I’ve just started maternity leave and finding it a little strange to not be working on other peoples projects but as we have just moved we have a pretty large project of our own to be working on. The whole buying process didn’t run quite as smoothly as we had liked. Unfortunately, we had to pull out of our first house purchase after spending quite a bit on surveys and solicitors’ fees. It felt awful but the house wasn’t viable once we uncovered a huge issue – the extension was built on top of a mineshaft with no documentation to show it was built safely. I just had visions of the whole house sinking. Not to mention the issues with actually obtaining a mortgage and insurance on the property.  This meant the search began again. By this time, we’d sold ours. As our buyers were in a good position we went ahead with the sale and moved in with relatives. We’d found out there was a little one on the way so now we had a time limit. Although we found somewhere, we weren’t quite in as soon as we had liked so now any work that needs doing is gong to be a little slower than was planned. The bump doesn’t make DIY particularly easy.

But we do have some lovely spaces that we’ll be transforming – albeit a little more slowly than planned.

 

So I’d like to share my ideas with you.

 

But first – How about a little house tour….

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Living Room
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Living room windows

The living room is probably my favourite room from the start. It's light and airy and has a pretty feature fireplace and towards the front a double height space.

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Kitchen before

The kitchen as it stands is my least favourite room. I always wanted a  minimalist kitchen diner and this is quite the opposite. But hopefully in time we can do a little rejig of the house so we can make it everything we'd wished for. 

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Hallway before
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Staircase before

Due to the fact the house is quite narrow - particularly upstairs where the rooms are built into the roof space with dormer windows there are two staircases. This enables bedrooms to be accessed individually without the need to go through a room to get to another room. Not ideal but it works for the house and as there's only two of us ( soon to be three) it shouldn't be a problem. 

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Dining room before

The dining room is a thoroughfare from the hallway to the kitchen. Not an ideal layout but has a lovely feature brick wall. Unfortunately we are thinking we'd like to open up the space so it may have to go. At the moment next door is a thin study with one small window that is a bit dark and bleak. Not ideal for your wellbeing if you're sat away from the window. 

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Bedroom 2 before - Estate agents photos
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Bedroom 1 before - estate agents photos

As you can see the bedrooms all have sloping ceilings so we're going to have to be clever with our storage solutions.

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Bathroom - estate agents photo

We finally have a downstairs loo. Very useful at the moment. I'm quite looking forward to giving this room a makeover - I think we're going to go for a dark and moody vibe in here.

 

I'm looking forward to changing it into our own. It's odd moving into a space that is completely someone elses taste. Although this is going to be a long term project I hope to start making some progress soon. Although we may need to take a little break in the coming weeks as we may have our hands full. 

 

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Downstairs loo

I'm looking forward to sharing our ideas so please come back and check to see how we're progressing. Because I'm not taking on any work at the moment I'll do my best to give advice and tips on the way. And because with each project I research and research I'll give you little guides of my finds along the way from finding our ideal solutions to then defining them into something affordable for our budget. So, if you're looking for something similar I can show you different pieces or solutions for various budgets. 

 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Yvonne