Then and Now: Living Room

When we first viewed the house, it was hard to photograph the living room. It was very dark, and the electricity was off. The room was full of random furniture, so it was a bit difficult to navigate.  (And even more difficult to photograph.)  We could actually see more in the photos than in person!  (I think Niall used his flash?)

Now that the room has been renovated, let's be honest.  It's sometimes still difficult to navigate because of random toys and other goodies left on the ground by certain kiddies.  Oh, and messes I make.

Here's another shot, of the alcove next to the fireplace.  The chimney in this room is capped, and we did  not love the fireplace.  So, out it came.  

We deliberated putting in a liner and fireplace, but we have an art deco cabinet that takes pride of place.  And I really wanted to have built-in storage and bookshelves.  So we left the hearth (put in a new tile) for the cabinet to sit on and had the magical joiners build bookshelves. 

Down the road if we want to put in a fireplace, we still have the option.  (See the pictures stacked on the side of the chair?  We still need to hang a few things...)

We noticed (it was hard to miss, as the first time we viewed the inside of the house it was raining and the water was dripping from the ceiling) there was water ingress.  Worse yet, the survey found dry rot.  Luckily we were able to negotiate a lower purchase price to cover the cost of repairs.

Once we'd concluded missives (and were legally bound to buy the house) we were given permission to strip back the infected timber and let the house air.

Dry rot?  Fixed.  New window over the bay?  Check.  House is water tight!  (But no window treatments yet.  Ikea blinds are on backorder indefinitely, and I can't find anything similar for a reasonable price.)

The floorboards were in such great shape.  And once the room was cleared it was pretty good size. 

Here it is just before the floors got sanded.

And how it looks now.  (Well, not right this minute.  Right this minute there are blankets and toys and clothes randomly thrown around the room.)

Let's face it.  The electrical wiring in the house was, uh, outdated.  The plug on the side of the chimney caught our attention on the first day we viewed.  (Not sure why.)

Since we have so many electronics these days, we had a lot of plugs put in the alcove.  Don't be jealous of the size of our TV.  Niall's ego is a little bruised because no friends want to come watch football (that's soccer in the US) with him.

Another angle.

The door originally opened into the room.

And now it opens to the wall.  (Yup, those are my wellies in the hallway.  They are always kicking around somewhere.  I need to find a place for them.  They've been one of the best investments for the renovation.  So easy to take on and off and covered in dirt and paint!)

Niall finally got his Chesterfield sofa!  (After six years...)  More on that later.  For the moment, I am enjoying sitting on the new sofa.

Then and Now: Bathroom

A friend (Hi Tammy!) asked if we liked the Cardiff house or the Glasgow house better. To be honest, I'm not sure. Both houses are lovely and I'm just glad that we get to live in one of them. I'm pretty sure Niall will say Glasgow, but the location has a lot to do with it. However, when it comes to bathrooms, I definitely like the Glasgow one better.

It didn't start out as much to look at.  Just the typical three piece suite, in less than ideal condition.

But now I really like it.

I realize now the bathtub was beyond saving, but I seriously considered trying to save this guy.  We ended up kicking it to the curb, and about two minutes later got the Mr. Metal to come and collect it for scrap.  (It was steel and HEAVY.)

The new tub is extra wide (at least for a UK tub) and as long as we could possibly fit in the space.  At the suggestion of the plumbers, we have the bath taps on one end and the shower head and controls on the other.

If you (like us) don't have room for a separate shower, having the tub taps and shower head on opposite sides is nice way to go.  

And do you see the shelf under the shower head?  It may not look like much, but it is one of my favorite things.  It's long enough to hold all the bits and bobs and deep enough to hold the shampoo bottles.  Niall had to drive to a random post office Rutherglen (about 20 minutes away) to get it, but it was worth the trip.  (Especially since I didn't have to make it.)

When we first looked at the house, I genuinely thought there had been a fire in the bathroom.  But (maybe this is even worse?) the black on the ceiling was mold.  Delicious.

I'm an happy to report the mold is gone.  (Looking at the picture above makes me feel like I should go clean the ceiling one more time just to make sure it really is mold free.)

When we knocked down the fireplace and took out the wall we had this temporary view into the bathroom.

When the wall was rebuilt, we got about 12 inches of extra room in the bathroom.  It may not sound that big, but I feel like it makes a difference.

For example, now we have room for this fancy radiator!  (It's behind the door, and we bought it with the money we made on ebay selling things left behind in the house and garage by the previous owners.)  The bathroom walls are painted in our favorite mis-tint blue.  (Also making appearances in the back bedroom and kitchen.)  I'd mentioned the floor previously, but as a reminder the tiles are Edwardian reproduction ones from Vives.

