Behind the scenes

As the sixth months approaches since we brought the house I thought it was about time I activated the blog once again!!

We celebrated our first Christmas which was extra especially special as it was also the first time we hosted Christmas. It was brilliant to wake up in our home and start our own traditions which our children will continue.  I love Christmas the romance, the delicious smells which come from the kitchen and of course dressing the tree and putting up the decorations. I did have a slight panic as we brought down the two small boxes from the loft and thought I would never have enough to fill the tree. Luckily the house is yet to have any shelving which would need any festive cheer. I’ll be shopping and doing lots of making in preparation for next year.

  Lots of varieties of holly in the garden meant I could hang garlands on each door.

We did have a stormy surprise Christmas eve when we awoke our huge eucalyptus tree at the bottom of the garden was no longer there. This does now mean we will be working on the garden sooner rather than later because it needs a whole new re-design, so watch this space.

This was not the first or the last time our contingency was dipped into since we have moved in. A leaky roof,  faulty heating and 3 visits later from the plumber! Dodgy electrics and the rain gets into the TV ariel and wipes the signal, not helped by our very wet winter!

What will spring have in store for the house?

 

Victorian Radiators

Do not leave your radiators on your driveway!!

In order to re-plaster and paint the walls we needed to remove the radiators. We put them on the drive to store. Within a few hours they were no longer there…

help yourself why don’t you!!

We had every intention of eventually replacing the radiators with ones which are more in keeping with the Victorian look, but now need to replace a little sooner than expected. Well they are not the cheapest things in the world.

Choosing a radiator is not easy…you need to think about the BTU, height, width, how many columns and that is all before you can decide on the colour (the best bit)

We chose Traditional Cast Iron Victorian School style radiators for downstairs in Anthracite. They look perfect and in keeping for the house.

Upstairs we decided on a modern twist after a lot of searching on the internet Nick sourced these white rounded edge Classic Column style radiator.

The skirting boards

The only area in the house to have the original skirting was in the hall. Trying to match the height and beading was a challenge in itself. After trawling the internet with little luck I ordered some samples of bullnose skirting…however the samples never arrived. With time against us our best bet was a trip on saturday to the local Travis Perkins who came to the rescue, 45 metres of skirting and beading later and a delivery on the monday we could get started.

 What an amazing job. I love the curves we have on a few of the walls and the skirting now mirrors the shape.

The result, no longer a yellowing varnish but the Brilliant white satinwood. We decided on brushed steel for the sockets and switches. A polished finish to the rooms.

Wood chip wallpaper

6 rooms and 11 sacks makes a lot of wallpaper.

How do you spend a bank holiday weekend when you have just brought a house…stripping the walls of paper of course. Why oh why did people think wood chip was a good idea and why oh why did they put it on the ceiling.

    Some of the original wallpapers we uncovered.

 We discovered under all the layers marks showing all the original features. Here is the dado rail marking.

Welcome

I am an Artist, Teacher, wife and mummy. My husband and I have just brought a Victorian house which is looking a little bit tired and in need of some T.L.C.

My blog will show the highs and lows as we strip it back, return original features and start to add colour, texture and style turning it into our family home.