The ridiculous Edwardian...
Discussion
I have been debating on whether to post a refurb thread as some of the ones on here are quite intimidating to say the least (Harry/AJR/Schmeeky!) 
However been on this site for a while (who knew 194 months was 16 years
) and the majority of folks (like in life) are generally good eggs who support each other, so here goes.
We moved from a 4 bed 2000 Barratt cardboard house (good solid house actually and happy for 17 years - it was our first house purchase) to a place nearer work because the commute was getting tedious in the extreme. We decided we wanted something with a bit of character to it so purchased a 5 bed, 1906 built house we fondly refer to as 'the ridiculous Edwardian' as there are only 2 of us with 5 cats, so why the heck would anyone need that space? (FYI it's only mad cat person status when you get to 7 ok.).
The house has had a new roof and been re-plastered and rewired. Some of these things are good, some not so good. It didn't look much from the agents photos and we nearly didn't go in. Because of the work already done, it's not going to be the crazy and amazing back to brick transformation of some threads but more of a sympathetic updating. Here are some of the photos we took when we came to see the place.
Horrible 1990's upvc front door
Original encaustic tiled hall and original stairs
Living room
Sitting room
Dining room
Kitchen
Master bedroom
Second bedroom
3rd bedroom
|https://thumbsnap.com/sY12LDZe[/url]
4th bedroom
5th bedroom
Bathroom
As you can see the decor is a bit tired. It's also not entirely to our taste. However the spaces are lovely, there are lots of original features, the view from the top room is amazing and the potential is huge.
However been on this site for a while (who knew 194 months was 16 years
) and the majority of folks (like in life) are generally good eggs who support each other, so here goes.We moved from a 4 bed 2000 Barratt cardboard house (good solid house actually and happy for 17 years - it was our first house purchase) to a place nearer work because the commute was getting tedious in the extreme. We decided we wanted something with a bit of character to it so purchased a 5 bed, 1906 built house we fondly refer to as 'the ridiculous Edwardian' as there are only 2 of us with 5 cats, so why the heck would anyone need that space? (FYI it's only mad cat person status when you get to 7 ok.
).The house has had a new roof and been re-plastered and rewired. Some of these things are good, some not so good. It didn't look much from the agents photos and we nearly didn't go in. Because of the work already done, it's not going to be the crazy and amazing back to brick transformation of some threads but more of a sympathetic updating. Here are some of the photos we took when we came to see the place.
Horrible 1990's upvc front door
Original encaustic tiled hall and original stairs
Living room
Sitting room
Dining room
Kitchen
Master bedroom
Second bedroom
3rd bedroom
|https://thumbsnap.com/sY12LDZe[/url]4th bedroom
5th bedroom
Bathroom
As you can see the decor is a bit tired. It's also not entirely to our taste. However the spaces are lovely, there are lots of original features, the view from the top room is amazing and the potential is huge.
Thank you for your kind words 
The house is a bit odd in that when it was built, they put it on a long thin strip of land in the middle of a larger plot. Nothing was built either side until about 30 years later. Some were built across the road earlier and about the same time. We started doing the research on the house because we wanted to be sympathetic to its era and roots. We thought it was Victorian at first but the build date and some of the styling takes it firmly into Edwardian (even though we are in the provinces). It was a time of huge expansion in our town and the original owner was a brewers agent. It looks like that was a good job to have as on the 1911 census he had a wife, 5 kids and a live in servant.
As we have 3 downstairs reception rooms we thought we could have the living room and dining rooms in the same place as the other owner. What to do with the third though?
I know, says the OH, a library!
Ok, it started off as a library but has become a lot more. Here is the original room again..
The fireplace didn't look good at all. Turns out it was a 1930s upgrade to a back boiler system that had stayed.
The other thing to note is that when they re plastered, they didn't remove the mirror but plastered up to it.
so we were left with the hole you can see above. They also did this with the alarm PIRs. As you can also see from the pic, the electrician didn't own a spirit level or a tape measure. We have kept the mirror as it did not go with the fireplace at all but appeared to be from a larger structure and probably is original to the house.
We decided to pull the fireplace out and replace it with something a bit more sympathetic. Decided on a gas fire as we are in the middle of the town and log burners are just a whole heap of 's
t waiting to happen' in cities I think.
The house is a bit odd in that when it was built, they put it on a long thin strip of land in the middle of a larger plot. Nothing was built either side until about 30 years later. Some were built across the road earlier and about the same time. We started doing the research on the house because we wanted to be sympathetic to its era and roots. We thought it was Victorian at first but the build date and some of the styling takes it firmly into Edwardian (even though we are in the provinces
). It was a time of huge expansion in our town and the original owner was a brewers agent. It looks like that was a good job to have as on the 1911 census he had a wife, 5 kids and a live in servant.As we have 3 downstairs reception rooms we thought we could have the living room and dining rooms in the same place as the other owner. What to do with the third though?
