{my first period}

Property that is...

I started writing this blog post last night and actually am off work today.  I have a few bits and bobs planned including someone from a damp / rot company coming to the house to discuss a couple of things.  That's the only issue for me with older properties - the maintenance.  But I could still never go new build.  Period properties just do it for me!!

I have owned three properties in my life so far.  I bought my first flat just before turning 21.  It was a two bed Victorian tenement flat in the centre of Aberdeen.  I lovingly stripped back all of the woodwork and restored the doors - heat guns, nitromors, scrapers.....but it was worth it.  I stayed in it for two years before selling.  That was me hooked on the high ceilings and coving.  I've never looked back.  I'm surprised by my own file organisation as have managed to find some photos of it to show you!

Tenement from the outside - a little grubby looking! I was top floor.

My bedroom - the days when brown was my colour of choice (sorry grey!)

Kitchen - I think this looks terrible now but I loved pink!  This was the photo for sale.

My lounge - furniture was a random assortment of stuff I inherited being a poor student!

More pink stuff but these doors were all white when I moved in.

My next property was a ground floor Victorian two bed two public roomed flat in the West end of Aberdeen. I finally had my own front door.  It was like my own little house.  I loved this flat and did a lot of work in it over the four years I stayed there.  Redecorated every room, new flooring throughout (which I installed myself), new fireplace, new kitchen...again got some pics.

The front door of my old flat.  Lovely looking building on a tree lined street.

The lounge the day I moved in...(didn't have my wide angle lens then!!)

The lounge photo for selling. New floor, new blinds, repainted.

My bedroom - previous owners loved blue - carpet and stripes

My bedroom once decorated

Kitchen on the day I moved in - more blue!!

My new kitchen which was from Ikea.  Loved those plum brick shaped tiles!!

Dining Room on the day I moved in.  This wall colour was vile and the fireplace not great either!

Photo for selling - new fireplace, floor and redecorated.  Paint is Box Tree by Crown.  I had plum accessories to pull on the plum tiles in the kitchen.  The door was removed to try and create an open plan flow to the space.

Alternative view of the dining room.

Second bedroom which I used as my photography studio.

Hallway with moulded doors, skirting and plaster cornicing.

The next move was to the house I am in now.  I have been very fortunate with my property purchases making money with each move to build up my capital.  I have many friends who have not been so fortunate.  I do believe in stretching yourself.  No pain no gain is a motto which can be applied to many aspects of life.  I remember days when I literally did not have a penny in my bank account because I was mortgaged up to the hilt!  But it has all worked out in the end and looking back I wouldn't change anything.

I have taken some photos of the period features in my current house but will save them for another blog post as this has ended up quite long....

Bye for now...

XXX

{inspiration board - lounge}

Not been up to all that much lately, started making my tartan curtains for the master bedroom - will do a blog post when they are finished.  Its been pretty tough mainly due to the size and weight of the material!

Once the new year has hit I will be finalising the drawings with the architect for the kitchen / dining / lounge area and then getting some quotes.

In the mean time I have put together an inspiration board with my ideas for the lounge.  I found a really nice photo of a pale grey room which is making me question between light and dark grey for the walls but am pretty set on it being grey with some colour pops.

{little bedroom]

I decided to start decorating some of the bedrooms upstairs.  The thought being that while I am saving up to take on the big project I will get on with some of the lower cost DIY intensive rooms.

The single bedroom upstairs seemed like a good candidate as it is the smallest room in the house.  It has a single bed with a pull out underneath for when my delightful but chaotic niece and nephew come to stay.

So the plan of action and current progress:

1) Strip the wall paper - in parts the wall paper turned out to be 4 layer thick and had yellow, pink, blue and grey (yey!) plus a few layers of paint. So all in all it was a bit of a slog to remove and I'd estimate took about 10 hours.  I just finished this the other night.

2) Rip off the current skirting boards - I will be replacing with new either in a traditional style.

3) Remove the raditaor and light switches / fittings

4) Get the walls skimmed or lining papered

5) Get the door dipped and strip and repaint the surround white - I've almost stripped all the paint off the door surround.

6) Install new picture rail painted white

7) Install new radiator

8) Install new light fittings / switches and plug sockets

9) Install new laminate flooring and skirting boards

10) Paint the room (jury still out over the colour...)

Here are some colours I like - leaning towards the more period colours and possibly a blue, green, purple or yellow.  I'm not allowed to paint it a pale grey....!!!

This is my favourite inspiration so far for colours:

This is Farrow and Ball paint in colours stone blue and brassica.  I love this!!!

Some colours from Fired Earth...

Some colours from Farrow & Ball

If there is space we would love to put in a traditional style radiator:

I like this vintage style light for on the wall:

{technical drawings}

So I had the architect back last week again to show me the drawings he'd done of the house.  He rocked up with a tube of drawings - one of the existing layout of the house and one of the new proposed layout.  The new drawing isn't finished yet as I still have a few decisions to make.  His drawings were all hand drawn which reminded me of my drawing lessons at uni - I was seriously impressed and got very excited.

He left me with a couple of options and he's also come up with a brilliant idea to make the room space even more symmetric and large!  You might be able to spot the differences by looking at the original floor plan in my previous post.  Trying to explain it in words....When you come down the stairs to the basement level in front of you is a wall and a small cupboard.  This wall and cupboard are not load bearing and our architect is proposing we knock them down and bring the wall forwards towards the stairs to make the kitchen/dining/living room larger.  He is also proposing either a glass wall be put up or double doors. I am favouring the glass wall option for several reasons - 1) It means the entrance to the room is in the kitchen area and does not create a thoroughfare through the rest of the space to get to the kitchen 2) It means the large spare can be used for something specific rather than a walkway (we are thinking dining table) and 3) Having a glass wall will let much needed light into the bottom of the stairwell.

