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Tuesday 3 January 2012

The House - respectable enough!

I have finally decided that the house is sorted enough to take some pictures and let you see where we have got to. As you know, the kitchen has been having a bit of a revamp recently. It doesn't actually look much different: the flooring has been replaced and we have acquired some cupboards (rehashed from the ones we took down to create more work surface), but other than that, all the work was under the floors and so can't been seen. However, this is where we are now:


The rest of the photos really speak for themselves. To see some idea of what the house we like before we started building, click here I haven't shown the garden yet as there is still too much to do before I am satisfied that you can see it but rest assured it is under way. As there was so much to do, there are still things that we haven't done yet in the decoration area. Pictures are up mostly but I still want to decorate Isla's room in a more little girl friendly way; we still need a wardrobe for the guest room and decent curtains in there; light fittings are being done one room at at a time; some of the doors haven't yet been varnished and the back of the garage that has become a utility area is still bare plaster. Some things just have to wait. These will be done but slowly and in a financially responsible way (damn!).

Enjoy the pictures:



Before: the top of the stairs. The metal railings were original but no longer legal or safe. We opted to take them out as Isla loves climbing too much! The carpets were foul and this was the only place in the house to have white skirting boards. The wall at the top of the stairs was asking to create an emergency trip to A and E!

After - there were five different architraves and four different types of skirting. We went with the majority in the house and ended up with wood!  We also removed the non-child-friendly banister rails and wall.


My creative space - when I have time. It still needs the final piece of shelf replaced but that is surprisingly complicated, and I want a notice board. They can both wait. It's usable and that is fabulous.

The stairway (with Christmas tinsel!). Much better, cleaner, far nicer carpet, safe and not a dull brown colour. We have currently opted for cream throughout the house and neutral carpets as that saved having to make loads of decorative decisions as well as all the structural and building decisions. Colour can come later and in the soft furnishings - when we get around to buying them.
Leaky, foul, dark, no where to wash your hands (how disgusting is that!?)
You do not want to know what we found in that cupboard or on the back of the door. Or under the bath, for that matter. And the brown in the bath was rust. Let's just say it all had to come out.

We knocked down the wall and blocked in the extra door. Much better. And we painted over that orange. It will be even better when we can dispose of the nappy bucket with changing table and find a mirror that fits the space above the sink.

Do you like the tiling? I did that. Cleaner, no rust, no disgusting items hanging on the back of the door, and you can shower with a warm towel afterwards. Lovely.             




























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