Hold the front page

So we’re in. We’ve taken a lot of  “before” photos which I will post up here shortly when I have organised them. 

The first things to happen will be big ones. We have to rewire the house and also get central heating fitted. That’s going to take some weeks and will start in two weeks time.

However over the weekend we started taking a look at things. We pulled up the carpet in the hall. Here’s a before…

And here’s an after showing boards in a pretty good state.

But what I wanted to post here was some of the newspapers we found which allows us to date the floor. Carpet was put down in 1977, we know as we found this…

And under the carpet was lino from 1974 and according to this shot a dachshund.

The archeological evidence…

And some ads from the time

So the conclusion is that this carpet really had been there a long time.

We have moved

We have managed to move house. It was quite a long and tiring process and we still can’t find anything and just seem to be moving boxes from one room to another but we are in. Fuller details to follow but just a couple of move snaps as a starter. They are both of the old house for now.

Horny issue

I went on a shopping trip with Sara on Saturday. After a rather upsetting incident with a some trousers in the Whistles changing room which we won’t go into here we went into Fenwick’s so Sara could use the loos. They had these lights which I thought were a bit cool. A kind of plastic antler theme.

Just a shame that they weren’t for sale. 

 

 

What the papers say

We move on Friday this week and so Klaus went out this morning to buy a Sunday Times, to read and then immediately recycle as we spend the day packing. 

A few things in the home section caught my eye. In a feature about bold decorative statements in the smallest room (something I am all in favour of) a few interesting sites were mentioned. 

First up (from my re-jigged list) is Beware the Moon. A high-end wallpaper manufacturer I particularly like the Ostrich range. I like the idea of the She range but they are somehow too sparse for my taste. 

Next and already a recurring theme is patterned tiles this time from Welbeck. These are I admit a long way along the road to chintzville but what the hell. Then lastly I really like these quirky lights from originalbtc.

I’d say a bit weird for a bathroom but a very charming idea. 

Right we’re off for a walk in the park then down to some serious packing.

Something new

Klaus is geting worried about packing. We’ve packed up 5 of the 25 boxes the movers brought round and to be honest it doesn’t seem to have had much of an impact. Which is why I was surprised to find that he had been to b&q and bought this garden table set (because it was on offer). So now it’s stacked up in the hall along with all the other boxes.

Ideas

In getting ready for moving we are having a clear out. Klaus has convinced me to throw away my back catalogue of interiors magazines (mainly homes and gardens and living etc). But before throwing them away I have gone through and cut out everything that catches my eye in the hope that it’s useful.

I’ve tried to organise them into themes.

Starting with the hall.  

 

I like the image of the staircase particularly, the contrast of the dark wood and painted rails. I also really like the corbels. Our new and currently drab hall could so with some features like this.

Sitting room. 

The TV unit on his page is a really neat idea. I’d like to use stronger colours like this on the walls as well. 

Lights

 

Fireplaces

 

 

I was surprised how similar all these fireplaces were when I lined them up, seems like we like relatively plain white but traditional. 

Chairs

 

Pointing out something not relating to chairs on the chairs page, the colour of the shutters behind the black chair is very similar to the colour we’re thinking on for the shutters in our kitchen. We’re considering pigeon which is similar but paler. 

Kitchen

The kitchen bottom right is probably most similar to the free-standing look we are planning. I’m quite keen on the pink walls in two of these shots but Klaus doesn’t seem too keen…..

Bathroom

Again mainly very traditional. Apart from the pair of very modern sinks. Klaus thinks it’s better to go for the more traditional look as these will date less quickly and I like the idea of using some very decorative tiles around the bath and sink as they have in some of these pictures. I don’t want the whole house to be traditional though so we”ll have to keep an eye out for the overall balance. 

Bedroom

Again lots of strong colour but also patterned wallpaper. Something we’re keen to try out as we haven’t used any before. 

Garden

It’s big (for London) and bland at the moment. Will need some proper planning.

The beginning

So the big move is in three weeks. Klaus and I have quite a lot to think about and a heap of paper work. There’s so much to do in the new house that it’s a bit difficult to work out where to start. Everything seems as urgent as the next.

We went for a walk past this morning just to check it was still there.

It was.

I’ve uploaded two photos we took when we viewed the house. One sums up the excitement and blank canvas that is facing us. It’s the long empty garden which is such a luxury in central London and being so bland at the moment is ready for us to plan and set it out just as we want it. You can also see the back of the house and despite the rather random extra window that has been added at some point it looks so distinctly simple and of it’s time.

The other is a shot of what was, probably some decades ago the kitchen in the basement. It looks like something a film location scout might be interested in to shoot some kind of kidnap scene.

There’s a spot that is even worse which is the large storage area off the front of the basement but it’s gives me the creeps so I haven’t go close enough to take a proper photo (yet).