Interior design

[LadyArowana]

and was a naughty boy removing the Aga--but no matter!!

I must confess to not understanding the whole "Aga thing" the house we bought in expectation of returning to the UK has one in the kitchen. I didn't have it on when I was staying there as I was just doing some reno work and it was only me in residence. I didn't particularly like the colour ( green ) but the service guy who came out to give it a once over was appalled when I said that, told me it was the nice heritage green. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I was contemplating getting rid of the whole apparatus! I'm not fond of cooking at all, and the idea of something that sits there 'always on' seems a bit stupid when there are brilliant ovens and hobs that are completely controllable and you switch off when you are done.

I could keep it and just have the other kit too, but I would dearly love to know why people like them, other than for the sake of having one. As far as I know we are not about to return imminently, but when we do I will need to do the house without the luxury of living there for a while and seeing how things are, so thoughts from owners most welcome.

 

[foppish]

So there you have it, PP. The paint's all wrong, the mirror's too big, the music cabinet's too small, the furniture doesn't match, the ceiling's too high, the carpet's the wrong colour, the window lets in too much light....

Still glad you asked??! :wink:

just goes to show how individual "taste" really is! as someone else here said - you only need to please the people who live there, it will be lovely (it already is) and it will mature as you live your lives in it - I think that's the thing that really makes a period feel actually, it doesn't all arrive together, it doesn't all match, or necessarily fit, and it gets loved into place, the way it would have done when furniture wasn't so disposable and pieces were passed down/handed around more, and great aunt lucy's horrible mirror was kept because, well, it was great aunt Lucy's, and mother remembers her fondly.

 

[mims&pip]

Fab property PipandMims, love the solid Victorian build both inside and out, and it's so rewarding to find that your successors have retained much of your hard work as well as the furnishings that they chose to buy from you. Both of my previous North Norfolk properties have been treated in much the same way. If you google Foxglove Cottage Burnham Market you will find it is now a holiday house, I bought it in one heck of a state and spent 6 months putting it to rights. All the current owner has done is add extra shower rooms and changed a downstairs room into an extra bedroom. She kept my much loved 4 oven Aga! The second property in Walsingham, still on google as 'The Old Gatehouse ' High street Little Walsingham was such a privilge to own . My Buyer simply continued where we left off and restored the gable windows to the top floor and reconfigured the room usage, but he kept my colour schemes and was a naughty boy removing the Aga--but no matter!!

Thank you Jocelyn It was a real labour of love that house and I'd move back there in a heartbeat if possible! When we took it on in 1997 it was in a rather neglected state, having been converted to four flats in the 1960s. (In fact although built as a single dwelling in 1888, it was transformed into two flats owned by a pair of high ranking naval officers in the 1920s :roll We threw everything we had at the place during our late twenties/thirties and by the time we'd finished it was completely unrecognisable from when we first saw it......

This was what I meant in a previous thread when I said we put in kitchens/bathrooms to suit the house in question and that several years (and new owners) down the line, those features are still in situ - as opposed to these awful black high gloss, handle-less things that seem to be all the rage at the moment :shock:

I will check out those houses you used to own, Jocelyn, I'm sure they are beautiful as you obviously have excellent taste

Mims x

 

[Flyfisher]

I think it was touched on above but I'd say that 'period' rooms are largely characterised by 'clutter and stuff', which I don't mean in a derogatory sense by any means. All the TV makeover programmes I've seen seem to end up with a complete absence of 'stuff' and often, seemingly, even anywhere to actually put 'stuff', which makes the lovingly created spaces look and feel rather sterile - for my taste anyway (and I fully subscribe to Penners' previous pronouncements on such matters!).

Thus, going back to PP's original photo, my feeling is not to fret about the mirror or a possible mismatch of furniture pieces but to think about adding a bit more 'stuff'. That clock looks lonely all by itself and the walls are too bare. Personally I love the colour but cluttering them up with some paintings and/or photos would make all the difference. And I wasn't entirely joking about the guitar and amp - 'stuff' is what's needed to turn a very pleasant but plain room into a more personal space.

 

[Penners]

I wasn't entirely joking about the guitar and amp

Perhaps a period amp is what's needed...



Plus, of course, a matching guitar...

 

[angrybird]

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful"
William Morris

 

[Penners]

A quote that I use frequently (and completely ignore).

 

[Flyfisher]

Perhaps a period amp is what's needed...

