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Hello, I have been looking for a fauxdenza (if that’s how it’s called!) as you have on this photo:
would you mind sharing your source?
Thanks a lot
Anne
Hi Anne, we bought it quite a few years ago from here: http://www.urbansuite.co.uk/. I’ve been through their site, but they don’t seem to stock the one we have anymore. Having said that, they do have a large selection of very similar ones. Some of the items on their site are very pricey. Our sideboard (it has some very slim feet) was one of their cheaper ones, but the quality is great and we are still really happy with it.
Hope that’s some help!
Cx
Hi,
I am really interested in achieving the same look as the people who varnished their banisters and stairs a dark mahogany colour.
what was the mahogany called? deep or rich and what brand? is it glossy too?
many thanks
zoe
Hi Zoe! The stain we used is a Non-Grain Raising Wood Dye in Rich Mahogany by a company called Fiddes. It was really easy to apply and gave a very even finish. I think we applied two coats of the stain to get the darker colour we were looking for. The stain itself isn’t glossy and will need a protective finishing coat. Our banister is waxed and polished to give the shine and necessary protection. The treads are finished with a clear varnish.
Hope that’s some help!
Cx
Hi. can you tell me if the white shelving and chest of drawers in the front room is fitted and did you build this yourself? If so, can you tell me how? thanks Emma
Hi Emma! We’re planning on posting about some of our shelving, soon (we’ll send you an email with some more info now). It’s definitely a DIYable job and was much easier than it looks!
Cx
Just stumbled onto your website, as http://celebrationsathomeblog.com/2013/10/5-easy-projects-for-halloween.html
had posted your great Halloween book covers. Then, as a big fan of travel, I was curious about your travels. I admire your trips and your lovely pictures, and you two look like a lot of fun!
Seems like you two are also fans of beer (liquid gold), so my advice on a city to visit is Boston in the USA. They have a couple good breweries to visit. My husband, Jon, used to lead the tours at the Harpoon Brewery which is fantastic. Now they have a brand new brew pub with a view of the city. Plus Boston has water access, good public transportation, delicious seafood, and a bit of history (“old” compared to the rest of USA).
Another great city to tour is San Francisco. Pretty expensive though, especially since it looks like you are based in Germany (?). Stunning bridge views and walking beaches (the Pacific is too cold to swim in Northern California), fantastic ethnic foods and tons of curiousity shops/boutiques. Excellent people watching. It also has an *incredible* recycling/repurposing store that is a crafter’s paradise called SCRAP (“Scrounger’s Center for Reuable Art Parts”). SCRAP’s mission is to stimulate creativity and environmental awareness in children and adults through promoting the creative reuse of materials that traditionally have been discarded as waste. It’s chaotic and cool and inspiring all at once. http://www.scrap-sf.org/
Happy travels to you both!
Glad you found your way over to us, Marianne!
You’ve definitely sold Boston to us! It sounds like an amazing place to visit, especially as we both haven’t seen a huge amount of the America yet. We’ve actually just booked a trip to the US for next year and already can’t wait! We’d planned on visiting San Fransisco during that trip, but realized that we didn’t have enough holidays to do everything we want. Hopefully we’ll manage a visit, soon!
Cx
PS. We live in the north of the UK, but we actually used to live in Germany!
Hi there,
Your hall renovation looks amazing! I have a similar hall which I am currently renovating. Can I ask what have you stained/sealed your floorboards with? what finish? oil or wax? I am struggling to find something I want to stain my whole downstairs with.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the compliment, Emma! We sanded and varnished the floors without using a stain. We stained the stairs with Fiddes Non Grain Raising stain and all of our floors and stairs are varnished with Granwax Aquathane Satin varnish (which is great, as it doesn’t have that plasticy look that you sometimes find on varnished floors). You can check out how we sanded and finished our floors here.
Also, you cold check out Alice’s amazing blog about their Victorian home renovation. They’ve stained and oiled their floors (which you can read about here).
At the end of the day, it’s probably up to you and which finish you’d prefer. Our floors are still holding up really well though. Good luck with your renovation!
