Saturday 21 May 2016

Victorian Restoration Project..... Entrance


Victorian Restoration : Tiled Entrance hall
Victorian Restoration Entrance Hall.. Tiled

I have been a bit absent from Moon to Moon for a while, I have still been Pinning and posting on Instagam but my head has been really muddled lately. Juggling a toddler, 2 jobs, a blog, a social life , learning to drive and a relationship is not an easy task and finding time to sit down at a computer at the end of the day when all I want to do is sleep (at 8pm) is getting tough!

.... But on top of everything... there are some exciting but slightly nerve wracking changes coming....So like I said I have actually been pinning like mad!! We have recently had our house valued ready to sell and have found a REALLY beautiful house (just come back from the second viewing, hence the over excited ramblings you see before you). It is actually my dream home.... a reasonably large Victorian house... in need of total renovation!!!

I spent my childhood moving from one huge renovation project to another, from Victorian London houses, to 4 story Shropshire Town Houses, to 13th Century Welsh cottages so this kind of stuff is in my blood........

I currently live in a well positioned (truly great area), but sinfully ugly and very uninspiring brick of a house (hence why you never see my own home on Moon to Moon), so the prospect of having a project is all consuming!!!

....Only trouble is the owners are being unreaslistic about the price they want for it, especially as it needs a new roof, kitchen, flooring, etc.... and our budget is minimal, and largely depends on the sale price of the current property.... We may be lucky, but maybe not... watch this space!

So anyway I am doing all this research and I have a full secret ' Victorian Renovation Dream Home' Board on Pinterest so rather than the hard work go to waste I thought maybe I would share on here.

Regular readers may be surprised about the clean white walls in the entrance halls above, but there is currently dark red carpet and 40 a day cigarette smoke stained walls in this house so I have been focusing on how to make the entrance lighter.... plus check out those tiles!

But if you mix up the photos above with the photos below, you can get a better idea of the vibe I would be going for.

Some Farrow and Ball paint, a Moroccan Star Light, stripped wooden floor boards and a Kilim runner are all in my plans....

.... and breathe Gabi!


What do you guys think? Have any of you taken on a restoration project and had good or bad luck? Any pointers, tips or words of caution greatly appreciated...

Bohemian Hallway,
Victorian Entrance Hall
Victorian Hallway Restoration Inspiration

As always click on the links below images for the sources

12 comments:

Mayfair Mistress said...

My fingers are crossed for you. It would be lovely to have someone whose taste I love restoring a home similar to my own. As for tips, disregard anyone who says one room at a time - stabilize the house (roof, electrical and such), and keep the kid's room and one bathroom clean. Then just keep circling back around to "priority" projects!

Elderberry-Rob said...

How exciting! hope you get your dream house. It would be very interesting to follow your progress in the makeover. I have never undertaken anything like this.. my priorities would be to focus on kitchen as the heart of the home assuming it has room for good seating so everyone can gravitate while the rest takes shape gradually. Fingers crossed that you get your dream.

Rachel said...

We have renovated in the past - a Victorian property and we did totally finish our little sitting room so it all looked lovely. This was our tranquil escape from the crazy renovations that we lived through and until we opened the door to go into the hallway to access the rest of the house we could forget any stresses, dust and list of jobs that still needed doing. Good luck hope you get your dream home x Our dream home is currently in our heads and we are now living in New Zealand slowly building our little piece of paradise with eco and cob buildings on the go :-)

AiyanaKalyna said...

My fingers are crossed for you. Yes, I am renovating a 1940's Bohemian cottage right now. This Bohemian dream home of mine was sold by a little old lady who loved wallpaper. She loved it so much she has four layers of wallpaper on the walls then painted over it with outdoor white paint! My advice don't buy a home with wallpaper. :)My serious advice is just enjoy the journey. Don't let anyone pressure you into having it done all at once. My husband & I always rented but our homes were show homes and our landlords use to even ask if they could do tours of our home to other tenants who wanted to rent from them. When we bought this home everyone just assumed we have it done in a month. Very stressful. It made me have decorator's block for the first time in my life. Life will get in the way, projects will be put off. Keep your home clean while renovating. That saves me a ton of sanity.

Ronna said...

So exciting!! My advice is focus on one room/area at a time and make sure the first project is somewhere you can sit and relax at the end of the day so you remember that it is all worth it when you are tired and feel like it's just a never ending money pit! Also, I love my white walls, I hate painting so I didn't want to pick a color I would get tired of quickly. i just add lots of plants, natural fibers, and colors from throws, pillows, etc.

Moon to Moon said...

Thank you all for your comments, There is so much to take on board and the house plus the basic renovations will pretty much take us upto our budget so the fun bits, ie decorating , will be done over a few years.

I will most certainly do the living room first, sadly the kitchen needs a load of work doing but will be the most expensive room so will be left to last. White paint and house plants will definitely be my masking items of choice

Fingers crossed....

Laura Morrigan said...

Mm mm Victorians!

Good luck!

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moonpoppy said...

Good luck!And if it all works out for you,I know you will make it a warm an gorgeous looking home :)

Elina said...

Hi there, a short word of caution from an Architect Intern living in Frankfurt. People usually think that it is much cheaper just to renovate an excisting building rather than build a new one. Sorry to break it to you but it's actually quite the opposite. Old houses take not only more planing, time and puzzling around but swallow double the budget. Painting walls and redecorating is one thing but renewing a roof and flooring might reveal nasty surprises like water damage, a need for new piping, heating or new electrict cables, that tend to get costly.. Maybe get a professional opinion of the house and it's condition before jumping in?

Hope you get your dream home without nightmares :) Love your blog by the way! Keep it up!

Moon to Moon said...

It needs a new roof, chimneys re-lining, new floors, rewiring and all new plumbing ! it's a huge job, but we have that covered in our budget :)