Brand new (old) house cont.

 

I think one of the best feelings, must be turning the key in the lock and opening the door to your new home for the first time. It’s like that ‘christmas morning’ feeling, but for grown ups. And the build up to the event is much the same too.
The time between my last viewing and putting that key in the lock seemed like an eternity. An eternity of pondering, planning, and for me, Pinterest. The fact that the removal men were 3 hours late, meaning I had to sprint to the solicitors to pick up the keys before they closed, then run to the house to let said removal men in, didn’t dampen my spirits. Nor did the fact that they overcharged for their time! (don’t worry, I dealt with that the day after). The moment was still glorious!

MY OWN FRONT DOOR!! And it’s original! Heavily painted, but original! I reckon the many layers of paint have probably preserved the wood, so should hopefully be sound enough underneath. Overall, it should just need a bit of a makeover; the brass needs polished up, I’d like a nicer number* for on the glass and a new doorbell is a must!

*Okay, okay… lets get this out the way early on… Have your fun… Laugh all you want… Number 69…

Better now??

Moving on…

Number 69; The Tour.

When you enter the house there is a small vestibule area, complete with 60’s parquet flooring and a well-worn inset door mat. One of my favourite things about this house is that every room has its original cornices, including this tiny space. Through a 50’s/60’s glass door (which I kinda like!) we enter the hallway. My beautiful hallway…. *sigh. The carpet is a visual feast and not for the hungover. It follows through, right up the stairs and to the top floor landing. Lots and lots of lovely PATTERN! EVERYWHERE!! No, really….it’s like, EVERYWHERE!!

The first room, on the left, is the living room. A pretty decent sized (insert size) space with a huge bay window, pouring in light.

FYI, it’s not a scary as f**k picture above the fireplace, it’s the estate agent, reflected in the mirror.

The house is East facing, and with the bay, light floods in all morning. In here we have beautiful wood paneling framing the bay, good high ceilings and feature arches framing either side of a 50’s tiled fireplace. This room definitely needs a more imposing fireplace than this.

Behind the living room lies the dining room. This has been used as a smaller sitting room by the previous owner, I imagine because it’s cosier than the front room. Again, it has a tiled fireplace but there isn’t really any nice detail in here. It’ll be interesting to see if there ever had been when we strip back the walls.

At the back of the house, in a small rear extension, is the kitchen. A mix of 70’s marbled formica, yellow laminate, pine louvres and 80’s oak paneled doors, co-ordinate beautifully with brown carpet tiles and brown patterned wallpaper. Having trouble seeing it? Don’t worry! It can all be illuminated by a flattering fluorescent strip-light….

I knew on first sight, that this whole extension would be torn down at some point. Maybe even moving the kitchen in to the dining room?

The door under the stairs leads to the only bathroom in the house, situated in a draughty extension to the rear of the property. I think this one speaks for itself…

Remind you of anything?

Although it’s ‘quirky’, and some people might enjoy feeling like they’re pooping at the Overlook Hotel, it’s not for me. The shape itself is gorgeous…and the colour doesn’t offend me. Honest! Sadly, its all cracked and even glued in places…and the toilet bowl doesn’t even match. It’s blue!

Upstairs, there are the three bedrooms, the smallest of which lies to the front. This would make an ideal bathroom. Small but functional.

Beside this, also to the front, is the main bedroom. It lies directly above the living room and also has a bay window and original cornice. Lots of DIY built-in wardrobes eat up this space, as does a boxed-in something or other where there would have originally been a fireplace…

So, is there a fireplace?…  expect a post about this very soon.

The third bedroom is like a mirror image of the main bedroom but without a bay window, so it looks a fair bit smaller. Again, it has the cornice and a boxed in fireplace area. Only this time we know there’s something there because the hearth is poking out! I think this room may become the spare room/studio.

I have no idea at which stage in the house’s history this was built and I have no idea who did this but I think it is genius!

In the upstairs hallway, there is a smaller set of stairs, leading up to the attic, under which has been built the quirkiest storage unit ever! I love it! Using a big old chest of drawers as a base, I think this may be an early forerunner to the IKEA hack. At the moment it’s covered in white gloss, but I can already see what I would like to do with this; and I cannot wait to start!

Soooo…whaddya think?

The parentals love it! Probably because they get their own bedroom when they come to stay, but overall it got a massive thumbs-up!

Now, where should I begin…