Here are the rough sketches the architect left with me to decide which option to go for.  A is my preference.  The kitchen layouts are not as they would be.  I definitely want a kitchen island in the middle of the room.  Our architect has supplied the drawings to Kitchens International who are currently drawing up a kitchen layout for us.  I am going over to the showroom later today for a cookery demonstration showing how to use steam ovens / induction hobs etc (and a free lunch!).

Edit - Back from the KI demo and have had my first Xmas lunch of the year!  Was lovely.  Looks like I will be going for an induction hob, a steam oven, a dual control oven and a combination microwave! :-)

{cook, eat, chill}

My architect is coming back again tomorrow to see the house in daylight and measure the house so he can start his drawings.  So excited!!  Starting to consider furniture, it's a bit tricker for me as my style is not ultra modern but that is the look I am going for.

[sofas]

My current sofa is the yellow fabric corner sofa which is shown in my blog here, I don't think I would choose a fabric sofa again.  I've had various spills on it (niece / nephew related and also a glass of red wine!) so its beginning to look a bit worse for wear.  I'd go for leather this, much more practical.  Not 100% on the colour it should be.  The kitchen, walls and flooring will most likely be whites and greys.  So opting for a grey sofa would be safe but I don't want the space being too flat.  I think coloured leather can look a bit naff sometimes.

I like this sofa, its a blend of modern and traditional, found on this website but it doesn't look very good for snuggling up on.

I also like the look of this one (the back is adjustable).

I quite like sofas with the inbuilt chaise.  Again from the same website

From boconcept

[feature chair]

A modern feature chair would be nice for in the bay window.  This one is from BoConcept

[dining table]

I am in love with this table which is chunky wood with metal legs for an industrial feel.  It's available from this website in a massive range of sizes and I would go for the grey wash or natural finish.  Chairs to go with this would probably be modern fabric covered as per the photo or possibly white plastic type chairs.

[wall art]

I bought a Future Map (which is still sitting in the tube!) to improve my geography but I will hang it in the study area I think.  It's massive at about 2m by 1m and I fancy getting an acrylic frame for it.  I love the colours of it.

I love the idea of having a painting but I have never really seen any paintings which I love.  I don't own any paintings. I love the look of oil paintings and their depth.

I really like wall stickers and have fancied a grandfather clock one for a while.  Might be a fun contrast against the modern kitchen.  These are from mod livin'

I don't actually eat marmite but I love this from TheFineArtCompany

Heinz related wall art would be cool.  Some of their advertising campaigns are very clever.

I've just discovered the website Bouf and it has so much cool stuff on it.  Def check it out.  Here are some quirky prints which I think are cool (all from Bouf).

I love this vintage book wallpaper from Bouf, might be able to incorporate into the study area.

[the kitchen]

Finally a work colleague gave me some great tips on buying my kitchen and some contacts.  He also shared a photo of his kitchen which is very similar to the sort of thing I want.  It looks brilliant.  I'm hoping my project will turn out as good as this.

{that wall must come down}

For now I have decided to focus on the basement level first and have arranged for my architect to come round tomorrow night and kick off the design process.  I'm keen to hear his thoughts but my plans have changed slightly since my last post on this.  Where we thought we might have a pantry we will make into a WC and it will definitely be an office / study area rather than a snug.

So over the past week I have been out and about looking at kitchens and bathrooms.  I am most impressed with Kitchens International (and I have a design appt with them on Tuesday next week) and also Laings in Inverurie.  But at this stage I'm just getting ideas.

I have a good idea of how I would like the kitchen to be which is described in my last post.  However, I've started thinking about the fire place for the dining room area and I quite fancy a gas stove.

This image is actually from ASPC and a property which is currently up for sale.  If I went for something like this I would like to have more industrial style dining table and chairs.  A mix of chunky wood and metal.

I also really like cast iron fire places but I think I am leaning towards a gas stove.

You can see more of my inspiration with boards for each room on my Pinterest.

:-)

{industrial perfection}

I have ordered a new bed from sofa.com for the master bedroom. It's the angelica bed in king size in olive velvet.  It arrives on the 2nd of November (nice birthday treat for me!!).

angelica bed from sofa.com

I am going to be making tartan curtains for the bedroom using the previously purchased Moon fabric (originally for the dining room).  I need to get bedside cabinets and bedside lamps.  I quite fancy an industrial metal bedside table to contrast with the traditional bed and have been trying to source online.  These are the ones I have found so far:

Quite like these but would want sides and a door for them to hide away all my bits and bobs.

Etsy - shop Jreal

I love these but they are just so expensive I can't justify them (around £1400 for the pair without shipping).  They are the closest thing I have found to my vision though.

Etsy - DavidBarthFurniture

This is an ebay listing which is no longer live.

Found these on a website which are also sold.

Another one which is out of stock from RocketStGeorge

Also like this one from RocketStGeorge which is in stock.

Might be hard to source but I think something similar to the above would work well.  

Regarding the bedside lamps I saw this one in John Lewis the other day but in grey, I am obsessed with grey.  I love it! Classic lamp.

This is the lamp but the website doesn't seem to show it in the grey version.

To tie in with the tartan curtains and the bed I really fancy a stag antler chandelier. I saw one when staying at The Boath House near Nairn and I have recently found out that Burning Embers in Aberdeen sell resin ones which is even better!  Here is something similar I have found online (Esty):

That's all for now.....

:-)