Cx
Hi,
I found your site Googleing how to restore an iron fire place. Started mine today. Urgh! Top coat is that awful one coat gloss stuff, horrible! The next few coats were OK and the one directly on the fireplace is just being a pain in the !*%” !! I’ve been using Nitromors but will order some of the Peel Away you mention. It’s another weekends work but will so be worth it when it’s done. A friend gave it to me as he’d taken it out of his house so I am just paying for the fitting, which is no cheap job. Keeping my eyes on the prize ;-)
One question, the shelves in your dining room, how are they fixed to the wall? The look like they are taking a fair weight with the books but look to be fixing free in the pictures. I want to go something like this but have no idea how to get them to attach to the wall! Any help/advise gratefully received!
Keep up the good work, your house is looking great and will be so worth it when it is all finished :-)
Lizzy
Thanks, Lizzy! Glad you found your way over to us! It sounds like you’re doing a great job of restoring your fireplace! We stripped our bedroom fireplace with Nitromors and it worked, but we found PeelAway much easier. Having said that, if you’ve already got Nitromors around, I’d be tempted to finish the job with it. You could try covering the area you’ve applied the Nitromors to with some clingfilm, which should allow you to leave it on longer (and therefore penetrate the paint better) before it dries. Pretty sure it’s not a recommended method, but maybe worth a careful try. When it comes to removing the Nitromors, use loads of white spirit – that worked great for us!
We were actually going to post about our dining room shelves (with a bit of a tutorial) in the next few weeks. Basically we screwed a timber frame onto the wall and the actual shelf is just resting on the frame. Then we just covered the front and bottom with some sheet timber. It took a while, but was actually pretty easy. We’ll get our skates on and share a full post about it asap!
Cx
Hi Christine and jan i was hoping you could advise me please:)
Today i got hold of a cast iron fireplace that was old and very tired but my partner saw it at the scrap yard when he was getting something for his car, anyway ive been wanting a small bedroom fireplace for my living room as its a small room since i saw one in an ideal home magazine,it will just be used for logs and cones etc as i dont need it to be a working fire,the only problem is that it dosent have a mantle shelf although there a fixing holes for one it must have got lost,it was such a gargain at £20 i just couldnt not have it,,what would you do to create a matching mantle shelf,ive looked around and cant find one on the net,i was thinking maybe a wooden shelf and paint matt black to blend in or could you possibly advise me what to do.. thanks so much xx
Sounds like you got a real bargain, Deborah! I think your best bet would be to have a look around some fireplace restoration shops to see if they have any spare parts. Most shops that sell fireplaces restore them, too, so they should definitely be able to help you out or at least advise you on where you’ll be able to get a replacement mantel. Alternatively, you could get a simple mantel made by a blacksmith. We actually had to have a part made for the fireplace in the guest bedroom (the bit of the grate that covers the ash pan). It really was straight forward and not expensive at all.
It really all depends on your fireplace! We’ve actually tried blackening some wood to match a fireplace, but it really didn’t look quite right. The cast iron has a different texture and slight sheen, so the difference in materials will probably always be visible.
We’d try to source some sort of mantel first, then if we couldn’t find one, we’d see how much it is to have one made and if none of those options work, try to build a wooden ones ourselves.
Hope that’s some help! Good look with your restoration!
Cx
Hi,
I have just discovered your blog and it is a great resource – my boyfriend and I have just bought a Victorian terrace in South Manchester, and it is stuck in a 1950’s timewarp – so, needless to say, there is a lot of work to do!
I noticed on your blog that you have some floorplans and room plans – what software did you use to create these? These would be useful for my own project, as I would like to plan the layout etc. before starting any work (especially since we are planning on removing some walls!)
Looking forward to your next posts, they are very useful, and a great inspiration!
Hol. x
Glad you found your way over to us, Hollie!
I had a friend draw the floor plans with some professional architecture software, so probably not too much use for you. You could try using SketchUp for some basic drawings. It’s really easy to use, you can draw in 2d and 3d and most importantly they have a free version.
Hope that’s some help!
Cx
Hi! I just stumbled upon your website and it looks full of incredible projects and ideas! I am a novice home repair/DIY’er and would love to read through your entire site – is there an archive or a link to your first post, so I can read all the way through, from start to end? Or should I just start with your latest post and work backwards? Thanks, and sorry if I’ve missed it, I’ve been looking everywhere and can’t find it.
