DECISIONS
If some of you have gone through similar project, you already know that there will be endless amount of surprises. Bigger and smaller. Those will have their consequences for the budget. And there are millions of smaller and bigger decisions. How to organize the space, do you build inner walls, what to do with windows (in our house windows had been renovated in the 80's and at that time authenticity was not a word in popular vocabulary
)
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So this photo story is about the decisions.
ROOMS or NOT
What to do with the open space in upstairs, which should be occupied by two teenage daughters? And when they eventually leave the home, it need to service us parents. Do you build small rooms for them both or what?
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And how to enable at least a bit natural light to the sleeping room when officials didn't let you open a windows to the wall.
(Luckily the other girl who got this sleeping room wanted it, because she suffers early light = wakes up too early on Summer time because of the light)
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LIGHTNING
How to decide where the hanging lights need to be when the house is still as ruin.
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WHERE TO PUT TOILETS AND BATHROOM?
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And how to protect the house and its structures from moist when installing bathrooms. How to make sure bathroom/shower dry fast enough. And yes, it is a bit luxurious to have heated floor in the bathroom at winters
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DO YOU PRESERVE OLD STRUCTURES OR BUILD JUST NEW
We wanted to maintain the feeling of 100 years old house. So we kept eg. the stairs to upstairs. The patina, the noise, you can't get that from new build.
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100 years old floor (re-assembled) and brand new. Side by side. Unfortunately parts of the old floor was suffered from the time and use and couldn't be fully re-used. So needed new floor and the joint isn't in optimal place, but what can you do.
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The upper floor fixing and building had been less than half the price if we hadn't saved the original roof on downstairs. But hey, now it's the original.
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And when you've maid your decisions and start to see how it affects the budget, you need to start making compromises. Original plan was to order handmade, full tree, fit to measure closets to bedrooms as well as to kitchen. But that plan needed to go, as well as the plan to replace the windows
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COLOURS AND MATERIALS
We selected breathable materials everywhere. No plastic and synthetic materials anywhere. To keep the old structure healthy and to last for another 100 years. So truly paper wallpapers, oil-based paints etc.
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The color-palette was difficult but when one element was fixed, the rest was easy. We constructed numerous color-palettes and wallpaper combinations but it all started from this, master bedroom wallpaper.
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Combining wood and brick, we decided to hide the brick and plaster over. Luckily our carpenter could do miracles hiding the joints
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Fingerpanel was something I wanted because the house of my grandparents had it. Luckily we could agree on that with the spouse... Panel on the stairs.
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This structure to replace the floating closet became my absolute favorite part of our house. And the stairs.
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There happened two disastrous things, and this was the other. The color on the grout was wrong when seen in place. And we didn't have the time nor the budget to get it fixed. We just needed to accept. Luckily we have grown to it
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I hope you enjoyed these, I did. This is a way to document this for ourselves as well. And now the blood pressure luckily stays low enough. It was too stressful earlier to remember this project, and it still is a bit for the wife
I will add more pics later.