Project overview
Name: Rachel & Michael ( on Instagram).
Occupation: Rachel, marketing specialist; Michael, senior manager.
Location: Ettelbruck.
When did you start your renovation project and how long did it take? We purchased the house in December 2020 and started work immediately. The project is still ongoing, with 80% of the interior now complete. The garden is our final project, which we aim to complete in Spring 2022.
Why did you start this project and what did you want to accomplish with the renovation? We had been searching for a property in Luxembourg for around a year, but struggled to find something that matched our criteria for space, style and location for within our budget. We decided a renovation project would be the best course of action to take.
Briefly describe the work that you undertook: The house was a full renovation/ restoration project, the living room and bedrooms all involved stripping back the wallpaper, skimming the walls, sanding the floors. The kitchen, bathroom and toilet were full demolitions back to the stone work, new plumbing, screed, plaster, paint, tiling and all new fixtures were installed. We converted a room on the top floor into a spacious shower room to ensure all floors with bedrooms also had a toilet/shower access. We also installed a new heating system.
Now that work has been completed, what are you most pleased about? It was important to us to keep the integrity of the house and I think the choice to restore features such as the original doors, staircase and flooring has helped us achieve a good balance of modern and classic.
Looking back at the project, what would you do differently now? We have two main learnings:
1. Allow more time before having to live in the property. We moved in during March at which point most rooms were still incomplete, this was particularly challenging with a small child.
2. Conduct more thorough checks on the renovation company. We encountered some problems with them and upon further investigation we discovered some recommendations were actually from employees and family members.
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