~ Alison
Welcome & glad you found your way over here, Alison! Here’s the link to our very first post: https://www.littlehouseonthecorner.com/hello-world/.
Happy reading!
Cx
Thank you SO much, Christine!!! Can’t wait to start reading and learning!
~ Alison
Hi , I love your new hallway and staircase I came across your project whilst searching for inspiration to do mine, which is very similar. Could you please let me know where your got your replacement spindles from as some of mine are missing which are the same as yours and I cannot find out where to source them from on the internet. Keep up the good work :)
thanks Jules
Thanks, Jules! We didn’t have to find replacement spindles, as the two that were “missing” were attached to each end of the staircase so that the board covering all of the spindles could be attached. Most joineries should however be able to copy them for you.
Good luck with your staircase!
Cx
Hi,
I’ve just found your site and it is a godsend! My boyfriend and I have just purchased a house which has been badly mistreated by the previous owners and in some serious need of TLC! Your post on how to deal with hard floorboards is brilliant as none of the upstairs has any carpets and they’ve had a huge dog in the main bedroom in cage :’-( so I reckon the smell in there may rival yours!
If I have any questions on best ways to do things in certain rooms, may I contact you for some advice as you really seem to know your stuff?
Thanks,
Jessica
Glad you found your way over to us, Jessica! Congratulations on your new home, it sounds like you have your work cut out! Just drop us a line if you have any questions – always happy to help (if we can…).
Cx
Hi! I’ve just come across your blog searching for painting over gloss paint. I’ve recently bought a house in UK pretty much the same as yours and with all the same issues! Your blog is going to come in really useful :) Just a question – how did you test for lead paint? Everything in our house is covered in paint (or wallpaper) :(
Glad you found your way over to us, Sarah! You can use lead testing kit to check if you have lead paint. You just have to swab the surface to test it – couldn’t be easier. We used one like this one
.
Good luck with your new home!
Cx
Thanks Christine
Hello :-)
I came across your blog/website while researching, on this particular night, “restoring traditional floorboards” and I’ve pretty much found everything my partner and myself have been looking into all in one place – so fantastic! :-)
We’re going through an exciting time at the moment, we’re looking to buy our first home, a 1930’s do up house, so a lot of evenings have been researching into what we can do ourselves (we’re willing to put the hard work and elbow grease in), for when we’re viewing potential properties. I just wanted to take the time to let you know how pleased I am I came across you guys, the transformation is just amazing and your home is so beautiful. It’s just got us more excited at finally finding our home and putting in all the hard work to turn our furniture house into a home.
Continue with your fabulous transformation and witty blogs :-)
Kirstie x
That’s so kind, thank you so much Kirstie! Glad you found your way over to us!
It is a lot of work restoring a house, but the results are well worth it and the feeling of having achieved something yourself is pretty unbeatable!
Good luck with your first home!
Cx
Hello
I love your blog – it’s been so helpful as we’ve been renovating our first house (early 1900s) over the last few months. I was just wondering if you thought I could strip and repaint skirting boards and window frames after painting the walls or will stripping the paint cause a huge amount of damage to our paintwork? Reason being we need to move in soon (we’re fortunate enough to have somewhere else to stay while the major work has been going on) and I’d quite like the walls painted when we get in but won’t have time to do all the work that is going to be needed on the woodwork until a few months from now… Would love to know if you had any thoughts from your experience!
Thanks
Kirstyn
So happy to hear that we’ve been some help! Thanks Kirstyn! You can paint your window frames and skirting boards after the walls, but I would really recommend stripping them before you paint your walls. Stripping causes a lot of mess and gunk and will almost definitely end up on your walls. If you’re short on time, I’d recommend (we’ve done this in the past) just stripping the edge right along the wall – everything else can then be done later on. It’s still a pain, but stripping just one line of paint should be a fairly quick thing to do.
Cx
PS. If you check out our post from Friday where we stripped the dado rail in the hallway, you can just about make out some of the mess that stripping leaves around the stripped area.
I love this blog! It’s so helpful seeing how someone else has tackled the same issues me and my partner are facing at the moment. It’s also keeping us motivated in the hope one day it’ll be finished and look just as good!
Thanks Sarah,
Hope everything is going well with your projects!