Great pictures Penners - can we call steampunk a 'movement' yet? I find it very inventive and amusing and have probably got enough old techno-junk dotted around to make some of my own if I wasn't so artistically challenged. I'd like to think you posted those pictures from your own steampunk PC . . . ?



Or how about this for a bit of period clutter? :lol:

 

[Flyfisher]

.

 

[plasticpigeon]

Not in the front room, but in the shed, yes please! I can smell the aroma of machine oil, tarnished brass and slightly burned electrics in the bottom picture just by looking at it. Fabulous!

 

[88v8]

I try not to look at the pictures of our previous house, which I still miss very much, but looking at Pipmim's pictures I am reminded that what I lack in the decatorial line is flair, which she clearly has in abundance.

And where can I buy a computer like that????

Ivor

 

[Penners]

I'd like to think you posted those pictures from your own steampunk PC . . . ?

Sadly, FF, my PC is a laptop that is neither steam nor punk. Is there by any chance a movement called ElectronicCrap?

 

[Keithj]

That second picture gives me hope...

 

[jocelyn plummer]

I try not to look at the pictures of our previous house

I love to see our previous houses---it is just good to know that they have progressed and are being cared for. We drive past the one we had in Burnham market very regularly on our way to a favourite walk, and it is great to see the Taxus Baccata hedge I planted on a freezing cold January day in 2004, being beautifully clipped, likewise the box and lavender in the front. Around the side, and , is a Wisteria that I planted, now covering the wall, and just visible is the Magnolia grandiflora that I put in.

 

[JanieB]

To go back to PP's original piccie, the 2 pieces of furniture only look unbalanced because they are currently "stand alone". If there were pictures on the wall on the left hand side and the bureau had something (light) displayed in the top, It wouldn't be unbalanced. I love the colour of the walls, I have the same in my dining room. I own (ed) an almost identical desk which was in an alcove. The room was green not red. I put a handpainted japanese tea service in the top which balanced the ribbon plates on the wall on the other side under which was a small table.

Of course the top of the bureau was originally intended as a bookcase, but I found ornaments far more appealing and less dreary.

The reason for the brackets re my ownership is because I stored my furniture in a stable at my ex's during a move a few years ago and he took that and a few other bits including my fitted kitchen and an antique cellarette into his house and I've never been able to get them back. I eventually agreed to let him keep them under the condition that they are left to our children and do not go to his new family.

 

[plasticpigeon]

I've been having fun with pictures. I've had these for ages stored away ready to hang, collected on the cheap as and when I found them. I've also had the big print of Birmingham from above for ages, but never found a frame suitable, and didn't want to pay a crazy price for a bespoke frame, especially as I never found a moulding I liked, but then I found a frame exactly the right size on ebay the other day. I think it looks great.

The room is getting a bit better as I get more stuff into it. I need a couple of chairs, new curtains and some general stuff that my other half won't complain at me about. I'm getting a fender and companion set and I'm allowed a family of 3 elephants for the mantel, to mirror our family in the house, I'm sure her ladyship would approve.

How am I going to hide all those wires!!!

 

[Penners]

Fascinating picture of Birmingham, PP. The question I ask myself is, how was it done? Is/was there a tall building from which the view could be drawn, or was it done purely by imagining the scene from that height?

 

[88v8]

How am I going to hide all those wires!!!

Yes, that's coming on well. More stuff.
Great print.
Stuff minimalism.

The wires... if that cabinet is to be a Home Entertainment Centre, then go the whole hog and sink the necessary sockets into the back of it as if it were a wall. The wires will then vanish. Obviously leave enough slack that you can move it out if needs be.

Ivor

 

[Keith Bowman]

Fascinating picture of Birmingham, PP. The question I ask myself is, how was it done? Is/was there a tall building from which the view could be drawn, or was it done purely by imagining the scene from that height?

A joint enterprise by the brothers Montgolfier and Monsieur Daguerre?

 

[plasticpigeon]

I've wondered that too Penners. Here is a picture of Chamberlain square as it would have looked until around 1973 when everything was demolished to make way for the "new" library, that is currently also being demolished. It is amazing what the planners of Birmingham thought would be good. If I could go back in time I think I would probably have no issue with bumping off Herbert Manzoni. Anyway, the tall Gothic building on the left is Mason college, original home of Birmingham university, and I think that from the very highest point of that building, the view might be as seen in the drawing. It is quite a famous print locally, and I was Lucky to find an original.