Remodelling a living room

When we first bought the old manor house, the downstairs was just 2 large open rooms, originally used for storage and wine, we knew they were meant for so much more.

As you have already seen one room has been converted into the hallway, bedrooms and bathroom.

The second main room is to be our living room and kitchen.

This will all be open plan.

The big decision is what to do with the 2 large brick and stone columns, they are such a feature (and also quite essential for keeping the roof in place!). They cannot be moved, so there is nothing to do but to make them a feature.

One will be the end of the kitchen, which means installing a small wall between the column and the wall, this is actually such a good idea, as now the kitchen will be open to the living room and a much more family friendly area.

The other issue we had was the stairs, these were the worst stairs ever and actually had a beam going across them part way up, which meant you had to bend double to get to the top of the stairs.

As we are going to have upstairs as a self contained apartment, these stairs are no longer required.

John has his tools at the ready to remove them, but no tools are needed, they are so rotten, they come down by hand and disintegrate as they hit the floor.

I still can’t believe these stairs had been in use.

The floor is covered in floor boards and the opening in the back wall now houses new patio doors. We have the most amazing view of the garden.

A new wood burner is installed and the room is ready to go (well almost).

John has even retained the original brick arch over the door, which makes such a nice feature.

 

If you feel tempted to try a renovation yourself, there are lots of properties in Portugal that require renovation and are still very competitively priced.

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