Updates on Renovating Our Countryside Home.
Decision fatigue, why we have taken a break, next projects and my inspiration.
Good Morning my loves and happy Monday! I hope you are waking up this morning to beautiful sunshine, a spring in your step and a positive week ahead.
Spending the last couple of weeks at home has got me itching to complete unfinished projects and dust off the endless mood boards for styling different rooms in the house. If you have worked on a renovation project or perhaps re designed a room you may be familiar with the ‘decision fatigue’ that often comes with big projects. When we moved in to our home last May I gave us a target of November to ensure the house was ‘complete’ to a certain extent. We had a very long list of things to do including re-plastering, sorting out damp in the walls, new flooring throughout the majority of the downstairs, the entire house needed re-painting… honestly the list felt endless. But, we successfully completed all of the projects I wanted to complete before the busy season and prior to hosting the entirety of the festive season.
Although we put our project heads back on this year and got stuck in to a few remaining tasks, we havn’t really hit the ground running. A combination of decision fatigue, hectic work schedules and the fact that houses are bloody expensive to renovate meant that we had a bit of a hiatus.
Jack and I are very hands on type people, which saves a lot of labouring costs, we have pretty much done everything in the house ourselves minus the flooring and some painting which my brother kindly gave a helping hand with. Whether it’s re plastering, building a bench, a table, panelling walls, re-tiling, putting up coving… we have pretty much done it all. But after this hiatus I am ready to get back to finishing* a few touches in some of the rooms.
With that being said… I thought I would share with you some inspiration, ideas and plans for the next projects.
THE ENTRANCE.
Our entry way is a little bit strange as we don’t actually use our front door. Aside from the postman, delivery drivers and the odd neighbour that pops up at the door step we never use it. The way that our house is situated it just doesn’t make sense. Is anyone else like this? I feel like it’s quite common with farmhouse’s Jacks parents and grandparents are exactly the same. However… I want to make our space a little more inviting, lighter and brighter.
My plan is to add some moulding to the hallway itself and along the stairway too, to add some more detail to the walls.
I have already painted our banisters and left the steps as the natural wood is beautiful. But we will also be installing a stair runner to soften the stairs (noisy old house issues.)
In terms of decor I am on the hunt for a white washed side table (which may need to be made bespoke aka by Jack hehe) as the gap for the table is an odd size. I love this one above almost a telephone table kind of vibe. With a gorgeous lamp for soft lighting and a little armchair as I always use this to put things on that need to go upstairs haha. We are all about practicalities in this house I’m also thinking to brighten up the original dark stone to add a soft runner too.
LIGHTING
As you probably know I am a huge advocate for soft lamps, we use Phillips Hue bulbs which means we can dim all of our lamp around the house and turn them on or off via our phones. Which essentially means we never use the ‘big light.’ But, it is a feature to a room that really finishes it off. Essentially every single room has exposed light bulbs and in some cases it’s the last piece to the puzzle. But I am seriously struggling to find any ceiling lights that I love. It can’t be too modern and I don’t want it to look too naff either…TBC.
To add to this I am also on the hunt for a really incredible chandelier for over our staircase. We have an elevated ceiling and it lends itself to a large show stopper but of course the one that I absolutely adore has a pretty big price tag... A vintage Italian murano glass chandelier.
BATHROOMS.
If I had a pound for every time I said to Jack “I cannot wait to get the bathrooms done” I could have paid for them twice over by now. Gosh am I desperate, but it’s always the way with a renovation, when something is liveable it almost gets pushed to the end of the list. Our bathrooms are fine, definitely tired, dated not my style and really do need upgrading but the way I imagine them looking is definitely not great for the bank balance.
Most likely we will do the majority of these ourselves with the help of our local plumber and my brother on flooring duty. But currently it is not a priority and with our weekends pretty preoccupied at the moment with puppy life there are no plans to get going.
My favourite thing about a hotel is the bathrooms, they always feel so warming, a real luxury space to get ready or unwind. Here’s a little look at what I am imagining for our en-suite and family bathroom.
The family bathroom (which is also the guest bathroom) will include a bath shower, I would like it to feel light, bright and airy, honed calacatta marble tiling, ample surface space and under cabinet storage, huge mirror and wall lights for soft lighting. A very hotel-esque feel.
The en-suite is much smaller and will be slightly different matching the farmhouse style of our bedroom with warming travertine tiling and either T&G or classical moulding to add intrigue, a smaller sink unit with under cabinet storage, big mirror with a wall light and a walk in shower.
There are of course so many other extras that we need to tackle… re-carpeting the landing and our bedroom (I also don’t think I like the colour I recently painted the bedroom in so that’s great haha) I’d love to add some moulding to the landing, replace the ceiling lights etc….
But as the saying goes ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’ and taking our time on our house, really thinking about our decisions, gathering inspiration and living in the space is so important to the process.
I absolutely LOVE interior styling so if you have any other entries you would like to read based around this do let me know!
But for now, I will chat to you next week.
Lots of love, L x
WEEKLY: ON MY MIND
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*your house is never really completely finished though is it haha!
Oh I love the inspiration photos for the entry way! If you love this style look up the country side work of Gil Schafer’s portfolio on his website (nowadays Schafer Buccellato Architects). The interior design is impeccable. On his website you can also click on “portfolio” -> “rooms & details” -> “Stairs & Entry Halls”. Besides Pinterest I always love watching different YouTube channels with home tours for inspiration, such as the videos of Homeworthy, Schumacher1889, Quintessence.
I love the photo's and mood boards!