Siheyuan: Heavy Industry Revitalizes the Country

A week passed quickly.

The decoration of the house is only halfway completed.

As expected, the budget at this time was already greatly overspent.

The first thing we did was to install air conditioners, and then basically all the wiring in the hospital had to be replaced.

This item alone cost me more than ten dollars.

Now that the wiring has been laid, it is natural to just replace the light bulbs in each room.

The original incandescent lamps were all 15 watts and could barely provide enough light.

Now we have replaced them with 40-watt lights. Once we turn on the light, the whole house is bright and clear.

Not to mention the two newly built bathrooms, which have water supply and drainage, which was something that Yangshi Lei had not taken into consideration at the beginning.

The bathroom floor and walls are also covered with tiles.

When Yangshi Lei took Fang Xiang to see the tiles, Fang Xiang was truly eye-opening.

He originally thought that in this era, the best that could be found were glossy white tiles.

But I didn’t expect that the patterns and specifications of tiles these days are almost as good as those in later generations. Can you believe it?

However, the patterns and colors are both old-fashioned, which does not conform to Fang Xiang's aesthetic taste.

After choosing for a long time, I finally found a warm color in the corner that was similar to the one in later generations.

However, the size was slightly smaller, which surprised Fang Xiang even more.

Because this tile is not popular, the price is extremely cheap.

A 500*500 tile costs 4 cents.

If you order in large quantities, the price can be reduced to 3 cents.

The reason why it is unpopular is that small tiles are popular these days.

到处都是100*200，200*300，300*300的小号瓷砖。

The 400*400 size is the largest size that the public can accept nowadays.

而不是后世那种600*600，800*800，甚至1000*1000的大瓷砖。

Of course, it may also be due to technical problems and the reason why it cannot be produced.

So these 500*500 tiles are not popular at all these days.

Naturally, no one bought it, but unexpectedly, this is already the largest size of tile available today.

What’s even more rare is that this warm yellow tile has a retro style because of the poor polishing technology.

Seeing such a cheap price, Fang Xiang couldn't resist it.

What is the purpose of making money? Isn't it to spend it?

What’s even more outrageous is that Fang Xiang actually saw the bathtub. How could he resist buying it?

So, there was a main house, east and west wing rooms, and two new bathrooms.

The entire floor is paved with warm yellow tiles and a bathtub is installed to make the floor less monotonous.

Fang Xiang also selected several types of tiles and asked Yangshi Lei to cut them into strips.

The ground was paved with door sills and parquet.

Plus new light bulbs.

Fang Xiang felt like he had returned to the afterlife and almost burst into tears.

Then there are the walls, from the 60s, except for some special places.

Basically all living areas have concrete walls.

At most, some people would paste some newspapers and some portraits of Chairman Mao.

The main focus is simplicity.

In the 80s, half-wall paint became increasingly popular.

It is decorated with green paint at the bottom and a white wall at the top.

I believe that some older people will have deep memories of their childhood.

Or you can still see this decoration style in some old hospitals and schools.

In the 90s, the walls were made of tempered paint and wood.

Especially around 95, as long as the family was not too poor.

Basically, some wooden walls will be built.

Latex paint and wallpaper only became popular after 00.

But Fang Xiang saw wallpaper in the 60s through Yangshi Lei.

Yes, in this era, wallpaper is not a rare thing, but people call it wall cloth.

It is made of genuine cotton textiles, of course, it is not very moisture-proof.

But what kind of place is the capital?

It's not the south, so there is naturally no humidity except for the short rainy season.

It is precisely because of the high cost of wall coverings that ordinary people will automatically ignore it.

When seeing the wall cloth, Fang Xiang naturally thought of the leukemia that was caused by decoration in later generations.

However, Yangshi Lei's explanation for this is.

The paste we use now is all glutinous rice glue, which is pure natural.

Fang Xiang suddenly understood that these things did not contain any additives, and naturally there was no formaldehyde.

Therefore, it was decided to use wooden dado for the lower half of the wall.

The upper part is covered with wall coverings in goose yellow and peacock blue lines.

