HOUSE RENO CONTINUED...a proper grown up bedroom.

Good morning, things are pretty manic this week after the Easter break but it's great to get back in the studio. There's a bit of a mad rush now until our studio deadline in little over three weeks but I'm gonna try my best not to let the blog posts slip!

Last week I shared with you a glimmer of our very own house reno, starting with the living room and conservatory. Well I thought seeing as though were getting to know each other nicely it's about time to share a few more snaps of the pad...

Today lets tour into the bedroom, which I think has to be my favourite room in the house.
Evidently, it's got a pretty different vibe to the rooms you saw last week -  I'm blaming this on my girl/ interior/ career and all round general crush, Abigail Ahern. Since I started reading her books and following her, interiors stuff just makes so much more sense and our house has definitely got A LOT COOLER! 

I plan to incorporate THE TIPS and cooler colours we've used in the latter renovations (bedroom, hall and main bathroom) into the rooms we did first (kitchen, conservatory and lounge) later on - Craig is about ready to kill me already so I'm not sure he can handle another paint job quite yet! This is not to say I don't like these rooms, I just feel they lack, hmmm, spunk.

So the master bedroom originally had a small, awkwardly (and stupidly) fit bathroom on the side, we knocked the dividing wall down and very, VERY BRAVELY opted to go for an open plan wet room in the bedroom space - complete with toilet! Yep you heard me, our loo is open into our bedroom. To be honest I've heard just about every man and his dogs opinion on this that I'm wayyyy past caring, it might not work for everyone but it WORKS FOR US, its our home and WE LOVE IT :D

P.S Please excuse some of the earlier photos, mid- reno we were just snapping with iPhones so the quality isn't great.

And AFTER...

 

Forgive me for the photo overload  -  I'm practicing my photography skills! I've also added some pics mid- decorating below to show the progress. Again, this room is not totally complete - we're waiting for some wood sills and we need way more art and 'stuff' to make the space more interesting, but hell it's one big improvement don't you think???

 I'll post up some pictures of the sill when it comes, hopefully that will be next week. 

This room was HARD GRAFT and did almost break us (just kidding - came close though!), but to say we now have a gorgeous room that is so MUCH MORE than a room to sleep in is amazing. Craig did much of this work himself (obviously under close supervision), but that really helps with savings if you can do it. I think if we'd have had to pay labour we would'nt have been able to afford a room like this. Have a go I say, you might surprise yourself!

  I've never really had a proper grown up space like this before, and I'd say the colour plays a MASSIVE part in this feeling, it creates such a 'hunker down' feel. So many people knocked this idea of DARK BLUE walls. "What all over?", " YES MAM EVERY WALL WILL BE PAINTED DARK". My advice to take from this - tell everyone who is interested that you're painting your rooms white, then let them be pleasantly surprised when they see how gorgeous your newly painted dark walls are! I was nervous as hell when I started painting the walls, but I stuck with my instinct ( and Abigail Aherns advice) and went for it. And now I feel there is no going back, you'll see what I mean when I share with you some more snaps of the latest paint jobs.

Be brave - it's game changing!

XOXO.

P.s We used Farrow and Ball Hague Blue Estate emulsion on the walls if your interested ;)

What a difference a knob (ahem drawer!) makes..

Thought I'd share with you guys a little post on another small home project. I painted this dresser about two years ago now when we first moved in so please excuse the paint job as it's ready for a touch up. However I have finally gotten round to sprucing up the drawer knobs, and what a difference they make, just goes to show that the little (inexpensive) details can truly transform a piece...

BEFORE...

F.Y.I. The knobs were bought from a local Alladins cave of a shop in Skelton, Cleveland called Signz interiors, the smaller were £3.99 and the larger £5.99 -  cheaper than most crystal ones I have seen online ;) They had a good selection of colours too!

XOXO.

House reno. PART I...

Sorting through some photos on my mac I came across some 'before' snaps of the house. So for those of you who don't know, we've been busy renovating our house - its not been lots of major, structural stuff but still its been a bit of a long haul. Seeing these pics makes me realise just how much we've done, it definitely feels rewarding. We are almost there so more pics will follow, but in the mean time here's the living room and conservatory snaps...

The living room before we started, when we moved in we stripped a load of bright pink flock wall paper, and paired it right back. we opted for paper on one wall to compliment the natural colour of the  original fireplace. We ripped up 13 year old Karndean flooring and lived with painted floor boards for the 1st year, which I really quite liked at the time but looking back it was all a bit pale.

Then after about a year we made the decision to add a log burner, the house is pretty cold and with the conservatory being all glass its almost unusable in the winter. After a few domestic tifs about where the burner would go and getting past the complications of the glass roof , I finally got my own way and we decided to go for a through and through burner (means it is open in both sides), and we knocked through from the living room into the conservatory. My advice to anyone doing anything similar would be question the obvious. To me, this comes pretty natural, I question EVERYTHING, but my husband wasn't getting it and I was starting to feel a little ganged up on by men to say the least.

STICK TO YOUR GUNS. Yeah it cost a little more, but to me if I couldn't have it how I pictured then it wasn't worth having at all. Both my husband and the fitter were making faces when I asked if it was a possibility, but as soon as I heard him say "It's more difficult, but yeah", I snapped it right up! Don't just do things cos' it's the norm or cos it's all that your workman is capable of, if you visualise something in a certain way, PIPE UP and don't settle for less until you know that it's absolutely IMPOSSIBLE.

A stud chimney breast had to be built on the lounge side in order to create room for the chimney to be diverted away from the glass roof and out to the house roof.

We (I say we...Craig), knocked out the brick under the window, when we had new windows fitted through the house, we opted for French doors here. The idea here is that one day we will build a balcony along the back of the house...one day!

DRUMROLL....TA DAHHH!!!!....

 In the conservatory besides the log burner I'd say the game changer has been painting the mahogany woodwork. It's really lifted the space as well as modernising it at the same time. The walls look so bare on these photos and were crying out for a coffee table or ottoman in this space but I'm holding out to find 'the one'.

So were obviously not totally finished, the most important touches are still yet to be added but like Craig keeps telling me, we can collect those over the years we plan to be here. Like the conservatory the lounge walls still feel so bare and we definitely need some rugs going on. And like Abigail Ahern keeps on telling us, there should be way more lighting in this room- we do have a dimmer though so that's a bonus ;) Keep reading for updates on our very own house reno. and please feel free to comment ;) XOXO.