Bedroom 1

'We're going to white wash the entire house - can you fit us in before Christmas?!' We negotiated for our decorator to spend two weeks with us before Christmas white washing the entire house so we could bring a clean feel to the place.  Since this option quickly changed with the quest to find the perfect grey, we decided to choose colours/wallpaper for Bedroom No.1.

When we first saw the house, the room seemed very 'close'.  Aged green carpet, 70's panelled wall, satin striped wallpaper, sad windows and curtains and boarded doors.  Clearly the house was refurbed in the 70's.

Our intention wasn't to bring back the Victorian era but to certainly add some warmth and 
charm to the space.   First things first, get the carpet up, repair the flank wall and strip the boarded doors to reveal original 1930's doors. 

Next, rewire the bedroom as part of the entire house (plaster over the damaged areas) and invite the decorator to line the walls with thick lining paper....

Pre-lining paper and plasterer

Part lined

One wall fully lined and a sneak at one of the restored doors

Now for the decorating.  We started with a latte colour beige/brown called Mellow Mocha by Dulux for all the walls followed by a feature wall that captured the brown shade, and will be enhanced by our existing wood bedroom furniture and brown curtains. 

Next comes the feature wall... A wall of much debate - once the room is complete this wall will tie the room together. 

Tatiana Wallpaper in Soft Violet by Voyage

Finally, and this is far as we're going with the bedroom for now as we have so much else to do - here's the bedroom with our new blinds, new walls and new feature wall.

The Offer - Accepted

We didn't leave it long.  We waited until 6pm that Saturday to inform the estate agent we wanted to put an offer in.  There was some back and forth with agreeing a price but we got there.  The offer was accepted.

First the survey.

Now I hadn't realised that there was a choice. When we bought our flat, we had a basic survey that didn't even tell us that our boiler was about to burst the afternoon we planned to move in. So this was a good learning curve.  We didn't want to get caught out on a house that had been standing for over 100 years.

There's options - the Basic Evaluation survey ensures the property is worth the price, the Homebuyers Report shows up any minor defect in the property and points out any areas of concern and then there's the Building Survey - this is the one we chose. I found http://www.home.co.uk/services/survey_quotes.htm really helpful in explaining which survey we should choose.  This survey uncovers every area of concern and highlights even the tiniest of faults that need to be brought to our attention.

Survey booked. Conducted.  Report arrived.

It's a far cry from lip gloss and moisturisers. Flank wall, lateral restraints, timber joists, rendering.  Suddenly I was drowning in a new vocabulary that I didn't want to be defeated by. I got to grips with many of these terms and in reality, all you need is a good surveyor who is prepared to talk you through his 20+ pages of the survey.

“Areas of concern?“ I asked. What concerns? This is going to be our home.

It soon became clear that there was a problem.  A defect in the flank wall meant that this project was going to take a little longer than we thought!!