Laid Bare

In anticipation of the first phase of the project which shall be commencing momentarily, let’s have a look at what we’re dealing with, shall we?

From what we can gather through old permits, this terraced house was built sometime in the early 1980s and has changed hands a couple of times. The owners before us completely gutted the place and opened up some walls, leaving it in shell form, before deciding to list it (for reasons which are not my story to tell, albeit nothing negative).

 

There are a lot of features which we love about this house. All rooms are rectangular in shape and the wall finishing is fuq il-fil, which we plan on keeping as much as we can. This made a few potential contractors scratch their heads since we need to install new electricity lines and water pipes and we don’t want any soffits anywhere either. That’s the goal at least; whether we need to compromise a bit remains to be seen.

One thing that remained untouched is the main staircase. The plan is to keep it there and work around it, to leave a bit of history intact. And also, not going to lie, because re-doing it is an expense that we wish to avoid.

 

A one-and-a-half car garage is attached to the house, which we shall be re-converting into a washroom at the back and a one-car garage at the front. While the property does not have a washroom on the roof, it is possible to apply for a permit for one, but we are keeping construction works to a minimum.

First floor has all the bedrooms; three of them, which is just what we wanted. There are still some challenges in terms of furniture layout but we’re nearly there.

Now, time to get our hands dirty.