PIG & PUD

And in the midst of this all this we went away for the weekend in Yorkshire with our lovely friends Sarah, Simon and their little Pud, Rosie.  There we saw this little fella.  Oh he's LOVING that head scratch.

PS - this is their little Pud.

THE GRAND REVEAL - OUTSIDE

My hatred of Bulbous Nan Bushes (not a euphemism) is well documented.  So they've gone. Woohoo! We're bulbous bushless (to a certain extent).  My hatred of that giant patio's also resolved now as my clever husband designed a whole new, far more reasonably sized one that makes the garden bigger and far more beautiful than it ever thought it could be. Well done RB. 

We moved the shed to the bottom right hand side from the left hand side too.  And added a slope. RB really wanted to the slope.  The turf's new so looks a little sparse, but it'll be fine after a bit of rain and maturity.  Won't we all...

BEFORE

AFTER

The front of the house is just minus the jungle of Bulbous Nan Bushes and plus clean windows.  You can't really see the lack of bushes, what for all the bushes in the communal gardens, but trust me, our front garden is a paragon of non-Nan-ness.

BEFORE

AFTER



THE GRAND REVEAL - DINING ROOM & BED 4

These two rooms have always been our junk rooms.  In particular, I've never connected with our dining room.  It was dark and gloomy with its green carpet, a whisper of pink walls (PINK IN A DINING ROOM??) and the dark wood of a dining room set. We hadn't ever used it as a proper dining room. In fact it hadn't had a table for about a year and my mum used to sleep in here on the sofa bed when she came to visit.  It was a non-room. So I ran with its gloom and painted it in Alfie by B+Q Colours - a dark, warm grey -  and painted all the woodwork white, and dressed the window in bright white.  I'm really happy with it now - it's absolutely my favourite room.

AFTER

Bedroom 4 is the smallest room in the house.  It's a very small double now and we've always used it as a kind of laundry.  And also to collect loads of shit in.  We just painted this white and put the new carpet in.

AFTER



THE GRAND REVEAL - THE ENSUITE

This has been done for ages, but a few tweaks have made it competely perfect now.

AFTER

MY WORD

I found this word when we went out and I loved it.  I put it up on our bedroom wall and look at it before I go to sleep. It inspires me.

THE GRAND REVEAL - OUR BEDROOM

This was the simplest of transformations.  After all the building work, that is.  Where we put in new built in cupboards and an ensuite. But apart from that, it was just a paint job with carpets.  I don't particularly like the paint in here - it's Chalk Blush 2 & 4  by Dulux which we bought because it colour-matched on their machine to a headboard we didn't actually end up getting. It's too lilacy.  And the colour we chose to cover the chair makes it look too pink.  Anyway. I'll get over it.

Blue carpet, pinky wall. 

This is after the new paint job but before the carpet.

AFTER

THE GRAND REVEAL - OUR LITTLE LAVVIE

You've read all about the floor disasters in here.  Who would've thought that the tiniest room would've been the hardest to manage?  Anyway. Here we go. Small, but perfectly formed.

AND NOW

Slightly shite picture, but this room is PERFECT now.

THE GRAND REVEAL - THE KITCHEN

In here, instead of replacing the kitchen which was in really good nick, we simply painted it (All White F&B in eggshell), ripped off the tiles and plastered the walls, replaced the worktops with Ikea wooden ones and lay plain vinyl flooring in Antelope by The Colour Flooring Company over the old one.  We then painted the rest of the kitchen in white and added a single row of tiles where the worktop meets the wall. 

We put in a new light-fitting and a new cooker because that one was some weird 80s thing that was supposed to cook a whole dinner party at the same time but gave up the ghost with me when faced with a Sunday roast.

We also replaced the sink because it was old and skanky.  Simple Ikea sink with a Bristan tip.  And added a cat-flap with comfort step for our fat old cats.

AFTER

THE GRAND REVEAL - THE LIVING ROOM

This was a world of blah.  Pale green carpet, frumpy old carpets, a delightful gas fire with marble surround and who could forget those glass boob-lights?

So what did we do in here?  We put up shelves, replaced the fireplace with a cast-iron insert.  We replaced the radiator with a smaller one so that the sofa could be pushed back against the wall - gave us 6 more inches.  Then it was paint (Flake White by Fired Earth), new light fittings and sofas.  And other general decorative bits and boobs. Sorry. Bobs.

Ready?  Before and afters begin...

AFTER

THE GRAND REVEAL - THE HALLWAY

Soooo - we're done!  The carpets are in and we've finished!

So let's see what we did here.  First off ... the hallway. Terrifying wallpaper. Pink carpet. 

We replaced the brown wood doors with solid wood four-panel ones which were painted white. Paper was stipped and we painted the walls - Cornforth White (F&B) and Lait (Crown's Les Petite Chalais) Then we painted the banister posts and sanded the banister rail.  Finally we repainted all the woodwork white and laid the new carpet (Cormar Apollo in Clay).

And then we were finished.

Here come our before and afters ...

BEFORE

AFTER



BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE



 AFTER

This is one of my absolute favourite photos from the refurb.  It's exactly what I wanted our home to look like.  Huge mirror from Ikea - it really makes the hallway.