I know, says the OH, a library!Ok, it started off as a library but has become a lot more. Here is the original room again..
The fireplace didn't look good at all. Turns out it was a 1930s upgrade to a back boiler system that had stayed.
The other thing to note is that when they re plastered, they didn't remove the mirror but plastered up to it.
so we were left with the hole you can see above. They also did this with the alarm PIRs. As you can also see from the pic, the electrician didn't own a spirit level or a tape measure. We have kept the mirror as it did not go with the fireplace at all but appeared to be from a larger structure and probably is original to the house.We decided to pull the fireplace out and replace it with something a bit more sympathetic. Decided on a gas fire as we are in the middle of the town and log burners are just a whole heap of 's
t waiting to happen' in cities I think.Edited by Ace-T on Friday 22 March 19:19
The original fireplace we found
Removing the back boiler pipes
Filling it all in again
Making it neat
Of course I cannot now find all the inbetween photos so I will just cut to the chase. We wanted this room to be as ridiculous as the house felt to us (in a good way!) so it became an edwardian gentlemens club room, complete with grand piano.
(Apologies for the slightly crap photo, I have been experimenting with the panorama picture thingy on my phone).
It has been quite an interesting room to furnish as it is not very normal The fireplace was a bargain as the walnut surround was ex display and the fire and tiles had been lounging in the store room for about 3 years and they wanted rid. The big display case is oak and we think 1930ish and was £150 from British Heart Foundation. The chaise is green velvet and from early 1900 at the latest.
The piano is walnut veneer and from 1930, the pictures are all by one artist called David Roberts and 5 of them were a fiver each on ebay. The curtains are chocolate silk (blanket interlined) and fit the windows and patio doors perfectly - another ebay bargain. My sister gave me the light as she was redecorating and was going to chuck it. It has turned out to be a cosy and fun room with lots of stuff to entertain oneself with on a winters eve as you sip your brandy.
Removing the back boiler pipes
Filling it all in again
Making it neat
Of course I cannot now find all the inbetween photos so I will just cut to the chase. We wanted this room to be as ridiculous as the house felt to us (in a good way!) so it became an edwardian gentlemens club room, complete with grand piano.
(Apologies for the slightly crap photo, I have been experimenting with the panorama picture thingy on my phone).
It has been quite an interesting room to furnish as it is not very normal
The fireplace was a bargain as the walnut surround was ex display and the fire and tiles had been lounging in the store room for about 3 years and they wanted rid. The big display case is oak and we think 1930ish and was £150 from British Heart Foundation. The chaise is green velvet and from early 1900 at the latest. The piano is walnut veneer and from 1930, the pictures are all by one artist called David Roberts and 5 of them were a fiver each on ebay. The curtains are chocolate silk (blanket interlined) and fit the windows and patio doors perfectly - another ebay bargain. My sister gave me the light as she was redecorating and was going to chuck it. It has turned out to be a cosy and fun room with lots of stuff to entertain oneself with on a winters eve as you sip your brandy.
Edited by Ace-T on Friday 22 March 19:59
DonkeyApple said:
That’s a superb room. Any self respecting Edwardian gentleman would be proud to blow his brains out with his service revolver after being discovered pilfering the petty cash at the local orphanage in such a room.
Why, thank you kind sir!C70GT said:
What a stunning transformation. Everything in that room in the before photo is just so wrong. Everything in the after photo is just so right.
Thank you, I do feel it is quite a marmite room though. I am fairly sure outside of film sets no one under the age of 85 who doesn't own a stately home has a room like this. Although there were some contenders recently in the Real Estate Nightmares thread. TR4man said:
Love the last photo - I can almost imagine Dr Watson sitting in one of the armchairs and Sherlock standing by the fireplace filling his pipe!
I am a bit of a Holmes and Watson geek. I have about 14 different editions of the books including the 1890s onwards bound versions of the Strand magazine. I got the phrenology skull because they have one in the Elementary set and these are on the fireplace 
C Lee Farquar said:
That does look like a good room to relax in, assuming you haven't had to resort to the revolver.
So much better than a pseudo multiplex cinema room.
So much better than a pseudo multiplex cinema room.
We may just have one of those too (room not revolver 
). More on that later...Harry Flashman said:
Bookmarked! And that varnished wood panelling is very Edwardian, and dated. We painted ours, and it looks a million times better. Not easily reversible, though...
Can't wait to see what you do with this place. Huge potential. Love the features, especially the stair panelling and hallway tiles.
