Dubai Villa Renovation

Wow! Very impressive thread!

Thanks mate!

Another day another bit of progress at the villa.

The tiling has been completed on the ground floor interior and they are well under way with the tiling upstairs. Here is a shot taken from the front of the house looking back down the landing through the master bedroom:

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The planning on the master bathroom has been completed and the first fix plumbing has been started:

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Yesterday the sanitary ware and the bathroom fixtures and fittings were all delivered and the work has quickly started. In the powder room downstairs the guys have put the first toilet in - really nice to see this, as there are currently no other toilets in the whole house at the moment

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We also recieved the final delivery of tiles that included the long awaited for kitchen wall tiles:

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Work has all started on cutting the channels for the wifi access points here is one outside:

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and one inside the house:

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Outside of this preliminary work has started on the kitchen:

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I am going on holiday for a week tomorrow so am excited to see the progress when I get back.
 
I have been away for over a week and managed to get over to the villa this morning to see how things were progressing during my absence.

The floor tiling has now been completed throughout the house. I also asked them to tile the front door entry steps and I am really pleased they have done this as it will add a real flow to the house:

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There has been a lot of work done on the downstairs powder room and its nearing completion (the first of 5 bathrooms we are renovating):

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The kitchen has also started to coming together - I am having a combination of new units built and a refresh/new doors on the old cabinets. The 3 white tall units on the left will house a trio of built in appliance - Steam Oven, Coffee Maker and Microwave/Oven combo each with a plate warmer drawer underneath:

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Also said kitchen appliances arrived (aside from the above - 900mm wide oven, 900mm wide induction hob, island hood and integrated dishwasher)

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The gazebo in the garden has become a makeshift carpentary workshop:

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The guys have also been relocating power sockets all over the house and finishing up the channeling for the TV in the lounge:

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I have to run around this week picking up some more tiles for the other bathroom walls, downlighters and I need to pick out the stone for the kitchen worktops and vanity units in the bathrooms.

I have also now booked the removal guys for us to move in on the 15th March so fingers crossed most it not all of the work will be completed.
 
Looks great. Subbed to see how this ends up.

Just looked up the place on Google as have been there several times with both work and holidays and my cousin lives over there, so was curious as to where it was located.

Damn, those villas aint cheap are they? :p:D:D:D
 
Looks great. Subbed to see how this ends up.

Just looked up the place on Google as have been there several times with both work and holidays and my cousin lives over there, so was curious as to where it was located.

Damn, those villas aint cheap are they? :p:D:D:D

Thanks mate. And yes the prices are eye watering at the moment.
 
I went on a little shopping expedition to dragonmart last night and after a 3 hour search I found a few outstanding items I need for the villa.

First item was a mixer/spray tap for the pantry and a bargain at 40 quid

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Then after a lot of searching I selected the down lighters and LED bulbs for the villas. The down lighters seemed decent quality and a kinda heavy and very cheap at just over a quid per piece

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The bulb choice was a bit harder as there is literally a plethora of different types of Chinese made LED bulbs to choose from varying in price from a one to seven pounds. In the end I found a guy selling some "Harmony" branded bulbs that come with a 2 year warranty and a claimed 40k hour usage with a "Korean chipset". He was a nice chap and gave me them a 4 pound a piece - 4 watt/6500 kelvin/white daylight color/100 degree beam:

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I ran them over to the villa this morning and the guys cracked straight on with the installation:

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There will be a total of 60 down lighters through out the whole house.

The guys all started on spraying the built in wardrobes from their nasty brown colour to a semi-gloss white. The first of five coats went on today:

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The joiners were busy on the construction of the bathroom cupboards when I left:

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Next things on my to do list - is buy a few more tiles for the bathroom fit outs, get hold of the kitchen sinks, choose the granite work surfaces and select the kitchen door handles. All good fun but difficult when you also have a full time job.
 
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Quick update. After ordering the final bathroom tiles I headed back over to Dragon Mart in search of some water resistant downlighters for the shower cubicles. After a bit of searching I found a place called Opple Lighting:

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Here I got the IP54 downlighters with bulb, case and transformer for a bargain 4 quid each (I picked up a few extras as spares) and while in there I also got some waterproof LED white lighting for the kitchen under cabinet lighting. Again super cheap at one pound a meter and the transformers for them at just over a pound as well.
 
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I am currently saving for my own place and its things like this that keep me going. Making something truly your own. Just fantastic.
 
I am currently saving for my own place and its things like this that keep me going. Making something truly your own. Just fantastic.

Thanks mate. It is so very worth it but it is not without its headaches and challenges. There was a small war this morning about position of some items in the house. Usual thing in this type of project. Just have to work through it and hope for a great result.
 
I have had to make a few trips out of the country but luckily my good mate and Father have been around to work with the contractor and keep things moving along.

There has been a lot of work done on the AC ducting and kitchen exhaust route in the ceiling of the kitchen and there is just about ready to receive the cooker hood:

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In the study the new ceiling has been installed (ripped out when the en-suite was removed), new AC ducting and exhaust and the down lighters are ready to go in:

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The dead space under the stairs will now have a cupboard - mainly for storing suitcases and the like:

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Work is ongoing on the master bathroom - plumbing has been done so the tiling is happening now. This wall will have the mirror, vanity units and some cupboards:

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The shower wall will feature floor to ceiling mosaic tiles along with two over head drenchers. Just above the tile line they will make some recesses for shampoo bottles etc

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The rest of the walls in the master bathroom will have the large tiles contrasting against the mosaic for the shower wall:

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Another team of guys are busy spraying the various doors:

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and they seem to have done a decent job on all the drawers:

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Outside of this plenty of other work going on as the final electrical points are put in place for the kitchen, a water line installed for the fridge, the architraves are being sprayed and we finalise the kitchen design.

This week should also see the installation of the Nest smoke alarms and the Ubiquity Access Points.

It is just over 4 weeks till the removal men deliver our furniture so the pressure is on the contractor!
 
Looks like it's coming along really well though, the standard of the work looks very high.

Thanks mate - I am really happy with how they are going. There are some very good tradesman on site in particular the electrician and the tiling team. They are really taking their time and have a great eye for detail.

B&Q have a 3for2 deal on those Nest Smoke alarms if anyone is interested.

Doh - that would have save me a few quid

That is stunning!

What are your short term holiday rental prices like? ;)

Hah thanks mate - I cant wait to move in myself.
 
So plenty of things have been happening this weekend:

1. Plenty of time in Dragon Mart selecting various lights for each room of the house (my wife's choice)

2. The fabricators for the kitchen counters and bathroom vanities came over this morning and measured everything up and have provided a quote

3. The guys for plantation shutters came around today as well to measure up the windows in the front room

Otherwise the contractor continues to crack on at a fair lick. They have started installing the tile skirting boards which is making an amazing difference in making some of the rooms feel completed:

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The sparky after installing all the downlighters has now made a start on replacing the light switches and sockets:

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Here is where the TV will go in the lounge:

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The painstaking task of grouting the floors also started today. The guy below is scraping all the junk out of the gap between the tiles before the grout goes down:

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The final grouting has been applied to the powder room:

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Work has also started on tiling the guest en-suites:

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There are another team of guys rubbing the walls down for a third and final coat of paint:

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And it was cool to see the nasty black wrought iron staircase railings get a lick of silver paint today, apparently two more coats to go on:

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I am really happy with how things are moving on and work will start later this week on an exterior annexe. With four weeks to the day that the removal men move in I am finally reasonably confident that the majority of the work will be done and the house will be ready to move into.
 
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