A thirty-four-square-metre living room, bright from floor to ceiling

Before the works

30 × 30 tiles cracked on the diagonal, paint peeling in sheets, cables stapled across the ceiling and an old timber balcony door that let in the wind and the dust. The room looked smaller than it is.

What was done

Works opened with the electrics: the exposed cables disappeared into concealed conduit, the sockets were doubled and a new lighting circuit was prepared for the false ceiling. The plasterer then hung the plasterboard ceiling with a cornice all round.

The 60 × 120 Carrara-look porcelain went down in flexible adhesive over the old tiles, once the flatness was checked, with 2 mm spacers and levelling clips so the large tiles do not lip. Matching skirting was cut from the same tiles.

The walls took a skim coat, a primer and two coats of stone-coloured matt. The aluminium balcony door was fitted as a renovation frame over the old one, without breaking the sill.