Get yourself on www.houzz.co.uk, and start building ideabooks. Cannot tell you how useful that site is:
Thanks Harry, we are looking at painting the paneling after having lived with the dark wood for a while. We have done 2 other rooms and have received the benefit of wisdom from Houzz on them already and happily cyberstalked your house for style ideas and discussions too! Can't wait to see what you do with this place. Huge potential. Love the features, especially the stair panelling and hallway tiles.
Get yourself on www.houzz.co.uk, and start building ideabooks. Cannot tell you how useful that site is:
So on to the next room. The same size and layout of space as the library, just one floor up in the second bedroom.
We chose this to be the study because it is a nice big room and we spend waaaaaaaay too longposting crap on Pistonheads
playing computer games er... working, yes thats it, working.
The room when we bought it had an individual decor to say the least. The black wallpaper was hung horizontally and sucked the light out of the room completely. Added to which the dark grey on the chimney wall and the slightly lighter grey everywhere else meant the room was dingy at best. A north facing window completed the effect.
The random bits of black wallpaper were the last owners designery touches. They liked them, we didn't so they had to all go.
However the fireplace is about as difficult a thing to design around that I had ever experienced. Turquoise (original) tiles in a rusty red, black, green, orange, grey marble surround. We painted at least 5 different colours beside it and non of them worked (even lime green - we were desperate!) The OH then suggested we just take a bucket of Johnstones trade matt white to the whole room to neutralise everything first. So we stripped the wallpaper and painted everything a bright white.
This allowed us to take a step back to see the space. it also made the turquiose pop out so we decided to add colour back in through furnishings and pictures and keep the white walls. Whilst the floorboards were painted white, the office chairs were wrecking them so we decided to put flooring in to protect the original boards. a mid grey worked with what we now had. Funnily enough that meant the room was a negative of what it was.
This needed to be a very modern room (no Brobdingnagian desks here unfortunately
) Extraordinarily fortuitously we got hold of a teal velvet sofa that complemented the tiles. That and our existing desks and pictures were put back into the room, arranged, rearranged and arranged again 
It's now a bright comfortable study with working areas and a separate comfortable seating area for taking a break (or more likely reading a dull report :
)
We chose this to be the study because it is a nice big room and we spend waaaaaaaay too long
The room when we bought it had an individual decor to say the least. The black wallpaper was hung horizontally and sucked the light out of the room completely. Added to which the dark grey on the chimney wall and the slightly lighter grey everywhere else meant the room was dingy at best. A north facing window completed the effect.
The random bits of black wallpaper were the last owners designery touches. They liked them, we didn't so they had to all go.
However the fireplace is about as difficult a thing to design around that I had ever experienced. Turquoise (original) tiles in a rusty red, black, green, orange, grey marble surround. We painted at least 5 different colours beside it and non of them worked (even lime green - we were desperate!
) The OH then suggested we just take a bucket of Johnstones trade matt white to the whole room to neutralise everything first. So we stripped the wallpaper and painted everything a bright white.This allowed us to take a step back to see the space. it also made the turquiose pop out so we decided to add colour back in through furnishings and pictures and keep the white walls. Whilst the floorboards were painted white, the office chairs were wrecking them so we decided to put flooring in to protect the original boards. a mid grey worked with what we now had. Funnily enough that meant the room was a negative of what it was.
This needed to be a very modern room (no Brobdingnagian desks here unfortunately
) Extraordinarily fortuitously we got hold of a teal velvet sofa that complemented the tiles. That and our existing desks and pictures were put back into the room, arranged, rearranged and arranged again It's now a bright comfortable study with working areas and a separate comfortable seating area for taking a break (or more likely reading a dull report :
)Edited by Ace-T on Saturday 23 March 22:17
Balmoral said:
It's a lovely old house, I've been round a few times. Library needs a column pedestal and an aspidistra, one day I will turn up with them (along with the usual sherry and fruit cake).
I have an aspidistra in there! In an Edwardian pot no less And you and your OH are always welcome Balmoral (with or without sherry and cake
)We have just been discussing today how we decorate the hall and come to the conclusion that we need to replace that awful door before we do anything.
The choices we have are
1. Restore the original (it's in the shed)
2. Get a replacement hardwood door
3. Get a replacement composite.
Bearing in mind one of your previous careers Balmoral
, we may have to bribe you with dinner and drinks so you can advise us on what to choose. Edited by Ace-T on Sunday 24th March 21:43
There are some rooms that we have done a quick and dirty update on to make them less 'previous owner' and more 'livable'.
The bathroom as you may recall was this:
Bathroom
The awful pale avocado suite was front and centre due to the navy blue wall. Just a strange choice of colour really. Now ripping out the bathroom and installing one I want is a wee bit out of my price range at the moment, so I consulted with the lovely folks on Houzz and got the idea of distracting from the pale avocado with something much more green. It really won't be to everyones taste, but we like it and it does the 'livable' task quite well.
