Reception rooms

End to end

What we did:

1. Strip back the old wallpaper and paint
2. Replaced the uPVC windows with wooden sash
3. Knocked through the dividing doors
4. Added a hardwood flooring
5. Reinstated an original fireplace

How it started

We had such naive ideas about stripping back various layers of these rooms and patching them up and creating this idealic true to form room – which was clearly nonsense given Victorian houses were by design cold and draughty. It took us a long time to get this right and we had to fix a number of unanticipated challenges but we got there in the end.

What we did

• Strip back the old wallpaper and paint – The first thing we attempted to do was strip back the wallpaper and paint to the original plaster walls. In hindsight, this really probably wasn’t worth the effort, unless it was flaky. At this point we were trying to do a perfect finish and then eventually realised almost everyone was just going to plaster straight over what was already there if it was secure.

 

• Replaced the uPVC windows with wooden sash – this was a bit of a nightmare from start to finish. The window suppliers had ordered a slightly wrong sizing of the side panels so that they had to be cut down in order for the bay to fit right. In hindsight, not too bothered because it improves security (a friend had someone get through their side bay window and steal their car whilst we were having the work done) but at the time we were distraught. It was Covid, the lead time was long, the communication was poor so the priority was to get the windows in and the property secured from outside access. Later we revisited them, sealed up any gaps in the surrounds such as air pockets from the bay window roof blowing into the room through expanding foam, cut this back and plastered over.

 

• Knocked through dividing doors – no idea if the gap was original or just very old but it had been boarded up for a very long time. One day, after we had secured the front of the house so that anyone looking in could not see the mound of tools in the rear reception room, we got a hammer to the impressively well sealed up doors (probably from the 70s) and took them out.

 

 

• Added a hardwood flooring – we had all these grand ideas about keeping the original floorboards but:
  • The floorboards had been ripped up at various times for installing central heating and other pipes
  • The floorboards had large gaps and a cavity underneath the house which was the purpose of them but made it draughty
  • They were cold, creaky and just not comfortable to walk on

So instead we opted for a Bamboo hardwood flooring that had to be installed before the architrave and skirting (other way around with carpet)

• Reinstated an original fireplace – which we purchased off Facebook markplace, in our naivity, way before (maybe years before) we needed it. Being cast iron, it was SO HEAVY to keep moving around rooms as we worked on various areas around the house.

 

 

What we did not do

We kept the original ceiling for the front reception room. This is because it was covered in lining paper and had we removed this, it is likely we would have had to replace the ceiling and lost the original coving which was one of the remaining original features in the house. This specific coving I was also unable to find online in order to replace it like for like. Instead we patched up a section in one of the alcoves where a hole had been made whilst installing the MVHR but you really cannot tell.

Conclusion

Don’t bother trying to be pristine, just take it back to plaster and or brick as quickly as you can and see what horrors lie beneath.