8 Denby Lane
Heaton Chapel
empty house (2009) ◊ moving in (2009) ◊ winter (2009) ◊ furnished (2010) ◊ gardening (2010) ◊ decorating (2010) ◊ decorating (2010 to 2014) ◊ gardening (2011 & 2012) ◊ landscaping (2012 & 2013) ◊ gardening (2013 & 2014)
Decorating (2010)
The majority of the house was in a very good state when we moved in, and so there was no rush in revamping the house. This is no Louise & Paul Renovation Project. However, as previously mentioned on these pages, the bedrooms were starting to look a little dated, and Lynne had developed a distinct aversion to the fitted wardrobes in both the master and second bedrooms. As the master bedroom was where we quite liked to sleep thank you very much, the second bedroom was a natural target. Here is what the fitted wardrobes, etc. looked like originally.
Then, in late January, Lynne got started on it by herself - I told you she was keen. I did help out when it got to the wardrobe doors (which have been used on the vegetable patch); I wasn't totally idle. Somehow, the Hello Kitty calendar had survived. So very wrong.
Then it was the fun bit. Taking an opportunity to channel some anger that I had probably built up over the years, I roared into action (literally) by ripping the wardrobe apart. There were some very satisfying cracks and other noises. The picture is a little blurry due to the amount of dust in the air.
Some parts were more stubborn than others. First, Lynne had a go.
Then the brothers Allen had a try, Matt and Kate having just popped over for a roast dinner (or so they thought).
But eventually we got it all off, and it was time for stripping off the wallpaper. And for this, a steamer is brilliant, as it all came off easily, apart from the bits near the skirting board (and the equivalent part adjoining the ceiling) as the underlying layer of paper had been painted over.
I'm making it sound like we had made lightning progress with this, but these photos were taken in late March.
By May, we had got someone round to first move the light fitting to a much more sensible position (i.e. not right by the window).
The plasterer guy, Martin, got his set-up in place.
And a fine job of it he made too. When we first came back, after a night out, the plaster was dark and swirly, but slowly it dried out. It was smooth as silk and ready for painting.
But there's no rush. Right now, in June, we are starting to sand the skirting boards in readiness for glossing. More as and when it happens.
Ok, so that was clearly a lie. It's now the following March and only now do I get round to updating this part. What you gonna do? Ask for your money back? Well, I don't seem to have many good shots of the second bedroom all decorated, but here are two...
...of them. Above, is the far wall where the fitted wardrobes were. And below is the stylish "feature wall" (i.e. wallpapered, with the other walls painted).
Those photos were taken in September 2010 and having this room ready to use enabled us to switch bedrooms and take on the main bedroom. Here is my demolition in stages, done over a couple of hours in October.
Ew. It was a good decision to get rid of the fitted wardrobes given the mould that was behind. I soon tackled the wallpaper too.
I also stripped the wallpaper in the soon-to-be nursery. Before:
Well, sort of. You could see I had made some sort of start... After:
One of the main tasks for the builders was to revamp the en suite. Here's how it looked once the wallpaper had been stripped.
Our bedroom became somewhat of a mess, with the carpet taken up, a toilet lying around...
...wonder where that came from...
Ok, so the plan was to square off the wall to make it possible to fit in a full width shower unit.
Unfortunately, it wasn't the right width for that, so the next plan was to widen the en suite to make it possible. The partition was rebuilt.
On the floor you can see the original line of the wall.
Back to the nursery, plastered and ready for action.
Of course, all this demolition resulted in a lot of waste.
More decorating can be found here.