Firstly a bucket of white bathroom paint was bought to cover up the pale grey and navy blue wall. I thought B&Q would do the job. Well, it did, eventually. But only on the pale grey. Three coats in to the job and the blue still was showing. The pale grey took 4 coats to hide. So I decided to do a crazy thing and wallpaper the bathroom. One bamboo print wallpaper later and it looks like this:
Will take another photo tomorrow as we have done a few more bits too.
The other room due a quick update was the master bedroom.
Master bedroom
Most of the decor was ok. That wallpaper however was not conducive to a relaxing time before bed. Especially as they had put it on the opposite wall too!
Stripping off the crazy purple paper was very therapeutic. Popping on some pale blue subtle damask even more so.
Next room we tackled was the dining room. I will keep you in suspense and post that tomorrow. Night night all!
The bathroom as you may recall was this:
Bathroom
The awful pale avocado suite was front and centre due to the navy blue wall. Just a strange choice of colour really. Now ripping out the bathroom and installing one I want is a wee bit out of my price range at the moment, so I consulted with the lovely folks on Houzz and got the idea of distracting from the pale avocado with something much more green. It really won't be to everyones taste, but we like it and it does the 'livable' task quite well.
Firstly a bucket of white bathroom paint was bought to cover up the pale grey and navy blue wall. I thought B&Q would do the job. Well, it did, eventually. But only on the pale grey. Three coats in to the job and the blue still was showing. The pale grey took 4 coats to hide.
So I decided to do a crazy thing and wallpaper the bathroom. One bamboo print wallpaper later and it looks like this:Will take another photo tomorrow as we have done a few more bits too.
The other room due a quick update was the master bedroom.
Master bedroom
Most of the decor was ok. That wallpaper however was not conducive to a relaxing time before bed. Especially as they had put it on the opposite wall too!
Stripping off the crazy purple paper was very therapeutic. Popping on some pale blue subtle damask even more so.
Next room we tackled was the dining room. I will keep you in suspense and post that tomorrow.
Night night all!Gosh, where has the time gone! Last update in March and it's now June. Thanks Daniel and Schmeeky for your kind comments.
So where had we got to. ah yes... the dining room. This was one of the most underused places in the house: several reasons for this. Firstly, it just felt cold and unwelcoming. This was the estate agents photo:
The colours they had picked for this room were fighting with the light, it is an East facing room so gets wonderful morning light. The red made the chimney breast visually intrude and the fire surround was way too big and I kept catching it with my upper arm. I had a semi permanent horizontal bruise there before we took it down.
Happily, a neighbour wanted it so it didn't get wasted and chucked. . The other utterly hideous thing about the room was the light fitting. We called it the blood dripping octopus, it was so hideous even our electrician laughed his socks off when he saw it.
With our furniture and the fireplace surround (and blood dripping octopus) removed.:
We had to work on a scheme that took into account the checkerboard floor. Removing them would be a massive job and as they flow through to the hall, it would rack up the cost. Plus we have not figured out what to do with the hall yet.
We wanted a bright light room that was pleasant to sit in for breakfast and dinner and make the most of the light the room gets in the morning. This crazy wallpaper (which I still love) was considered, but the lovely and helpful folks on the Houzz forum dissuaded us (and rightly so!)
Through a lot of research into colour and reading the fantastic F&B book How to Decorate (not as patronising and pretentious as it sounds! We chose an F&B colour called Breakfast Room Green and a lovely foliage and birds wallpaper from Sanderson. Judas had the inspired idea of paneling the lower part of the room which was a bit more faithful to the era the house was built.
All the skirting, doors and cupboards had to be sanded so I could cover the delightful orange pine stain. Sanding is soooo not my favourite job.
Undercoating all that came next.
Next Job was to cut and fix all the paneling. The purchase of a table saw and a birthday present from my brother of a laser level (I am a lucky girl) was the saving grace on this one!
We decided to do the skirting in the same colour as the panels, with the doors and cupboards in a complimentary white called James White (advice from F&B book). Using a white that is complimentary to the main colour gives a softness that was quite noticeable and we were really pleased we went with the advice. Paneling all done, then popping a dado rail on completed the bottom half of the wall. All now painted and ready for wallpapering
So where had we got to. ah yes... the dining room. This was one of the most underused places in the house: several reasons for this. Firstly, it just felt cold and unwelcoming. This was the estate agents photo:
The colours they had picked for this room were fighting with the light, it is an East facing room so gets wonderful morning light. The red made the chimney breast visually intrude and the fire surround was way too big and I kept catching it with my upper arm. I had a semi permanent horizontal bruise there before we took it down.
