I keep banging on about how my house is nearly done but when I look around the piles of sandpaper, soaking paintbrushes and scattered tools suggest it’s actually far from it.
I suppose there’s an argument a house is never really finished. If you’re anything like me you’re constantly adding new things and then taking them away, shifting little vignettes around (how very fancy) and then editing some more. What I was hoping to achieve though was a makeover for every room; repainting and refurnishing to our own style.
Way back in March, my home to-do list included finding the perfect light fitting for the landing, carpeting the lounge and sorting storage for my office. While I ticked these jobs off in the spring, many summer weekends have been spent away from home leaving little time for DIY. A few weeks ago we decided enough was enough and we had to get the house in order. In these instances it’s always necessary to write one big to-do list and so ‘The Great Getting $h*! Done List’ was created. Sometimes using expletives is the only way to get the job done.
The image above reveals a few of my most recent purchases for my house. A couple of weeks ago I got very excited about painting the front door and settled on Railings by Farrow & Ball. It was a gorgeous weekend so the door came off its hinges and had a much needed application of three coats of Exterior Eggshell.
The same weekend I also spent ages searching for an outside light. I kept a fairly open mind during the hunt as wasn’t sure whether to go for a traditional lantern or something more modern. In the end I settled on a weathered finish wall lamp from Tesco of all places.
Much to my husband’s delight, I thought why stop at the outside when the hall really needs doing too? Cue complete chaos as the door was removed and the entry completely emptied to make way for a roller and paintbrush. I then hotfooted down to Matalan to pick up a heavy jute runner after I read some very good reviews about it’s durability and appearance. It makes the space seem more like a proper room than a thoroughfare. I realise I’m a tease not sharing the after photos but they will come very soon. I promise.
Next on the list is sorting out an alcove we have at the top of the stairs. I’ve just taken delivery of an industrial style shelving unit from Maison de Monde and it’s crying out for a few layers of tat. I’m hoping my H&M home order of totally unnecessary items arrives soon.
So what have been your most recent decor, furnishing or DIY buys? What’s on your to-do list to tackle next? Do your plans for the upcoming bank holiday include a spot of DIY or are you likely to be outdoors relaxing?
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I love that Tesco wall lamp – what a bargain! Looking forward to seeing the ‘after’ photos Lauren, I love your gorgeous house.
My interiors to do list is about to get very long – we complete on our first house (well, flat…) on Friday! So this weekend will have a very big interiors focused. It’ll probably mainly involve sitting in our garden (very excited about having a garden, so this will be happening come rain or shine) drinking wine and looking at pinterest, rather than actually doing anything, but I’m so excited to get a paintbrush out and be able to actually paint walls. The flat doesn’t need anything too drastic doing to it, but I would like to repaint most of the walls asap as they are currently all a light shade of blue, which I find a bit cold. I would like a warmer colour – maybe cream or light grey or something?? Then the main challenge will be how to make the very modern looking combined lounge and kitchen into something less-modern and more in keeping with the victorian conversion that the flat is in. No idea how to do this. I might have to send a reader request in! x
Oooh Sian this is all very exciting! I’m a big fan of refining all your ideas through Pinterest (and feeling very creative while you’re at it).
Congrats on the new house and feel free to send in a reader request. I know a large team of ladies who always give fabulous interiors advice 😉 x
I too am looking forward to seeing the after photos! I love a bit of interiors inspiration! After a flurry of activity when we moved into our new house in February, things have come to a stand still. Whilst everything looks OK, there are small touches that I think would make all the difference (the skirtings and doorframes were just painted with the wall emulsion by the previous owner, and I think a coat of gloss or silk wood paint will make them much fresher, the window sills could do with a touch up, and there are a few hooks still to hang etc). We have recently got news that we are moving into my in-laws farmhouse as they finally got planning permission and are building a new house on the farm. The farmhouse is a bit of a fixer-upper shall we say, so I’m putting off doing anything major to our current house as I know major renovations are afoot when we move (hopefully in by Christmas next year!). I don’t get this bank holiday weekend, but when I get a wee hol of some description, I really must make a big list of all the little jobs that will really finish things off in our house and tide us over until we move and operation restoration farmhouse will begin! x
Operation Restoration Farmhouse sounds amazing! You must keep us up to date with your progress.
I am currently staring at a door that really needs a coat of paint. Must add that to the list before there is a photographic evidence x
I like that rug.
My house was bought as a fixer upper, and three days after we completed I found out I was pregnant, so our two year plan has turned into a 5 year plan (it would seem that babies are both exceedingly time consuming and expensive).
So. I spent Saturday a couple of weeks ago clearing our patio of weeds and old rotary driers and snails, so this weekend I think I’m going to clean the floor with some caustic soda (fun dangerous chemicals!) and paint the walls around it white to give a Mediterrainean feel. I’d like to lay some tiles too but I think that’s too ambitious for this weekend, as I also need to plant up some of the many plants which keep coming through my door – you can exchange £5 of Tesco vouchers for £15 Thompson & Morgan vouchers, so I’ve spent about £100 on plants recently (but no actual real money). And I have to put up some wire for my clematis to climb.
