Ground-floor renovation with herringbone flooring

A full ground-floor refresh for a family who'd lived with dated carpet and woodchip wallpaper since buying the house: new flooring throughout, picture-frame panelling in the hallway, and a complete redecoration of the living room, dining room and hall.

Lifting the old carpet revealed an uneven, creaking subfloor — the kind of surprise that wrecks budgets when it's discovered mid-job by a flooring-only contractor. Because we'd flagged the possibility at the survey and priced the contingency into the fixed quote, there was no awkward renegotiation: we screwed down and levelled the subfloor, then laid herringbone LVT with a border detail through the connected spaces.

Our decorators stripped the woodchip, reskimmed where the plaster came away, built and painted the hallway panelling and finished all walls, ceilings and woodwork. The family stayed in the house throughout, so the work ran room by room with each space cleaned and put back nightly.