The filthiest job of all (Aug - Nov 2006)

After we took possession of the flat we still had three weeks left on our lease at the old flat. We took the opportunity to strip out all the ceilings on the main floor, before moving in all our stuff. With only 15 minutes walk between the two flats and still plenty of daylight in the evenings, we could get quite a lot done each day after work. Even so, it still took the best part of three weeks to do it all, including several trips to the dump. It was utterly filthy work, and it was a relief to be able to go home to a clean house each night. These photos were taken after most of the dust had settled.

Some of you may be wondering, why take out all the ceilings? The reason is, the existing joists between our two floors need to be replaced in order to enable the upper floor (i.e. roof space and bathroom) to be converted into a bedroom. They are not strong enough to carry the load associated with either bathroom or bedroom, and do not comply with building regulations. It's a big job to replace all the joists, and a bit of a pain, but it's essential work.

It didn't take long to feel the effect of having no ceilings and no roof insulation - it was freezing! With winter fast approaching we put insulation into the roof to keep the place from turning into an icebox.

This was our first experience of working in cramped surroundings, in amongst all our stuff.

The insulation sheets made good curtains for a while, and also helped to keep some of the heat in!

Starting off - interior photos (Aug 2006)

We finally took possession of our flat in August 2006 - six long months after the offer was accepted. This is the layout of the flat as it was when we moved in. Stairs from the communal entrance we share with our neighbour on the first floor lead to our kitchen / living room and bedroom on the second floor. The roof (third floor) is partly occupied by a tiny bathroom. There is a flat roof to the rear beyond the current bedroom.

These are the stairs leading up from the shared entrance

The tiny landing - stairs down to the entrance are extreme left, the door to the bedroom is on the extreme right, and the stairs in the middle lead up to the bathroom. The bathroom door is at the bottom of the stairs because there isn't enough headroom for a door at the top! The living room is directly behind me.

Looking down from the bathroom stairs directly northwards into the living room

The bedroom - the hideous orange walls were not conducive to restful sleep! Below, you can see the bathroom stairs sticking into the room, with storage cupboard underneath.

The flat roof to the rear of the bedroom

Bathroom, looking southwards - stairs down to the left of the loo

Bathroom, looking northwards. As you can see, it's a sit-down shower only! The small door to the right of the basin leads to the remaining roof space.

The remaining roof space

The kitchen, before we started wrecking it...
...and the work begins!
Living room viewed from kitchen - about to get a lot messier

The new flat - exterior photos

Well, here we go.

This is what our flat looks like from the front. It's on the top right. The three windows are our living room and kitchen.

It's at the western end of a terrace of 4 houses, all with commercial uses on the ground floor. We have a lovely Italian cafe below (the Nightingale Patisserie), and our neighbour Claire lives between us and the cafe (on first floor). The terrace was built around the turn of the century, and the conversion of our building into flats (or, the 'Cowboy Conversion', as it's more commonly known) happened sometime in the early 1990s.

Our flat is accessed via the back alley behind the terrace. We have a black security gate beside the pinkish shop with the awning outside.
This is the rear view of our flat. The window beside George is Claire's kitchen, and her bedroom window is to the left. Our flat is the level above - the large window is the current bedroom and the small window in the roof gable end is the current bathroom. The small window to the right of our bedroom window is the stairs up to our flat. In this photo George and I are standing on the roof of the cafe below. You can smell delicious baking smells during the cafe's opening hours.

This is the view from our living room/kitchen, looking northeast:
...and northwest. The building with the blue van parked outside is actually a primary school. It's so posh that the pupils individually shake the hand of the headteacher as they enter the school building each morning. The children look really cute in their boater hats and smart blue and red uniforms. Having parked their massive 4x4s in the nearest spare bit of road and dropping off little Sebastian / Matilda each morning, the mothers saunter across the road in their high heels, designer jeans and decorative dog to have a coffee together at the Italian cafe. We could almost be living in Chelsea.
The view to the south is quite expansive (for London) - we look over rooftops to Crystal Palace and other small hills.