fireplace broken when removed, which I wanted to put in another room. And I found they'd screwed a safety rail into my stair post that I'd spent weeks stripping of paint - assume they thought it would be filled and painted. That's my only criticism so far; they're careless with period features, even when you stress that they're important to you.

I know it's been covered a few times throughout the history of this thread, but...

What's the go-to for hallway paint these days? Looking for something scrubbable/washable, as matte as possible, and not outrageously expensive.

We used Jotun stuff, kids grubby hands wipe right off. Not sure about price in UK.

Actually doesn't seem to be available there.

Valspar here and we’ve got a spare 10l of similar to French grey green if of interest.

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Nice natural light on the walls. Is that those noisy blinds?

FANX BRO. nah that’s just our bannister thing, floor to ceiling job.

Why you no masking tape when you paint?