Happily, a neighbour wanted it so it didn't get wasted and chucked. . The other utterly hideous thing about the room was the light fitting. We called it the blood dripping octopus, it was so hideous even our electrician laughed his socks off when he saw it.With our furniture and the fireplace surround (and blood dripping octopus) removed.:
We had to work on a scheme that took into account the checkerboard floor. Removing them would be a massive job and as they flow through to the hall, it would rack up the cost. Plus we have not figured out what to do with the hall yet.
We wanted a bright light room that was pleasant to sit in for breakfast and dinner and make the most of the light the room gets in the morning. This crazy wallpaper (which I still love) was considered, but the lovely and helpful folks on the Houzz forum dissuaded us (and rightly so!)
Through a lot of research into colour and reading the fantastic F&B book How to Decorate (not as patronising and pretentious as it sounds!
We chose an F&B colour called Breakfast Room Green and a lovely foliage and birds wallpaper from Sanderson. Judas had the inspired idea of paneling the lower part of the room which was a bit more faithful to the era the house was built.All the skirting, doors and cupboards had to be sanded so I could cover the delightful orange pine stain. Sanding is soooo not my favourite job.
Undercoating all that came next.
Next Job was to cut and fix all the paneling. The purchase of a table saw and a birthday present from my brother of a laser level (I am a lucky girl
) was the saving grace on this one!We decided to do the skirting in the same colour as the panels, with the doors and cupboards in a complimentary white called James White (advice from F&B book). Using a white that is complimentary to the main colour gives a softness that was quite noticeable and we were really pleased we went with the advice. Paneling all done, then popping a dado rail on completed the bottom half of the wall. All now painted and ready for wallpapering
The wallpaper was very easy to put up as it was paste the wall. What wasn't good was the fact that nothing was straight. Luckily the pattern was very forgiving and where we had to bodge it, you can't see it unless you really look
The final bit of red covered.
All done
Furniture and pictures up and moving the furniture around a bit.
It's now a light bright room that is really lovely to sit in for breakfast. We have used it so much more now. Not the cheapest of updates due to the paneling and choice of fairly expensive wallpaper, however we have a room that is no longer just a horrible dim corridor to the kitchen. It's also in keeping with the theme for the ground floor of the house which is pretty traditional.
The final bit of red covered.
All done
Furniture and pictures up and moving the furniture around a bit.
It's now a light bright room that is really lovely to sit in for breakfast. We have used it so much more now. Not the cheapest of updates due to the paneling and choice of fairly expensive wallpaper, however we have a room that is no longer just a horrible dim corridor to the kitchen. It's also in keeping with the theme for the ground floor of the house which is pretty traditional.
Edited by Ace-T on Tuesday 4th June 13:03
Milnero said:
Well done on all your hard work so far, your house is looking fantastic.
I'm also in the process of a refurbishment with a similar style, good luck I will follow your progress with interest.
Thank you, really kind of you. Have you thought of posting a thread on yours? I find these threads quite inspirational. The way folks have got around problems, their chosen decor, the before and after shots all help me and the OH figure out what we can do with ours.I'm also in the process of a refurbishment with a similar style, good luck I will follow your progress with interest.
Schmeeky said:
I just like before and after shots!
I can totally understand if you don't want any more 'I am knackered and I am sanding and I will take a photo for posterity to remind me how bloody hard that was' shots. Schmeeky said:
That is now one charming room!
What a lovely compliment, thank you.The dining room was finished at 10pm Christmas Eve last year. I was hosting the family so wanted to get something done with the room for when they came. I also did not want to be doing anything on it over Christmas hols. It took us about a month and a half of evening and weekend work to get it done.
The reason I posted today was because we have just done the next room. Again driven by an event.
We went away for our 25th wedding anniversary so my brother very kindly agreed to look after the mogs. As he was bringing his girlfriend to stay to I thought it would be nice if the spare room looked a bit better. This idea then very quickly developed into a crazy scheme to do a 'boutique-hotel-style' bedroom. 
In all the rooms we have done so far, we have discovered that having one piece that you can plan the room around really focuses the thinking for the design of the room. In the dining room it is the 16 sided (round) table, the library it was the chaise and piano, the study was the teal sofa. For this bedroom, I found a duvet cover from Next that I really liked. The difficult bit was then to figure out how to make the Ikea oak furniture work with it. The main colour of the duvet matched an archived F&B colour called Drawing Room Blue. Now I have been dying to use a dark scheme somewhere and this proved the perfect opportunity. Crazy dark royal/navy blue it was to be. The thought of it was somewhat terrifying though!
Over to the dark side young padawan...
