Well we’re in. I had slightly underestimated the toll moving took and had agreed to travel to Bournemouth the following day to celebrate the launch of Farrow & Ball’s new paint colours (more on that at a later date) so while it was lovely to escape the boxes and mayhem for a night in a fabulous hotel (with a great shower) it was, in hindsight, an ambitious plan to go to a party less than 24 hours after moving house.
the new mad house
But we have spent the weekend unpacking boxes and making plans and sleeping and things are looking a brighter. And I can completely recommend Anya Hindmarch’s maxim – If In Doubt, Wash Your Hair, as that definitely helped. At least until I couldn’t find my hair product…
the new mad house
And the joyous news is that my decorator – whose services I booked way back in April knowing he was on a six month waiting list, messaged me yesterday to that that he has juggled things around and can come in two weeks. This means that, all being well, we should all have nice bedrooms for Christmas. The kitchen, sitting room and bathrooms (one upstairs, one down) should start in the new year although we are still waiting for the quotes on that. In the meantime we are going to have to spend more boring money than we thought – doors, windows, radiators etc. But it’s moving along and we can make a start. Although I may have to rip those shutters off the windows before I do anything else.
the new mad house
Regular readers will know from the last paragraph that my plan to always start a renovation with the bathroom (so you can have somewhere clean and beautiful with a locking door for a cry) will not be possible this time. This is because we need some structural working doing downstairs, which affects the downstairs shower room, and the upstairs bathroom sits above so there is no point starting that until after the building work has been done.
image via lucy williams home
But at least I will be able to sit in my wardrobe surrounded by shoes and bags if it all gets too much and that’s nearly as good.
kitchen designed by max rollit and made by artichoke ltd
So what are we doing here? Well we’ll get to that – I think probably on a room by room basis – and I can’t be sure of any of it until we have building quotes and timelines in place but today I have pulled together a few of the rooms I have bookmarked on instagram over the last few months. It’s not so much a moodboard as a mood. And looking at it again here I wonder if all the soft pale shades are an antidote to the stress and upheaval that we have all been feeling over the last couple of years. I feel that I want light but rich tones rather than the dark drama of the last house.
kitchen via devol
However, I’m definitely feeling a desire for muted colours and lots of texture – my sample box contains parquet, cork and sisal flooring. Aged copper and rich velvet, stripes and floral, antiques and reclaimed pieces. There will be sliding doors and an internal window. Possibly even a sliding internal window…
image via lynda gardener of gonzalez y gonzalez store
The tatty louvred shutters, grey walls and big lights are all great discussions for the Design Crime section of the podcast which is back by the way. You can listen here to learn all about the sale and move and if you want to see the old house again you can read Sophie’s blog post here. And if you look at the before of this bathroom by Goodbones London below then that gives me the reassurance that any transformation is possible.
bathroom by goodbones london
