Vilgāle flat renovation - how it all starts

| Home Remodeling | 3 seen

On September 18, I was lucky enough to win an online auction and bought a flat in Vilgāle village. It took a few more months before all legal procedures were done and I had the entry in the Land Registry before I was able to proceed.

I first saw this flat about a week ago, when I got the keys from the previous landlady (ut turns out there haven't lived anybody for the last 27 years). There is no electricity and no water (yet). I have started procedures to have them both. Today I had a meeting with an electrician, and after our meeting I made these photos, just to document the history.

Living room

Living room

There are still some belongings left from the previous owners. Interior feels like from the 70-ties

Living room

Living room

It is said in that cardboard box there is a "new" TV  box.

Bedroom

Bedroom

We are going to look to tear down some walls and unite this bedroom with the kitchen

Bedroom

Bedroom

The previous owner told me that this closet cost RUB 400

Kitchen

Kitchen

Can't wait to drink a cold beer here (on the floor there are bottles back from 1993, empty, unfortunately)

Kitchen

Kitchen

During Soviet times, there was a gas

Hallway

Hallway

Can you imagine hardwood flooring and elegant tiles here?

Place called bathroom

Place called bathroom

I hope we will be able to tear down some walls and combine the bathroom with WC

WC

WC

For some reason, Soviets just didn't like toilets and made them narrow, unpleasant places

Today I talked to the local architect bureau and they said they could make all paperwork for permissions of tearing down walls for about EUR 650, also I'm in contact with the plumber and electrician guys. 

Overall it looks like we will need to invest an additional EUR 20,000-30.000 to make this place enjoyable. This probably is not worth the money, as we are not actually planning to live here permanently.. With an extra 20-30K, I could make enough money in the stock market to rent a holiday house once a year in places like Crete with ease.

Next steps - electricty, plumbing, permissions for tearing down walls, actually tearing down some walls, replacing windows, central heating.