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I want to unsubscribe but can’t find the tab to do so. . .please advise.
I’m assuming you mean you want to unsubscribe from our emails, Arleen? There’s a button at the bottom of every email that we send. Just click on it and you’ll automatically be unsubscribed.
Cx
Hi there,
I came across an article on your Berlin apartment in Reclaim magazine which is how I got here… Could you tell me the name of the artist who painted the swimmer (above the sofa in your study)? Love it!
Thanks’
Katie
So glad you found your way over to us, Katie! It’s a great print, isn’t it? We got it at a place called posterlounge.co.uk but they don’t seem to have it anymore. If you search for “Swimmer In Yellow by Gareth Lloyd Ball” you’ll be able to find other places that stock it, though!
Hope that helps!
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
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 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
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
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, 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
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 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