Jan
Thank you. We’re trying to restore the wood floor in the living room at the moment and have had to replace some boards with new as they were rotten. I’m not sure how this is going to look after sanding. Did you have this problem?
Yes, we did. We replaced the rotten ones with floorboards from one of the bedrooms in which we knew wouldn’t have sanded floorboards. For us, this means that we’ve used the same floorboards that were in the house anyway and there aren’t any visible changes.
I think that, when you’ve sanded, you shouldn’t notice a difference in the boards too much. Even if the colour is slightly different at first, it’ll probably mellow a bit over time anyway. I personally wouldn’t mind any differences, as it’s all part of the character of a restored old house.
Cx
Hello there
I came across your website when googling Victorian house renovations (we’re about to buy a terrace built in 1880 which may need a bit of love) – and I’ve now read so many of your posts, all are brilliant! I am very impressed with what you have both achieved. I’d be really interested in knowing more about the contents of your tool bag (suspect it’s a little bigger than a bag… or belongs to Mary Poppins!) – would you consider writing a post on your key tools if you haven’t already?
Best wishes
Emma
Thank you so much for your kind comment, Emma! We’re actually currently working on a tool bag post – it’s been in an unfinished state in our drafts folder for a while, so we’ll definitely get a move on an publish it asap!
We’ve learned a lot about DIY and tools, so we’re more than happy to share our experiences. Hopefully I’ll get it up on the blog in the next week or two.
J
Hello, I have searched on your blog for a guide to renovate wood floor. I cannot find it. Can you please tell me how you redecorate your floor?
Thanks
Anyela
You can find our guide on how to sand a wood floor here: https://www.littlehouseonthecorner.com/how-to-sand-floorboards/ and we also put together a post with our Floorsanding FAQ’s here: https://www.littlehouseonthecorner.com/diy-guide-professionally-sand-wooden-floors-floorboards/.
Hope that’s some help Anyela.
Cx
Hi C & J
Wonderful home. Well done. we have just got the keys to our Edwardian property today and I have managed to find your site which I’m sure will prove to be a God send. Our property is in a very similar state to how yours had been on arrival, minus the pee stained carpets. Its just old fashioned. Having had the experience now, where you would recommend we start first? Pointing, downstairs living area, kitchen, bedrooms, or bathroom? we are planning to get quotes from 3 builders for help on certain areas like removing the old brick fire place etc but don’t want to appear like we don’t know what we are doing but the whole house will need renovating.
Thank you and congratulations on your new home!
It’s difficult to say where to start as your priorities will probably be different to ours. Having said that it is important to get any structural things or major improvements out of the way first. If you’ve had a more detailed survey done, it can help to narrow down the priorities (we had a few things where it said urgent). We tackled our living room very early on as we realised that we would need at least one room that was in a good condition where we could close the door on all of the dirt and mess in the rest of the house. If your’re not planning any major changes to the kitchen and bathroom (i.e. moving things) they can be done as and when you want to. The general order of things (although it will vary slightly depending on what your house needs doing) is:
1. Sort Electrics (You’ll probably end up with loads of new holes in the wall, so definitely do it before plastering)
2. Sort Plumbing & Heating
3. Windows
4. Fireplaces (Can be a dirty business if you’re reinstating missing ones)
5. Plastering
6. Decorating
7. Flooring
If you’re planning any structural work like knocking down a wall, get it out of the way as soon as possible. Pointing is a really unexciting project, but really important, so it’s best to get that done soon (obviously depends on what the condition of yours is like).
Hope that’s some help! Good luck with your renovation and do let us know if you have any other questions!
Cx
Dear C
That is actually very helpful. I didn’t even think about holes after electrics. Yes we have pointing issues and can now see the inside walls that appear to have been affected -scary looking cracked skirting. The builders are coming this week for quotes. Gulp. Thank you for getting back. Your blog has certainly helped me put into perspective how long the refurb can take. All the best. I’m sure I will be in touch again.
Sounds like you have your work cut out! Good luck! Cx
Hi, I love the work you’ve done on your beautiful home. I love the paint colors in your living room. I saw the color of your walls in the source list, can you also tell me the name of the white you used on the built ins and trim?
Thanks!
