Wednesday 10 March 2010

Loft Conversion

This was our first change to the house and the most dramatic really as it involved a lot of structural work. The loft conversion had technically been done but it as a real botch diy job and neither safe nor signed off so we were keen to get started when we moved in. 

This was how the loft looked when we viewed the house




It was a really odd set-up with the staircase coming up right in the centre of the room. In order to do this  the previous owners had added a staircase in the master bedroom with an extra partition wall taking space from the bedroom. A very random choice! This shows the staircase looking from the landing. The shot is taken from the bedroom door with an extra door leading to the reduced size bedroom on the right and the entrence to the stairs on the left.


We decided to move the staircase to over the existing staircase. We were really lucky to have a good family friend Derek come up and stay and do the work. 
A hole was knocked in the ceiling..... then the building inspector changed his mind on what we were allowed and we then had to re-enforce the whole loft by putting in steel beams. This made the project a lot bigger than expected!





The shot here shows how close the floor was to the window in the original conversion! (the line of brick). I certainly wouldn't have been happy with the kids running around so close to a 3rd story window that yes did open!




I didn't get as many shots as I'd have liked to now of the whole process but finally it was finished and Dan painted it. We found these awesome tree wall stickers on Etsy which gives the room a really lovely feel.



I made twig 'chandeliers' to match!


The hallway gained a cupboard and the underside of the staircase was plastered. I love the wood on the staircase too. 



The room has a really peaceful feel and I'm so pleased how it has turned out. We chose to put a futon in instead of a bed and so it can be used as both a guest bedroom and many other uses. I even sometimes teach dance lessons up there.