As for the top of the wall, a wooden ceiling three meters and six meters above the ground was added to provide insulation and warmth.

Of course, there are no drywalls, light strips or anything like that now, but that doesn’t prevent us from having carpenters, right?

As long as you have money, you can dig some decorations, add some light holes, and run some wiring, and we can still do it for you.

After two more coats of varnish, the wooden-style wall ceiling is finished.

Add a switch and small, low-wattage bulbs, and you have mood lighting and light strips.

Then there are the windows. The windows of the original house were very small.

Even if glass is installed, the light transmittance is very low and the lights need to be turned on all year round.

Now, according to Fang Xiang's request, the main house in the north courtyard, the east and west wing rooms, and the main house in the front yard.

All of them were replaced with large windows, but even they were large windows.

There is no way it can be taller than 1.5 meters.

One reason is that it is not possible to buy glass of that size now.

Another problem is that the window frames are not made of suitable material.

You know, aluminum alloy is still high-tech in this era.

But even so, it is three times larger than the original window.

Besides, if the quality is not good enough, can’t we make up for it with quantity?

Now that there are more windows and they are bigger, it is natural to customize curtains.

As I said, as long as you have money and ideas.

Soon, the swan blue curtains made of velvet material with locked edges and tassels that met Fang Xiang's requirements were installed.

Even a layer of white gauze was added to let in light.

Next, it was the doors and windows that Fang Xiang customized to have a later-era style.

After adding door and window frames, the overall style becomes more modern.

After all these are done, the most difficult and time-consuming part is customizing the furniture.

Originally, the house was furnished with a full set of huanghuali furniture.

These people naturally would not move.

He just took away the ordinary wooden furniture in the west wing of the front yard and the back house to pay part of the wages.

Then all the Huanghuali furniture was moved to the west wing in the front yard and locked up for safekeeping.

The furniture for other rooms was designed by professional draughtsman Fang Xiang.

Stroke by stroke, he drew the modern style combination furniture that Fang Xiang was most familiar with and most comfortable with.

Just like in later generations, making furniture is a very time-consuming job.

Even if you can find suitable dried rosewood, it will take half a month.

If you add carvings and the hardware inside the furniture.

It takes even longer after later polishing, dark painting, waxing, assembly and inlaying.

Fortunately, Yangshi Lei had a wide network of contacts and he found a lot of carpenters. Fang Xiang paid them enough wages and also provided them with meals, so the construction period was greatly shortened.

Therefore, the cost of furniture is also the largest single expense in this renovation.

It cost more than 800 yuan.

Don’t think they are expensive, these are genuine pure red rosewood.

The final result was that Fang Xiang spent more than a thousand yuan, which was more than what he spent on buying the yard.

If we go by the decoration standards of later generations, the furniture alone would take up thousands of square meters.

As for the price, I’m afraid it starts from one million.

Fortunately, nowadays, materials are cheap and easy to find, and labor is even cheaper.

Moreover, he is a top talent like Yangshi Lei who used to repair the imperial palace.

Simply great value!

Although Yangshilei’s previous decoration and construction were all old-fashioned Chinese styles.

This was the first time Fang Xiang came across such an almost modern concept.

But it won't delay people from making a living from this for several lifetimes.

In addition, Fang Xiang, a professional drawing artist, is many levels better than those decoration designers.

It can almost be said that as long as the drawings are correct, you can make whatever you want.

Even the kitchen in the back house in the front yard is equipped with integrated cabinets and a smoke exhaust system.

Plus the shower and toilet in the bathroom.

Even if people from the 21st century came to see it, they would give it a thumbs up.

This Chinese retro style, coupled with this courtyard, is simply authentic!

Apart from the lack of some modern appliances, it is almost the same as before Fang Xiang traveled through time.

In this way, time passed day by day.

He usually supervises the work in the yard, and when it is time for lunch, Wei Shengli comes over to have a free meal.

Pick up and drop off Liu Shuying on weekends and Mondays.

It's almost the end of July.

Just when Liu Shuying finished her final exams, the house was finally completed.