As it so happens. I am going to start renovating an old apartment. It was my grandmother's and she left it to me and my brother. My grandmother is alive, though she has not lived there for years now and the apartment has been empty. It's built in the 60s and has really has seen very few improvements since that time. My mission is to start renovating it, and the end goal is to make it look nice and modern. It will remain to be seen if the apartment will get rented out or sold after that. This is several years off, so I'm not thinking about it right now.
Everything has to be made new. In the end, nothing remains like it is right now. It will take a lot of time and money. It will probably take a couple of years to get all of the apartment fully renovated. Some jobs have to be ordered in. Like plumbing, smashing walls and moving trash away and possibly electrical. If I can get myself electrically licensed, then I might be able to do electrical jobs myself.
Anyway, let's get to the photos. I took these shots last week quickly, before anything got done and to capture the original state.
The living room. All the old furniture will be trashed, but renovating the room is not the first priority. Floor will get a new parquet and walls and ceiling a new paint. All the windows will also be changed.
Some books are sorted by my grandmother, some she wants to keep. The couch is new, and was brought there last month.
View from the other side of the living room. Does anybody want a piano?😅 Most of the old furniture will be trashed this month.
The bedroom. Same here, everything will eventually be renovated and furniture changed but is low in priority currently.
Corridor currently. A new door for the apartment is on a quick to-do list. On the right side of this corridor is a toilet and a shower room. This wall will be smashed out in the coming weeks. More on this after the next photos.
Another wider shot of the corridor and the bathroom and the toilet doors. All this section will be smashed out, and new walls to be made. This is high in priority and the process will begin pretty much now.
As you can see, there is a lot to be done. I'll be doing as much as possible myself, to save money, like taking stuff apart, putting new floors, painting and so on. I have to educate myself on how to do these things. It is also interesting to develop some skills in this.
It's also quite an interesting series here, so I will blog about it in the times to come. Don't know when part 2 is, but sometime after the toilet and bathroom have been smashed out, maybe new walls made and the kitchen cleaned out. I can imagine that before and after shots in the future will be really interesting to see.
Stay tuned!
Why I feel sad reading your post? 🥺 If I were your grandma, I would be sad about the renovation. 🥹 Though it will probably look good and modern, but for all the years that she stayed there, for sure those corners have a lot of memories for her.
Yeah, I know. It's a bit sad for me too. She has lived there since the 60s with her late husband and once with 3 children, my mother, her sister and brother.
Every bit has some kind of history with it for my grandmother. Still, she does know and agrees that the apartment can't stay old forever, so she is not against it. Of course, all the important relics for her will not be trashed and will go to her. Still, there is a TON of useless trash that old people liked to collect.
Looks like a decent sized project. I look forward to seeing what you do with it. I try and do a lot of home renovation and projects myself if possible as well. You can learn a lot from YouTube and other online sources.
Good luck!
Oh, that's cool!
Yeah, a lot can be learned from videos. Electrics need to be done by a licensed person tho. If something happens and it turns out that electrical work is done by a non-licensed person, then no insurance will cover the damage.
Yeah, that makes sense
In my opinion, the house does not look old, if I were to be close to you, I would have taken some of the so called old stuff that you want to change from the apartment. Hope you will tell us what it looks like after renovation.
I would be glad to give it to you😄. Here, nobody will buy it or want it. I have to pay to give it in to the junk processing.
Yes, I will make the posts as the renovation progresses. It will take a long time and probably a year or a couple for the whole of this apartment to be fully modernized.
I wish you the best of everything you need to get the renovation done.
I mean, its old and charming right? :D
But I 100% why you want to renovate it, I would do the same :D
It definitely has it's own charm. But yeah... it has got to go still 😄
Ye, exactly haha :D
That's a typical ancient architecture, holds a lot of memories. There's gonna be massive work to do 💪 keep the old piano, please :)
Yesss, a lot to do definitely!
The piaono takes up a lot of room, and I dont use it. I want a circular eating table in this corner instead, at some point.
I would give it away for free, but no one wants that. I have to pay a lot to have it taken away.
Sounds like a good plan. I would love to keep that, but I'm a million miles away :)