I also have some spray paint which I want to spray my shoe racks in the hallway with, before I mount them on the wall, but I’m not sure if I’d be better doing that before or after I paint the new front door (on the project list). The front of the house probably won’t get decorated this year but we ought to have the render patched up where it is cracked, before winter as we don’t want damp spots. And I’ve found a nifty way of mounting recycling boxes which isn’t too ugly, so I’m thinking I’d like to organise that soon out the front to get them off the steps. Oh, and my curtains need to go up in our bedroom as I’ve had them a while but not organised it yet.
That’s not even thinking about the Great Bathroom Renovation, which is due in 2016 and taking up a lot of Pinterest space.
I’m very envious of your weed free patio. Mine is covered in them – it looks dreadful!
Sounds like you have a busy weekend ahead of you but mini projects are so satisfying aren’t they?
Love the runner. May be making a speedy trip to the shops! Our house has been a project over the last 3 years so my DIY list is never ending. It seems that every time I cross something off it results in 10 more jobs. For example getting our ensuite done was great but that resulted in needing new flooring, new glass panels to the landing (frosted of course as I don’t want to be able to see in) plus various painting, filling etc. New flooring meant repainting and boxing in pipework plus rehanging doors (which are still off!). And I don’t even want to mention the big jobs like rewiring or thermal lining. The list goes on. We are slowly on to the nice bits like hanging pictures, new blinds etc etc but it still seems quite a long list and the garden needs a big push after our new patio. I actually feel that we need to spend the weekend sorting but small children make that difficult so instead we are heading to the beach and praying for sun. The DIY can wait a bit longer! x
Don’t blame you Charlotte. Heading to the beach sounds like far more fun! x
Gee thanks Lauren, now there are 571 things I NEED from that Maison De Monde shop. You’ve kept that one quiet.
We currently have 7 new radiators in the garage waiting to be fitted. This is actually quite exciting. Yes. I am excited about……radiators. Once they are all in and working we are having the entire house painted, then I can (finally!) finish my studio office, hooray!
I have a massive board called “desirable” on my personal pinterest that is essentially everything I would want should I own a mansion.
It was my first purchase my lovely! They come from France so shipping isn’t cheap 🙁
I would LOVE new radiators for our house. We only managed the bathroom. Your studio looks lush already so it’s going to look amazeballs when it’s all done x
My boyfriend and I have just bought our first home so we’ve been DIYing non-stop since we moved in. I can totally see how it could become a never ending cycle of things to do and buy though – I seem to think of new things every day. Love the RMS interior posts – they keep me very inspired 🙂
Hi Alyssa, so glad to hear we keep you inspired. We have lots of interiors posts lined up to share in the near future 😉 x
My fiancé and are moving back to Glasgow after a few years in London. We’re reclaiming our flat, which has been rented out whilst we were away, and so we’ll be spending the Bank holiday back there, re-painting everything before we move back in next month. When he lived in it before, it was a proper bachelor pad with white walls, laminate floors and lots of Ikea furniture. This time we’ll be painting it in lovely heritage colours, fitting a nice squishy carpet for insulation and taking delivery of a batch of gorgeous old furniture from a friend’s parents’ house. His family and friends won’t recognise the place!
Sounds like heaven Cat. Bet you can’t wait for the transformation x
Next on my furnishing list is a TV/media unit…
My fiancé and I moved to London at the end of last year from a large 2-bed period flat in Cheltenham, which we had been renting unfurnished for the last 4 years. Aside from the issues in finding an affordable unfurnished flat to rent in London, the first flat we rented ended up being a bit of nightmare, having been blighted by damp (basement flat) and a mouse infestation in the property above. Arrghh! Following this, we were then burgled, so we decided that was it and used our break clause to give our two months notice. Last month we moved into a (much bigger) unfurnished first floor flat, with wooden floors and the feature fireplace I’d always desperately wanted. Hooray to high ceilings and light again! Fortunately, all our existing furniture fit, although we did have to reconfigure some of the units in the lounge. What was once our TV/media unit, has now been turned upright for use as a wall storage unit. Hence our need for TV unit (this also follows the purchase of a new, bigger TV…)
I would love an industrial looking piece as feel this would be in keeping with the existing chunky dark wood furniture (Maisons du Monde and Joss & Main do some amazing units) but I am reluctant to spend so much money knowing that this is not our forever home (realistically we’re looking at a couple more years renting in London and having moved twice in the past year, I don’t want to buy an expensive piece only to risk it getting damaged in the moving process!) However there doesn’t seem to be anything in between the really, really cheap looking flat pack stuff, or very expensive more stylish pieces, unless I’m missing a trick somewhere?! It’s got to the point where I’m considering buying something to upcycle, as I don’t seem to be able to find what I need. Does anyone have any ideas/tips, or know of anywhere which might do the kind of thing I’m after?
You could try looking for blanket boxes or trunks on Ebay/Gumtree etc. They can be good solid pieces of furniture without costing the earth. I managed to track down a fairly large old walnut blanket box for ours for about £100 but I’ve seen more industrial looking ones with metal corners etc that look great too.
Love the sound of Cat’s suggestion. I have such a soft spot for wooden blanket boxes.
My sister has three large vegetable crates upturned and stacked on top of each other to house her very large tv. Looks great and very cheap too. There’s loads on ebay x
Thanks for the tips – I’m off to spend the Bank Holiday perusing eBay!
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