I'd mentioned it before, but we had special toilet seats installed for the kids.  One month in and they're still a hit with our three year old.  (That's the plumber's shoe.  And the brown cabinet is no longer next to the toilet.  But the point is there is room for it.  Okay.  I'll stop harping on about the extra 12 inches.)

Just kidding.  The extra 12 inches took the room from this size...

To this.  (And the mirror above the toilet is the original mirror from the bathroom.  I love it.)

Sorry, UK.  But one thing I don't understand is the bathtubs here.  Why does it seem that all the non-claw foot baths have to have some sort of panel put on the front?  I didn't want a plastic one.  We couldn't decide on a tile or wood one.  So we settled on a mirror bath panel.  The joiner put in plywood with panels cut in case we ever have to access the pipes.  We had a glazier special cut the mirror for us (with beveled safety glass) and the joiner installed it.  Time will tell.  I like how it looks, but I don't know how functional it will be.  (So far so good.  It is installed with eight pre-drilled holes and special glass screws.)

Then and Now: Nursery

The third bedroom is at the front of the house, and is the smallest.  Handily, it's not as small as the third bedroom we had in our Cardiff house.

Though we did paint them both almost the same color.  (This one is the Johnstone's color match to Next's Spa Retreat.)  Yup, that's mattress up against the wall.  Because we haven't figured out what we're doing with the girls' bedrooms yet.  We have a twin mattress, but no frame.  So sometimes it goes on the floor for someone to sleep on or just for rough housing.

The way the stairs are configured means that there is this funny box built into the room.  (The pitch of the head height for the stairs cuts into the floor of the bedroom.  Does that make sense?  Basically the box stays.)

We have some vague ideas about what to do with the box (like turning it into a seating area with built-in storage.)  But nothing concrete.  I took off the, uh, interesting paper that was covering the top of the box.  And as if there wasn't enough going on, I decided to use a heat gun to strip the paint, instead of painting.  The wood underneath was in decent condition.

So, we sanded and varnished and then put some Ikea bookshelves on top for clothes storage.  

It's not fancy, but it works for now.  And I think I better secure the bookshelves because our 'baby' is walking and is a climber.

I  know there were some redeeming things about this room, but looking at the picture below I can't remember what they were.  Oh yes, one being that this room was larger than the small room from our Cardiff house.  But I already mentioned that.  The floorboards were in great condition.  The ceiling was covered in polystyrene tiles, but they were easily removed.

Another redeeming thing is the window.  It's fairly tall and lets in a lot of light.

I think this room probably belonged to the daughter of the former owners, since there was a school bag and a plaque with her name on the back of the door.  (From what I gather, the house was only vacant for a year, but had been left in a state of disrepair for quiet a while before that.  The daughter probably left school 30 years ago, the school bag was leather and kind of amazing.)

The name plaque came down, but now there's a hook in its place.  Just in case we need it.  (Did I mention how long it has taken to getting around to taking the 'now' pictures?  Especially for this room.  Either the baby is sleeping, so no photos.  Or she's awake and her sister is awake, and they're both running around or wanting to be held.  So you get random glimpses of the girls.  You're welcome.)

Then and Now: Master Bedroom

I love the color purple.  So I guess it was meant to be that the front bedroom would be the one Niall and I use.  This room had the most interesting relics left behind; religious pieces, prayers on the walls, old family photos and a funny little alarm and tea caddy.  We loved the fireplace.

Luckily the bricks behind the plaster were still in really good condition so we were able to hack it back to the exposed brick.

The little alcoves on either side of the chimney breast were recessed.  (Do you love the cane?)

We decided to have built-in wardrobes built.  The size of the room meant that we needed to have decent storage to keep things tidy.  The alcoves are more than a meter wide.  We couldn't find a decent door solution for the size, so the joiners cut some from MDF and then had them machine routered.   (Yet another bonus to using shopfitters.) 

I bought some Komplement pieces from Ikea and chrome rails, and the joiners built the wardrobe specific to my design.  Thanks, guys.  My wardrobe is bespoke for lots of dresses and shoes, and Niall's side has plenty of hanging room for trousers, suits and shirts.  Hello Baby!

When we looked at the house, we were able to pull up the rug in the room and see that the floorboards underneath were in good shape.  I think they sanded up very nicely.

Probably the main feature of the room is the fireplace.

We originally planned to paint the brick (we had seen a house around the corner with a painted brick fireplace in the bedroom) but decided against it when we saw how lovely the natural brick was.  We've brushed it, but haven't sealed it yet.

The purple walls were stripped (it was painted wallpaper.)

I chose to go with a very neutral color in the room.  At first I really disliked it.  Now we find it rather calming.  But, it is the least colorful room in the house.  (If you don't count the bedspread, which we'll interchange with a brown and black one Niall chose.)

I guess we need to hang a few more things on the wall.

I love our mattress.  It's so comfortable.  The other night we got to sleep at a fancy Marriott and Niall said he couldn't wait to get home to our mattress!