The guest bedroom is north east facing and about 3m square. The floor is a mahogany colour and the skirting and doors are the old favourite orange pine. Yay!
Estate agents photo
I thought it would be a quick job but it turned out I had to take the wallpaper off. They had plastered in the BT box in the corner and then wallpapered over. So steamer in hand it came off.
Turns out the plaster skim was done by the apprentice that day so had to start filling and sanding all the holes and where it had blown
Getting the courage up to put the dark blue on was interesting...
The more blue that went on the walls the more I realised I would have to paint the skirting as well. Off to Johnstones for matching paint I went. Then as I was too busy getting it done to take any more photos, here is the finished painted room without accessories.
The radiator has not been painted yet as the Johnstons folks gave me oil based eggshell not water based. I was doing the skirtings at midnight and didn't notice it was the wrong type until I tried to wash my brush out.
It will get finished in the next week or so but at the time, I did not have the time to do anything other than get it habitable!
Soft furnishing decisions were next. With such a strong colour, I did not want the curtains to be really 'contrasty'. Found a set of dark blue Eyelet curtains in Dunelm that matched perfectly. With copper metallics and blush accents, it has really lifted the room. The finishing touches were moving a couple of our Vettriano prints from where they had been hung for safekeeping to their new home.
The radiator will be painted in the same blue, as will the window sill. The window recess will be painted in a blush. The bedside cabinets are a temporary fix until I can get replacements for the matching ones I am currently using in our main bedroom. Also I think navy bedding is needed. We have a light fitting to put up as well, so will post a completed pic when we can get that all done.
It was a bit of a scary and bold choice to go so dark, but as it is a room that is only used for guests to sleep over a few nights, I think it gets away with it!
The guest bedroom is north east facing and about 3m square. The floor is a mahogany colour and the skirting and doors are the old favourite orange pine. Yay!
Estate agents photo
I thought it would be a quick job but it turned out I had to take the wallpaper off. They had plastered in the BT box in the corner and then wallpapered over. So steamer in hand it came off.
Turns out the plaster skim was done by the apprentice that day
so had to start filling and sanding all the holes and where it had blown Getting the courage up to put the dark blue on was interesting...
The more blue that went on the walls the more I realised I would have to paint the skirting as well.
Off to Johnstones for matching paint I went. Then as I was too busy getting it done to take any more photos, here is the finished painted room without accessories. The radiator has not been painted yet as the Johnstons folks gave me oil based eggshell not water based. I was doing the skirtings at midnight and didn't notice it was the wrong type until I tried to wash my brush out.
It will get finished in the next week or so but at the time, I did not have the time to do anything other than get it habitable! Soft furnishing decisions were next. With such a strong colour, I did not want the curtains to be really 'contrasty'. Found a set of dark blue Eyelet curtains in Dunelm that matched perfectly. With copper metallics and blush accents, it has really lifted the room. The finishing touches were moving a couple of our Vettriano prints from where they had been hung for safekeeping to their new home.
The radiator will be painted in the same blue, as will the window sill. The window recess will be painted in a blush. The bedside cabinets are a temporary fix until I can get replacements for the matching ones I am currently using in our main bedroom. Also I think navy bedding is needed. We have a light fitting to put up as well, so will post a completed pic when we can get that all done.
It was a bit of a scary and bold choice to go so dark, but as it is a room that is only used for guests to sleep over a few nights, I think it gets away with it!
dhutch said:
The panelling/dado will always be a personal choice, but I love the colours and wall paper, and agree it would be a bit much to have all the wall in that pattern.
Amazing how much difference paint/paper makes, and that anyone could think that chimney breast, light fitting, and fire surround, where in any way a good idea!
Daniel
Agreed on the paneling being a very personal choice. I think the age and style of the house, plus the ceiling height, allows it to work though. Amazing how much difference paint/paper makes, and that anyone could think that chimney breast, light fitting, and fire surround, where in any way a good idea!
Daniel
The red wall and chandelier were another very personal choice, just one that did not work for us. So said:
That room is trippy. The small door is eating the floor.
My terrible photography technique I am afraid! K Stand Ken]70GT said:
What a stunning transformation.
Each to his own of course, but I like, LIKE, [b]LOVE[b] that Gentlemens' club room ! ! ! Well done.
The rest of the house looks great as well. It was one of my ambitions to have a kitchen large enough to use as a family dining area as well as having a separate, more formal dining room. We can do so now, but only by using a drop-leaf table for just the wife and me now out two boys have married.
Thank you for the compliment. Have you done your kitchen then? If yes, get the photos up on a dedicated thread so we can admire it! Each to his own of course, but I like, LIKE, [b]LOVE[b] that Gentlemens' club room ! ! ! Well done.
