Our house was built in 1812, therefore has no foundations, and needs to be allowed to breathe. Sadly this had not been the case, what with the lining paper, anaglypta wallpaper, and the additional layers of paint, it was in fact suffocating. So over the past month Rich and I have been busy making our house feel loved again and creating our home by renovating the key room in the house, the living room.

We have approached decorating in a completely different way (much as we did the kitchen) and left all the holes that were already there and waited until we had hung all our lovely things; because what was the point of filling holes just to drill them out again? I do have a snagging list for January!

But more importantly our house is now truly beginning to feel like our home.  It has made me realise how difficult it is for people who do not have a permanent home, and are moved from pillar to post as was in the news in England recently. Being unable to surround yourself with things you love has such an impact on how you feel as a whole, and must be truly soul destroying when there is no light at the end of the tunnel allowing you to believe that one day, in the near future, you will be able to really make where you live “home”. I say a prayer for all those people today, and would ask you to do the same because there but for the grace of God go any one of us. (Please see my blog on Christmas for those who have not read it.)

So here is the living room before its renovations, with damp walls, showing all of the layers of paper and paint not looking particularly homely.  I hasten to add I still have to renovate the windows as they are a separate project in themselves!

 

Now it’s home, from our “snug” arrangement of chairs where we sit every morning with our tea and the two naughty welshies, to the main seating area in front of the log burner.

 

I have renovated much of the furniture with chalk paint, and the colour scheme is a very pale grey, which in some lights looks a pinky, lilac colour, hence the renovated shelves and table in pink.

 

 

 

 

I have owned the mirror above the mantle for years but it was a gold and bronze colour and as you can see silver is my thing, so it, and the round mirror beside it, have been renovated with silver craft paint. We love it!

To have our things around us again from my desk in the main window, giving me so much motivation to write, to our beautiful settle and washstand finally having the opportunity to be appreciated is wonderful.

 

Richard’s handmade table has found a place to live – albeit the wooden garden chairs we are going to use, are awaiting a renovation from me!! The table has now been stained a very dark wood and varnished so this is still a work in progress! The shelves above were also renovated by me with varying colours of grey, in my normal “shabby chic” style. The pipes are in the previous ‘before’ picture, only boxed in with the biggest wooden box ever!! Our house is old and I am happy for the pipes to be visible, showing the life our house has lived over the years.

My armoire,that travelled  all the way from England with us, has also been dry brushed with grey chalk paint; and I love the way that our home now looks so warm and cosy. Reflected in the mirror you can see part of the wonderful kitchen that Rich built for me – in fact he has been hard at work on it this week installing my shelves in the cupboards he built.

As you can see I have been inspired to bring Christmas into the home and it has now arrived with my black artificial tree, as mentioned in my previous blog about Christmas, covered in crystals, taking pride of place. We didn’t need to spend money on another tree!

 

I am sorry I took so long to publish and I know that some people have been waiting for this blog; I hope that you love what we have done to our home and what we have achieved  as much as us, and that it has not disappointed you.

Keep reading.

Moisy