Finishing a newly-weds’ flat: what comes first and what can wait

What to spend on first: the things you can’t change without breaking

Spend first on everything buried in the walls and floors, because changing it after you move in means breaking out, dust and refinishing; leave for later what can be changed with a screwdriver and a ladder.

Chandeliers and light fittings, as long as their points are ready, wallpaper, light decoration, curtains and some furniture can start simple and be upgraded after the wedding without breaking anything. If the budget is tight, save on what shows, not on what is buried.

A finishing checklist for a newly-weds’ flat, room by room

Write the finishing list room by room before any tradesman starts, with the positions of the appliances and furniture, because they decide where every socket and water point goes.

• Kitchen: the appliance sizes before the first fix; a water and drain point for every appliance that needs one; a socket for each fixed appliance and sockets above the worktop; and an extractor outlet to the outside. Changes to the gas line or the cooker position go through the gas company.
• Bathroom: waterproofing and a flood test before tiling, a fall to the floor drain, an extractor fan or a window that really opens, and an earth-leakage breaker on its circuits. A gas water heater must not go inside a closed bathroom.
• Bedroom: a socket and a light point on each side of the bed, a light switch at the door and another by the bed, an air-conditioning point, and a curtain pocket in the ceiling if there is gypsum board. Fix the wardrobe position before the lighting is laid out.
• Reception: a TV wall with a socket, internet and satellite points and an empty conduit for the cables, lighting on more than one circuit, and an air-conditioning point.
• Balcony: a fall towards the drain, a slip-resistant floor suited to the outdoors, and a weatherproof socket. Ask the building management or compound where the outdoor air-conditioning unit may go, and about enclosing the balcony.
• Entrance: the distribution board somewhere easy to reach, and a point for the internet router roughly in the middle of the flat.

The furniture list itself is on the furnishing page; this guide is about the finishing.

Calm colours for a newly-weds’ flat: how to choose

The calm schemes newly-weds usually ask for rest on one light base colour for the whole flat and a single accent in one chosen place, not a different colour in every room.

• Warm white with beige: calm and easy to live with, and it goes with light wood and cream marble.
• Sandy beige with walnut or oak: warmer, and it suits the reception and the bedroom.
• Light grey leaning to beige, with white: a calm modern look, with a few black touches in the handles and light fittings.
• An accent on one wall: a light olive green, a grey-blue or a muted pink, behind the bed or behind the sofa.

Try a sample of each colour on the wall itself in morning light and at night, because colour changes with the light. Rooms with little sun look cooler, so a warm white usually suits them. Choose a washable paint in the kitchen and corridor; the wall paint colours guide covers the shades in detail.

Ideas for finishing a small flat so it feels bigger

A small flat grows through decisions, not demolition: light colours, reflected light, storage you cannot see, and doors that need no space to open.

• One light colour for walls and ceiling, and one floor through the reception, bedrooms and corridor, with no thresholds.
• Mirrors that reflect daylight, in the entrance or beside a window, and mirrored wardrobe doors.
• Hidden storage: wardrobes up to the ceiling, a bed with storage underneath, cabinets above the corridor door, and a niche in a wall that is not load-bearing and has no pipes or cables in it.
• Sliding doors for the wardrobe and the kitchen. A door that slides into the wall needs a frame built into the wall before plastering, and a stretch of wall with no switches or pipes, so decide early.
• Lighting on more than one level: a perimeter cove and wall lights instead of one central chandelier, without a full false ceiling that eats into the height.
• Plain fronts with recessed handles, in a colour close to the wall, so the wardrobes disappear into the room. That is the heart of a simple modern finish.

The order of works, and who to talk to before you start

The right order is simple: everything that breaks into walls and floors comes before everything that decorates them, and decisions on paper come before any tradesman.

1. Decisions on paper

   The room layout, the kitchen and bathroom, and where the bed, TV, air conditioners and sockets go.

2. Permission and coordination

   Ask the building management or compound about working hours, the lift, debris removal, the façade rules and outdoor air-conditioning units. Changes to the gas line or the position of the cooker or water heater go through the gas company, and big increases in electrical load through the electricity company.

3. Walls and door frames

   Partitions and openings, and the door frames fixed to the finished floor level.

4. First fix

   Electrics, plumbing and air conditioning, with a pressure test on the pipes and photos of the walls before they are closed.

5. Plaster and waterproofing

   Plastering, then waterproofing the bathroom and kitchen, and the flood test.

6. Floors and wall tiles

   Floor tiling and the bathroom and kitchen walls, then gypsum board and the first coats of paint.

7. Fitted pieces

   The kitchen, doors, wardrobes, bathroom vanity and stone tops, after the final measurements.

8. Final coat and handover, then furniture

   The last coat of paint, the clean, a room-by-room check against the quotation, and then the furniture goes in.

This coordination is practical advice, not a statement of law: the rules differ from place to place, so get the answer in writing. The finishing steps guide covers each stage in detail.

Timing before the wedding: start early, furnish last

Start as early as you can, because how long the finishing takes depends on the state of the flat, the amount of work and how quickly you decide, not on the wedding date.

• Settle the kitchen, bathroom, floors and colours before work starts; late decisions are among the commonest causes of delay and breaking out.
• Choose the tiles, sanitaryware and stone early, and buy all the tiles from one batch.
• The made-to-measure kitchen, wardrobes and doors are measured once the walls and floors are finished, not from the drawing, and then made.
• New plaster has to dry before it is painted, and that stage cannot be rushed.
• Leave a gap between the end of the work and the wedding for the clean, fixing snags and bringing in the furniture.
• If time is short, finish what is buried, the kitchen, the bathroom and the bedroom first, and leave decoration and decorative gypsum for later.

Rough quantities for your flat, and how to compare quotations

Quantities are worked out by the metre, not guessed. These examples use the quantity calculator’s own method and are not prices; they assume a ceiling of about 2.9 m and bathrooms of about 4 m² each:

In the calculator, enter your net floor area rather than the contract area; the final quantities come from measuring on site. The finishing-cost-by-size guide explains what grows with floor area and what does not.

When you compare two quotations, compare the lines, not the totals: the quantity, unit and specification; whether waterproofing, the flood test and debris removal are written in; and who buys the materials and in whose name the invoice is issued. The finishing BOQ and finishing contract guides cover the lines, staged payments, timing and changes.

Itmam and newly-weds’ flats

Itmam (إتمام للتشطيبات والتوريدات) is a finishing, decoration and supply company based in Alexandria: the head office is in El Ibrahimya and the marble and granite showroom in El Deresa, Moharram Bey. We work in Alexandria, the North Coast and New Cairo, and elsewhere in Egypt when the job suits. Itmam was founded in 2016, with 20+ years in the trade.

We visit and measure the flat, then write a detailed, itemised quotation before any work starts. On a finishing contract you pay each supplier directly at their price, and the tax invoice is in your name; our management fee for supervision and execution is agreed in writing before we begin, and we add nothing to the price of materials.

Kitchens, wardrobes, doors, vanities, metalwork and stone tops are made in our own workshops; we also supply sofas and living-room seating, upholstery and curtains, and supply-only is available. Phone and WhatsApp +20 106 926 2572, Saturday to Thursday, 09:00 to 18:00.