The rest of the house looks great as well. It was one of my ambitions to have a kitchen large enough to use as a family dining area as well as having a separate, more formal dining room. We can do so now, but only by using a drop-leaf table for just the wife and me now out two boys have married.
Schmeeky said:
Anyhows, enough rambling - looking forward to seeing your next room!
Your wish is my command gooner1 said:
Your Edwardian gentlemens club room is crying out for at least one example of glass encased taxidermy, imo. Looks like a proper warm home though, as opposed to just a house.
Glad you are seeing what we are aiming for. I do like beautifully done interior design but not at the expense of it not being really homely and livable. We are aiming for nicely done and livable and I think we are on track I agree with the taxidermy thing in the library. However I can see the cats being idiots and trying to get at it.
dhutch said:
They had a lot of stuff in that house for the photos didnt they!
Love a shoddy plastering job. Having fully re-wired our Edwardian project, all of the origanal 115yo lime plaster we where a bit worried about was straight flat and mint condition. The new plaster from when it was split into two houses and the porch added, coming off in sheets if you got near it. Chases became 2ft wide holes to brick, striping the paper took the top 2mm off. Ruddy marvel arse.
Its a hell of a brave colour, not only being dark, but being dark on in-ideal walls, but it works doesnt it. Whats it like for feeling dark? Big lights reqd?Daniel
The top 2 photos were estate agents ones. It was all a bit odd as the owner had it on and off the market for about 5 years clearly at too high a price. She also half moved out too at some point then moved back in. She then reduced it we saw it, rest is history.Love a shoddy plastering job. Having fully re-wired our Edwardian project, all of the origanal 115yo lime plaster we where a bit worried about was straight flat and mint condition. The new plaster from when it was split into two houses and the porch added, coming off in sheets if you got near it. Chases became 2ft wide holes to brick, striping the paper took the top 2mm off. Ruddy marvel arse.
Its a hell of a brave colour, not only being dark, but being dark on in-ideal walls, but it works doesnt it. Whats it like for feeling dark? Big lights reqd?Daniel
Sounds like a nightmare with your modern plastering Daniel.
Ours has been completely skimmed over so I expect it will bite us on the butt at some point in the future. The paint is matt so it hides a multitude of sins
and the blue is so rich it doesn't seem a dark room. We have a lovely light in there now, though it was a bit of a pig to put up due to lack of spare wire length in the ceiling.
pmanson said:
Really like the light. Just what I've been looking for for our lounge
Here you go, B&Q special https://www.diy.com/departments/jonas-wire-copper-...
They do matching lamps but it was just a bit too matchy-matchy for me. I couldn't think of a way to make them work. Got the bedside lamps from Dunelm instead.
AlmostUseful said:
I love what you’re doing with this house, each room is great so far.
Thank you Had a bit a chuckle the other evening with Judas about the whole 'desperately seeking validation from strangers on the internet' thing the other night. But it is nice to hear that ones taste in decor is not completely hideous! AlmostUseful said:
Now that's lovely. 
cmvtec said:
judas said:
cmvtec said:
I have one question, though. How do you get in that room visible through the window? I may be presuming that the fireplace is on a party/outside wall?
It's on an internal wall - there is a hallway running behind it to the bathroom and rear bedroom Harry Flashman said:
Very cool. Perhaps a project for later: painting some of that wood furniture to match the rooms. I'm redoing a load of old dark wood furniture given to me by my mother, using DIY chalk paint (coloured emulsion + chalk powder, and then a wax finish). Cheap and satisfying.
On that already. Firstly, a battered old rocking chair was left in the house by the previous owner. She said it had been left here by the person who owned it before her as well (27 years ago) so I felt morally obliged to fix it and do it up. It's glued and screwed back together, sanded and undercoated now. Just been to B&Q to get some fine sandpaper to go over the undercoat before doing a second coat this weekend. Current plan is that it will be a dark blue (using the spare room skirting paint leftover) with three of the spokes on the back as the 3 different colours of the other rooms on this floor: pale blue, teal and green. We will see how that turns out. The next bits of furniture will be the dresser and wine rack in the dining room and the bedroom furniture in the master bedroom. I have got some tile grout spare and going to see how it goes on a couple of small ikea stools first.
The next major project we need to sort is that awful front door.
I think it is about as sympathetic to the house as the PH Lounge when one uses grammar incorrectly. Plus it isn't sealed properly around the edges so its fairly useless too.
So we have been inviting various tradespeople around to see what our options are. Firstly we looked at composite doors. The chaps that came around were all helpful but they all said the same thing: Composite doors are smaller than the door we have now and they would have to make the frame larger and to do that they would use infills. It would be relatively inexpensive to do this but somehow I think it would be too much of a compromise. Some of them couldn't retrofit the original stained glass panel either.
