Then I bought this flat I already knew, that I will renovate it. Actually I was looking to buy something not in the best condition, as I knew how I wanted it to look afterwards. After some initial calculations I was thinking, that around 3000 € will be enough for the renovation, as not everything will be replaced (like floor, doors, bathroom, windows, some furniture). But as I spend almost all my money for purchasing the flat itself I had no money left. But that's not a big problem these days - bank was very pleased to give me 4000 € loan (I took 1K extra, just not to go out before I finish). Well, that was my thoughts before I started. But as you can guess - not everything goes as planned.
So my idea was to make 2 studios with it's own kitchens in these rooms. The second room already had a kitchen, or at least kitchen furniture, as the water was not there. Previous owner would go to the bathroom to get some water and clean the dishes. That, of course, was not acceptable for me. So the first thing I needed - was to get water and drainage in both rooms. And here started some extra fees - it was not possible to make drainage from the sink to reach sewerage system by itself from the second room. Machine for 300 € had to be purchased. For the electricity story was very similar - some power outlets were not working, current wires were very old and it's better not to use them anymore. And it would be quite hard to make new outlets and connect new cables with the old ones. So decision was made to wire new cables everywhere.
The next big thing I was about to make - make air ventilation in both kitchens so kitchen cooker could be connected later. It looked like an easy task, because bathroom already had air ventilation, so new pipes just had to be connected to the current ones. New surprise was waiting for me here. Air ventilation pipes that were coming from bathroom were cut from the system. That was hidden under wallpaper and previous owner somehow forgot to mention this fact to me before.
On the left: Pipe from the bathroom. On the right: the same pipe going to air ventilation system. It suppose to be connected...
So this had to be fixed as well. With some extra money, of course.
New air ventilation pipe going through the room. On the right you can see a closet, which had sliding door from the floor to the ceiling
As you remember from the photos in the previous post, almost all walls were covered in wallpapers. That might looks quite nice, than you look at it first, but you never know what is hiding behind these wallpapers. And it might be not so easy to remove them. So in the first room plaster bounced off the wall. We saw that only than we started to remove those old wallpapers. Of course, that plaster had to be taken off the wall. Or to be more precise - it fell by itself just by touching it.
I did not had the goal to see the bricks...
All works took almost 3 months. Optimistic goal was 1 month, but as this was my first project, it took some more time. And then everything was almost finished, just before Christmas, one pipe in the bathroom got a crack and started to leak the water. But it was leaking behind the tiles and it was not possible to see that from outside. That was noticed only than the neighbors from below started to complain. So bath and shower had to be taken off, tiles to be removed and pipe fixed. And, of course, everything put back. Some more money and time.
But at last, on 1st of January I was able to welcome my first guests. Unfortunately, only in the first (grey) room, as second was still waiting for the kitchen furniture to be made and installed. For another 2 months...
After everything was completed apartment looked like this:
Entrance and bathroom on the left. I put some LED lights while hiding air ventilation pipe, that turned out quite nice
First room from the entrance point. Old sofa - bed and floor was left.
Remember that brick wall? It was here, on the left side. Kitchen furniture are new in here
The cabinet and the lamp on the right is also old
Bathroom. It's almost impossible to notice different tiles on one area
Second room. Bed, lamp and curtains are new in here. Everything else - not
These sliding doors were here before. I liked them, as it's possible to separate kitchen area from the sleeping area
Almost all furniture are old in here, only the one that have sink and fridge (on the left) were made during the renovation. And took 1 month of additional time
Bar table in the kitchen. You guessed it right - it was brought from another room
Table on the right was also brought from another room
Now you can guess, what was the price for this renovation. I will cover that in the next article.