Thank you Debbie! The colour we used on all skirting, picture rails and the cupboards is Dulux Pure Brilliant White in eggshell. It’s fine, but I’d recommend going for a waterbased paint instead of this one. Over time it has gone a bit yellow.
Cx
Hello!
I am so glad I found your blog! You have done such a marvellous job, your homes are lovely. I hope all is going well in Berlin. It’s a very cool city.
My partner and I have recently bought our first home in the South Island of New Zealand and so far home ownership is a bit of a steep learning curve, especially when it comes to DIY! I have a question about sanding floors that I wonder if you can help with, and apologies if it’s a really stupid question! Our kitchen, dining room and lounge are open plan. In the kitchen there are sanded floorboards but the dining room and lounge (and hallway) are currently covered in horrible carpet. I want to replace the carpet in the lounge and remove the carpet in the dining room and hallway and sand the floors. My question is , when we pull the carpet up in the dining and hallway will we need to re-sand the whole kitchen too so it doesn’t look weird where the sanded floorboards in the kitchen meets those other spaces? Sorry if that doesn’t make sense!
Thank you!
Thank you so much, Sophie & congratulations on your new home!
The answer to your question really depends on what you’d like to achieve. In general, I’d say that you don’t have to sand the kitchen and can easily just sand the rest. It’s really hard work so any bits that you don’t have to sand will save you time, money and backache!
On the other hand, you’ll probably be happier with the overall result if you do sand the floor. You’ll be able to use the same finish everywhere which will definitely help it all blend together well. It kind of also depends on the condition of both of the floors, too.
My suggestion would be to sand the floor everywhere but for the kitchen (as it’s already been sanded) you can probably skip the first more coarse sanding steps. When you move on to finer sandpaper you can then start to include the kitchen, too. That way you should be able to get everything to match and save time sanding.
Hope that makes sense!
Cx
Hi, I love your blog, your various homes are all gorgeous :)
We’ve just bought an Edwardian terrace in South Manchester too, which was wrecked by the previous owners and all the period features taken out which we’re trying to put back in. Unfortunately there’s really nothing left to match new architrave/coving etc to so I’m not sure what’s the norm round here, did you have any research or references you used for the period/area? Or did you go to any local reclamation yards to get authentic fittings? I know you’re not in Manchester any more sadly, but I haven’t been able to find anywhere local on Google so would really appreciate any recommendations!
All the best for Berlin, it’s a great city!
Thank you so much, Rachel! That’s so kind of you to say.
It’s always so sad to find homes where the period features have been removed – it’s something I’ll just never understand!
When we wanted to replace features that had been completely removed (like our stained glass windows) we visited the homes of our neighbours who often still had features. Often whole rows of houses were built at the same time so seeing what your neighbours still have is always the best way to see what would have been in your home, too.
You can buy mouldings and architraves at a lot of places (I think you’ll need completely new architraves). Ones that are looking at are the Dulux Decorator Centre (there’s one in Stockport) and there’s a plaster moulding place on Oldham Road (I think it’s called Fine Castings north of Manchester city centre) that’s a bit weird and random but probably worth looking at as I think they make bespoke mouldings, too.
For other reclamation type things our favourite place was always Levenshulme Antique Centre. Other places that are worth looking at are Insitu in Castlefield (always a bit expensive in my opinion) and Old Mill Antiques in Failsworth.
Hope that helps but do let us know if you have any other questions!
Cx
Thanks so much for your reply, I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of something as simple as looking at neighbouring houses! I’ll definitely be checking all those places out, thanks :)
Sometimes the easiest solutions are the most difficult to think of – we’ve all been there, Rachel!
Cx
I love what you’re doing to renovate these buildings. I’m trying to do the same and really should have taken photos of before.
Re your apartment…..
Have you considered…
Turning the office to the kitchen ( agree totally with that)
Turning your wardrobe room into the main bathroom. It’s opposite the other bedroom.
( you look like you have enough space in your bedroom for free standing storage.)
Turning the bathroom into your en suite.
Turning the kitchen into the office. The pantry can be used for storage for the office or knocked through to make the en suite even bigger with space for a separate shower. ( taking up the kitchen space as a bathroom will devalue the house slightly as you lose a reception room.)
Hope this gives you something to consider although you may have already done so and discounted it, lol.
