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Intro:
We never used the fireplace, it was just too much hassle, and too smokey. It only came in handy at Christmas time to hang stockings... so one day I got the hammer drill out and there was no going back from there!
Tools and materials:
Ozito Rotary Hammer Drill
Safety glasses
Ear muffs
Gloves
Dust mask
Chisel
Hammer
Stanley knife
Ceiling paint
Stainblocker paint
Trim paint (semi gloss, Vivid White)
Wall paint (Dulux Lexicon)
Feature wall paint (British Paints - Heavy Metal)
Mitre saw
Hanwood-home-5mm-2-64sqm-serius-oak-hybrid-waterproof-flooring
Nail gun
paint brushes and rollers
Steps:
Remove the fireplace
I used the hammer drill to drill into the motar of the bricks around the fireplace, starting with the edges and making my way down to the slab. The bricks and mortar were carted outside to be disposed of, there was a LOT of dust!!!! Recommend closing all doors to try and keep the dust in one room only.
The piece that was left was a large concrete base, which I left til later to work out what to do with it!
Remove the flue
Most of the flue was attached with rivets. I was able to remove these using a chisel and hammer to knock the end off. The flue went all the way up through the ceiling and no matter what I did I couldn't figure out how to remove it. I went on the roof and looked down, I stood under it and looked up and wiggled it around and it wouldn't budge. I ended up phoning a friend who was able to help me remove the flue as well as the large piece of concrete in exchange for them keeping the parts so they could make an outdoor fireplace! win-win!
Fill the hole in the ceiling
I now had a round hole in my ceiling a bit like a skylight! A tiler friend came and installed a few new tiles for me to fill the gap from the outside, and another friend came and did the plastering to fill the hole from the inside! (Along with repairing a botchy job from an old air conditioner removal!)
Remove the carpet
I cut the carpet into strips of about 60cm wide and rolled up and held with masking tape. This makes it a lot easier to remove in sections, and means I could dispose of it in my big bin a bit at a time. Do the same with the underlay.
Next was a big clean up with the vacuum to get rid of all the dust!
We also used a hammer and chisel to remove all the smoothedge (I had no idea that's what it's called, but that is the last thing I would call it! The wood with the nails sticking out of it to attach the carpet)
There were a few holes in the concrete floor after removing the nails from the smoothedge, so we filled that with some filler and let it set so there would be a smooth finish for the laminate flooring.
Painting
First I painted the ceiling, then began work on the window frames, trim and doorway to the room... sanding, then painting with a stain blocker followed by two coats of the semi gloss paint.
The walls were painted with Lexicon.
White washing the bricks
This 80's house had a lot of brown brickwork in the entry and living room. To brighten up the room I decided to white wash the bricks with a mix of 50:50 water to paint. The side wall used the Lexicon paint that was left over, and the feature wall used a charcoal looking colour paint that I had left over from another room also.
The white wash paint is very runny, and applied with a brush, starting with the mortar linees and working on a small section at a time. The paint is sucked up into the mortar and bricks and will need a few coats to get a good colour.
Lay the laminate flooring
This was a tricky job and while it can be a DIY job, now that I have done it once, I probably wouldn't do it again! It was fiddly trying to get the pieces to click in together and doing this living room took a whole weekend. The main points are to ensure a gap around the edges for expansion, start with a level edge and work from there. I used a mitre saw to cut any edges, and for easy cuts its a stanley knife and a quick snap.
Quad was placed around the edges to cover the expansion gap and attached using a nail gun.
Decorating
Then it was time to decorate, with new curtain rods, cube shelving, indoor plants and pots, new lamp shade and attaching the tv to the feature wall.
Summary
This update has really opened up our living area and brightened it up. It is so much easier to keep clean now with the laminate flooring and feels a lot more modern with the new colours. Also, Santa was still able to deliver our presents using a little Christmas magic!
Many thanks for sharing your awesome project, @raceytrace! You've done a spectacular job, and I trust you are thrilled with your efforts.
The room has a whole new feel now, and I can't believe it only took a weekend to get the flooring down! Sounds pretty fast to me. Great work!
What project are you planning on tackling next?
Mitchell
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