The Library Fireplace…

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Firstly, I say library, I mean, snug, back room call it what you will. It’s home to our books (in boxes, admittedly) anyway. It contained a funny little deco mantel shelf, and a wallpapered plate. I’d had high hopes for the lounge fireplace, yet to be fully investigated, but investigated enough to reveal… Nothing exciting – I hadn’t really considered the library fireplace might have a story to tell.

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After a bit of hammering the Deco bits came off, to reveal quite a pretty little mantel… Now on my Ebay list.

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A bit more hammering, and we found this mosaic monstrosity. Fifties maybe?? Odd as the Deco mantel overlaying it actually looked to be of more age. I don’t think I’ll both Ebaying this one.

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More hammering STILL and we found a pretty tiled arch fireplace, 1920s apparently. Another fascinating fact: Rectangular tiles suggest a 1900s surround, but our square tiles suggest a later version.

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The poor old tiled fireplace has seen better days, there are a couple of tiles missing, and a couple more cracked. I’m not sure we love it enough to restore it… We have visions of this room being our snugly room with a wood burner, for playing chess and drinking brandy in (when we are grown up enough to do such things, obvs), the pistachio tiled number doesn’t somehow fit with this.

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Finally, after several hours hammering, we unearthed a suggestion of a brick arch. We’ve left it at that for now as A. We got a bit bored hammering, and B. We can’t decide which fireplace we want. Uber exciting. To be continued… Though god knows when.

Wallpaper Diaries…

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Some of you are already familiar with my Flash Gordon wallpaper…

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Maybe this belonged to the Flash fan when he was a little younger?

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I’m especially in love with the skipping bunnies!

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There are a couple of oriental styles from what we, rather too grandly, refer to as the library, especially as it is yet to contain any books!

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There is also a few traces of this yellow and white beauty, looks hand blocked and vaguely Moorish…I love the colour of this, it’s going on my lounge moodboard.

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Some sweet florals in the bedrooms, 1940’s maybe? Love the roses on the chimney breast in the master bedroom, I’d love to keep it, I can’t see that being allowed. Ever.

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20131109-193642.jpg And finally, for now, these duck egg, white and gold papers from the hallway. Especially like the like Lilly of the Valley print.

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Lounge Fireplace…

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There has been some discussion deciding if this fireplace is original. It looks a little bit odd, not as substantial as you’d expect, and somehow, not quite ‘right’. On Thursday, I discovered this little plaque under several layers of paint ( like everything else in this place!), bit of nitromors and we had a makers name.

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After much Googling, (I did warn you there would be more historical facts) I found that this fireplace was made in Birmingham by John Parker, around the turn of the century. Old Parker patented system of ‘adjustable mantels’, in essence he flogged various parts for one to assemble as suited… A predecessor of Ikea if you will. Here is the patent application:

This explains why it looks a bit odd and lacks the expected Victorian rules of proportion, but concludes it’s original and therefore it gets to stay – Lucky thing! Next to worry about what lies behind the black board (don’t get excited, I’ve peeked, nothing stunning!) and get a working fireplace in, oh, after we’ve rebuilt the chimney, of course.

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Kitchen / Diner…

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We’ve just knocked through our kitchen and breakfast room. Current quandary is whether to knock through again into the lobby… Hmm.

So last night saw the removal of the rest of the wooden frame, oh, and the lights!

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Tomorrow, the master of the house, is knocking through to the lobby. I’m unsure, I quite like it separate, as I love this little cubby hole…

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The wall has to stay to the right, so we are shortening the wall rather than losing it completely, which he assures me, is the best of both worlds. Well we’ll soon find out when I’m home from work tomorrow. Cross your fingers!

Update y’all! Wall gone, I like it.

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Bit sad the lobby has gone, but consoling myself searching for a reclaimed glass door, and a panel to pop in the wall of the alcove. Plus, Dottie cat seems quite happy, so all is well.

Settling in…

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We’ll, we’ve been here a few weeks now. Feel very happy and very much at home. Loving discovering our new home’s history. So far we’ve mainly been stripping plaster in prep for the DPC so it’s actually looking quite a lot worse than it did when we arrived… No pain no gain though hey? Today we stripped the hall ceiling rose, who’d have thought there was something so delicate under all those layers of gloop? Fancy a historical fact? (Warning, there will be more) Apparently, the holes in roses were piped to outside wall to keep a flow of air within the room. We have knocked the breakfast room through to the kitchen, looks good, well good might be a bit strong… But has potential.

Home at last…

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So, a week in our new home, and at last, we have the internet! We’ve had a fantastic few days, with lots of visitors, discoveries and LOADS of plaster dust. I think the best place to start is with a few photos;

The final countdown…

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So, we are finally all set to move next Friday. The solicitor revealed a few snippets of information yesterday, firstly that we should get planning certificates for the 1982 extension, which means we should be able to keep the funny little roof balcony. We also found out that the house is quite a lot older than we thought, dating back to 1848… There is an AWOL document from this period which is a bit of a concern though, as it could contain all sorts of rules which would still legally stand today should the document turn up on Ebay! We can be insured against anything it may contain, so that’s next weeks task. The previous owner was a local historian, so I’m pretty sure if the document is still around, he’d have found it… It’s probably about blackberry picking or Morris dancing anyway. Finally we found out that house is in a conservation area, which means changing the (rotting) original windows is off the agenda which is one less thing for us to squabble about. I really should be kitchen planning…

Clutter…

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I’m banned from making any purchases for our new home until I have A. Moved in and B. Partners approval. Oh well, failed again. Today’s purchase was this copper pot which shall be furnished with whichever herbs plants Waitrose have at the weekend. These will then die, be replaced, die and so on until I get bored and relegate pot and contents to the shed. This week has mainly been spent sourcing light switches, tiresome. We’ve had paperwork today which may suggest we are not too far away from the big move. Ooooh…