Good luck. Xx
Thank you, Shirley! We have considered some of what you’ve suggested but we always love to get advice and suggestions so thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I like the idea of moving the bathroom to the dressing room but there’s no plumbing or drainage on that side of the apartment so it’s not something we’ll be able to do.
We’d still like to move the kitchen to the front of the apartment where the office currently is. Now that we’ve been living in the apartment for a while we’re surer than ever that it’s the right thing to do.
We’re not too bothered about the value of the property as we’re planning on staying here for a long while (although we obviously wouldn’t want to do anything that would devalue it) but the housing market in Germany is slightly different than in the UK. Although the amount of rooms you have obviously makes a difference you pay a price per square metre, so it shouldn’t matter too much if we turn a room into a bathroom. If you fancy seeing some more of our plans, we shared some of our layout options and plans here: https://www.littlehouseonthecorner.com/layout-changes-secret-rooms/.
Cx
Hi – where did you get your narrow shoe cupboard from… that looks like it would be perfect in our very narrow victorian hallway….!
It’s mad how difficult it is to find narrow furniture, isn’t it! The shoe cupboard is from Ikea. They don’t make this exact model anymore but they have lots that are similar and equally slim.
Cx
Hi Christine and Jan, I have been following your renovations and DIY work since falling upon this site while looking up ‘how to’ work. My Wife Sue and I bought a wrecked simple 200yr old terraced cottage in a small Devon Town. Taking a leaf out of your book we set to work. Plastering, plumbing,flooring , roofing, windows and doorways and completely rewiring the house.Obtaining an inspection from a qualified electrician of course. Once we fitted the log burner in the discovered inglenook fireplace (wow!) it looks completely different. What I like about your work is that you are both not afraid to have a go. Also, you both have STYLE! Well done.
Thomas and Sue
Thank you so much for your kind comment! It really means a lot to us!
It sounds like you really had your work cut out restoring your home. I can’t believe you found an inglenook fireplace – soooo jealous!
Congratulations on all of your hard work – I’m so glad to hear that it was worthwhile and that you’ve achieved a home to be proud of! It just goes to show how rewarding DIY can be!
Thanks again & all the best!
Cx
Hello
Been very interested in your blog, I am in a similar situation as you were on your first house, reading your blog has given me a bit of confidence to go on and get things done. I was wonder if you could let me know how you found doing your own plastering, I think I am going to have a do a fair bit and was wonder how much you did yourself, ie did you do the ceilings/whole walls or did you get pro’s in to do the large areas?
If you’re a decent DIYer I definitely think that plastering is doable. As a beginner, it’s not necessarily easy but you do quickly see an improvement in your skills. I would definitely recommend doing a course beforehand (you can read about the one I did here: https://www.littlehouseonthecorner.com/plastering-easy-know/) and I would also say that you’ll need someone to help you clean and prep between coats because it’ll take you longer to plaster a wall than it would a professional and you obviously only have a limited amount of time to actually plaster before it starts setting.
I plastered the whole back bedroom including the ceiling on my own (with the help of Jan who helped cleaning, etc.). It was my first project and I admit that I wouldn’t have liked to do any walls bigger than around 12m² to start with. Ceilings are also much more difficult and I’m not in a rush to ever do one again! Plastering a room wall by wall (assuming they’re a fairly standard size) is totally possible though. We did get the professionals into plaster the whole hallway, though!
Basically, I’d recommend taking part in a plastering course, I’d probably pay for the ceilings and either pay for large areas or leave them till you’ve had more practice on smaller ones.
Hope that all makes sense and helps!
Good luck with your home!
Cx
Thanks for your reply, I’ve signed up for a plastering course, you’ve given me confidence to go for it.
How exciting! Would love to hear how you get on!
Good luck!
Cx
Hi, may I ask where you got the lovely butterfly art in your living room and the cute pink yellow blue bowl set?
Hi Nikki! We made the butterfly art (https://www.littlehouseonthecorner.com/butterfly-art/) and I painted the butterfly painting (which is based on one I’d seen at a design shop but I can’t remember the name of the artist). The bowls (they’re actually tealight holders) are from Marks & Spencer – we’ve had them a while though.
Hope that helps!
Cx