View my renovation (Sorry, new URL)

[Anonymous]

Yippee! We've completed and started work on our 1894 end terraced house.

Some of you may recall my concerns with the size of the bathroom so you can now see what we end up doing with it. Not that I have any idea what that might be yet. I'm doing this blog mostly for my own purpose as I've done a spot of decorating once before and can never remember quite how the room was before hand.

So, here you go http://1894house.blogspot.com/ please make comments but I ask you to not shout at me too much for not keeping to an exact Victorian replica. I plan to live here as well as show it off but I'm sure it'll be better than it currently is.

 

[Lime]

Thank you for the show.

Cast iron fireplaces are always a pleasure to have done but they can be difficult to clean.
As cast iron is hard I have found it quicker to use a stanley blade (or similar) to scrape or lever the paint off. Often the base coat is a form of Zebrite that is soft unlike the layers of paint.

I originally made the mistake of using Zebrite on my first freshly-cleaned bedroom fireplace. My young son soon proved how wrong I was by getting black over the curtains and new wall paper!
I now use a matt blackboard paint (Woolies) which is easy to apply, covers well and brings out (rather than cover up) the detail.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank Lime, that really is handy information. At the moment I can't quite see the time when I'm going to get under all of that paint and ready to coat it but I'm heading over their again today to get stuck into it so I'll have some more pictures up later.

 

[Penners]

Interesting blog, Sarah. I particularly like the picture of you stripping. :wink:

You shouldn't worry about slavishly following a style that is a pastiche of the period of the house. The only hard-and-fast principle is not to destroy any original fabric. What you do in the way of non-destructive decor should be purely what you like.

I'm afraid you may be disappointed with the look of matt black paint on your cast iron fireplace, by comparison with Zebrite (or any 'black lead' polish). The paint gives an artificial, 'dead' look, whereas the polish gives the iron a wonderful glow. Zebrite is difficult to find, these days, but there are several other brands of grate polish on the market. I'm pretty sure Liberon do one.

 

[skier-hughes]

Do you think Sarah would fit in the bath Penners? Perhaps a picture showing her trying would put our minds at rest.

 

[Carol]

We use the Liberon polish on our cast iron kitchen fireplace and it is completely clean once polished. It is a bit messy to apply but I only do it about twice a year, putting it on with a toothbrush and polishing off with an old shoe brush. It stops the rust spots and give a nice 'gunmetal' finish. Great pictures, isn't it great stripping fireplaces, very satisfying! Good luck with the bathroom.

 

[Nemesis]

I find Zebrite fine once dry.

It would be a great shame to remove that cupboard!

 

[Lime]

I'm afraid you may be disappointed with the look of matt black paint on your cast iron fireplace, by comparison with Zebrite (or any 'black lead' polish). The paint gives an artificial, 'dead' look, whereas the polish gives the iron a wonderful glow. Zebrite is difficult to find, these days, but there are several other brands of grate polish on the market. I'm pretty sure Liberon do one.

That is the precise reason I said Woolies blackboard paint.
I agree that nearly all matt black paints look dull but Woolies doesn't.
It has a sheen to it that highlights the shape and design without all the mess.
Unfortunately Zebrite or similar will always mark anything touching it no matter how long it has been on. The nature of graphite I suppose.

 

[Nemesis]

Not on my fireplaces it doesn't seem to.

Hot Spot is very good too, slightly different finish.

 

[Gervase]

What a lovely period bathroom suite. Shame the period is the Seventies - the decade that taste forgot!
A nice house though - good luck with the rest; so far it's looking good.

 

[NT]

Floorboards usually clean up, and dont often need sanding. Sanding them can expose the interior worm holes that are fairly common.

Is there a problem with putting more mains sockets in?

Fuse wire is still accepted in the latest regs, thats not a problem in itself. Its not really possible to conclude much from the pic of the fusebox, other than its not a recent rewire and theres no rcd (probably a good thing).


NT

 

[Lime]

What a lovely period bathroom suite. Shame the period is the Seventies - the decade that taste forgot!
A nice house though - good luck with the rest; so far it's looking good.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

I think it will always be remembered for the brown bathroom suite.

However, looking at the bathroom picture again, I think the whole layout would have been improved if the bath had been placed in the other (righthand) corner away from the loo.

 

[Penners]

I think the whole layout would have been improved if the bath had been placed in the other (righthand) corner away from the loo.

Better feng shui, Lime? Will that channel the positive energy more effectively?

 

[Penners]

Unfortunately Zebrite or similar will always mark anything touching it

I can't say that I've ever had that problem. It's very messy stuff when you're putting it on (rubber gloves essential), but once it's on, dry and well buffed, I've never had any trouble with it. And it looks absolutely wonderful.

By the way, Sarah, 'black lead' isn't really lead. It's mainly wax and graphite, so not the danger that it sounds.

 

[Lime]

I think the whole layout would have been improved if the bath had been placed in the other (righthand) corner away from the loo.

Better feng shui, Lime? Will that channel the positive energy more effectively?

I was thinking more along the lines of keeping the pee out of the bath.

 

[Anonymous]

Really sorry, I've had to change the blog address to this - http://1894house.blogspot.com/

I'll still update this every few days so please keep viewing and I really do appreciate all of your comments.

Sarah
X

 

[thiambal]

Great house! I love that Wallpaper - so you are not alone!

Just to add my contribution to the fireplace debate - we used Liberon Iron Paste - best applied with a cloth rather than a brush. Apply allow to dry, then buff to required shine - if you buff too much add a little more and re-buff until you get required finish.

We have found once fully dry that there are no problems with it coming off

 

[EmmaT]

I'd also recommend Liberon paste. I've just spend the last few weekends stripping a similar fireplace in our bedroom. Best buy so far, a large plastic bristled washing up brush from Sainsburys - fantastic for brushing paintstripper into crevices (wear long sleeves...), also good for brushing off loose paint etc. Fantastic for buffing Liberon paste up to a high shine - looks fantastic. Also, wouldn't bother trying to buy cast iron paste/grate blacking in Homebase or similar - try a local independent ironmongers or hardware store.

Love your blog BTW, we bought a Victorian place back in July (bit older - 1850s) and while it needs less work than yours it's still something of a challenge! You're very lucky to have so many fireplaces left!

 

[monkey writer]

yes, you're VERY lucky to have so many lovely fireplaces... We only have one left in our Vicky terrace (about the same age as yours). So we're going to be out searching for replacements,,,!

 

[Penners]

But there's no "p" in "bath"!

(This apparently random statement is actually intended as an answer to Lime's last post on the previous page! I must remember to check the page numbers before posting....! )