What about a new wooden door then? Well costs on those are not cheap, however it could be done. I don't want engineered wood though, I want solid wood. Well that just makes the costs increase exponentially.
However we have this in the shed...
It is the original front door that has been in the shed (that has half a roof!) since the double glazed monstrosity was put in about 20 years ago. Judas didn't think it could be saved after a quick look (and wasn't keen on how it looked anyway) so we dismissed it.
When James the joiner turned up to quote, we showed him it. He was genuinely surprised at how good a condition it was in, no warping and the tiniest bit of rot on one corner. At this point we were still thinking about going new but his 'new door' quotes were pretty high too.
We then took a walk around the area one evening with a couple of maps from 1901 and 1914. This was to find the houses which were built around the same time as ours to see what we could have. It was very obvious where composites had replaced originals, but there are actually an awful lot of original doors still going strong, It made us rethink our approach.
In addition to this I have the voices of a couple of very kind PHrs (you know who you are) in my ear, telling me a.) not to compromise and b.) use the original door. Just want to say thanks guys, you were right
So today we dragged it out of the shed and cleaned it up. Pics to follow.
I think it is about as sympathetic to the house as the PH Lounge when one uses grammar incorrectly.
Plus it isn't sealed properly around the edges so its fairly useless too.So we have been inviting various tradespeople around to see what our options are. Firstly we looked at composite doors. The chaps that came around were all helpful but they all said the same thing: Composite doors are smaller than the door we have now and they would have to make the frame larger and to do that they would use infills. It would be relatively inexpensive to do this but somehow I think it would be too much of a compromise. Some of them couldn't retrofit the original stained glass panel either.
What about a new wooden door then? Well costs on those are not cheap, however it could be done. I don't want engineered wood though, I want solid wood. Well that just makes the costs increase exponentially.
However we have this in the shed...
It is the original front door that has been in the shed (that has half a roof!) since the double glazed monstrosity was put in about 20 years ago. Judas didn't think it could be saved after a quick look (and wasn't keen on how it looked anyway) so we dismissed it.
When James the joiner turned up to quote, we showed him it. He was genuinely surprised at how good a condition it was in, no warping and the tiniest bit of rot on one corner. At this point we were still thinking about going new but his 'new door' quotes were pretty high too.
We then took a walk around the area one evening with a couple of maps from 1901 and 1914. This was to find the houses which were built around the same time as ours to see what we could have. It was very obvious where composites had replaced originals, but there are actually an awful lot of original doors still going strong, It made us rethink our approach.
In addition to this I have the voices of a couple of very kind PHrs (you know who you are) in my ear, telling me a.) not to compromise and b.) use the original door.
Just want to say thanks guys, you were right So today we dragged it out of the shed and cleaned it up. Pics to follow.
Edited by Ace-T on Saturday 17th August 20:00
Thank you J, now fly my pretty!
It's in pretty great nick and I am really hoping James the joiner is talented enough to be able to sort the teensy bit of rot at the bottom. The other thing that caught my eye was the door knocker. It turns out it is a knocker with knockers!
Apparently mermaid door knockers were a thing.
It's in pretty great nick and I am really hoping James the joiner is talented enough to be able to sort the teensy bit of rot at the bottom. The other thing that caught my eye was the door knocker. It turns out it is a knocker with knockers!
Apparently mermaid door knockers were a thing.
Edited by Ace-T on Saturday 17th August 20:10
Edited by Ace-T on Saturday 17th August 20:15
Thanks for all the replies folks, the front door is the start to the biggest bit of updating we have done on the house so far. Will start to converse with joiner in earnest next week. In the meantime we are doing what most idiots do on a sunny bank holiday, stay indoors and paint!
Three floors of cleaning up orange pine ready to paint, ripping up carpet on the stairs and landing, painting fairly high ceilings and what seems like acres of wall. Made a start on covering up said orange pine today.
Before
After
Some have questioned the covering up of the orange pine, now just with one coat of primer the space looks bigger and brighter so we are happy with the choice. We will also be painting the stair treads and risers but possibly not the spindles. We shall see.
This will turn into a bit of a live blow by low account, so may get a tad tedious.
Three floors of cleaning up orange pine ready to paint, ripping up carpet on the stairs and landing, painting fairly high ceilings and what seems like acres of wall. Made a start on covering up said orange pine today.
Before
After
Some have questioned the covering up of the orange pine, now just with one coat of primer the space looks bigger and brighter so we are happy with the choice. We will also be painting the stair treads and risers but possibly not the spindles. We shall see.
This will turn into a bit of a live blow by low account, so may get a tad tedious.
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