Rehab Diary, Part 3: A Small House Overhaul in London, the Big Reveal - Remodelista
Newlyweds Isabel and George Blundena “she’s a travel editor, he’s in media” recently overhauled a 1,100-square-foot Victorian railway cottage in southwest London, and moved in with their baby.
Yesterday, in Rehab Diary, Part 2, she chronicled the construction process (including discovering midway into the build that they were expecting their first child).
Photography by Jonathan Gooch for Remodelista.
Finishing the building work was by no means the end of the project. We were sensationally naive when it came to lead times for ordering items, and spent weeks living in the house with no kitchen tap and no window coverings.
Ground Floor
Our new open, light-filled kitchen is a space to share with our family and friends. We were originally going to paint the walls a Farrow & Ball color, but we liked the crispness of the Dulux Primer so much that we left it as is.
Our countertop radio is a classic Roberts Radio and was a wedding present from great friends. And we can plug in our iPhone and use the radio as speakers as well.
For our countertop, we chose Bianca Carrara marble from Venice Marble.
We jazzed up the blank kitchen with flashes of bronze courtesy of £3.50 ($5) cup-pull handles purchased on sale at Graham and Green.
Without any over-counter cupboards, we didn’t install downlights. We have very little countertop space, and I didn’t want the lamps to encroach any further.
Without a utility room in which to hide the boiler and washer/dryer, we had to steal space from the kitchen.
We begged, borrowed, and stole family furniture: shelving that had once been in my husband’s grandfather’s garage; a lamp from my uncle;
a chest of drawers that had hidden in a storage room in George’s parents’ house for years, discovered only when they moved; and a curtain from their old sitting room that miraculously fit perfectly across our new back door.
Our birthday presents to each other were plants, soil, and pots, anything for our sparse little patch outside.
We had planned to use the willow trellis to grow something up, but it looks rather nice on its own so we are leaving it as is.
With our budget contraints and decorating challenges, we turned to our families. Part of our vision for our new home was getting inspiration from not only what we had seen in magazines and online but also what we knew.
I chose to study English Literature at Edinburgh University because I am a bit of a bookworm and could think of nothing nicer than spending four years with my nose in novels.
Our one big splash out was the wood-burning stove, a Salisbury 6kw...
...Multi-Fuel Stove from Chesney’s. We decided to install it during the build, when the house was still a dusty mess and before the plastering and painting were finished.
We put built-in storage wherever we could. Our wood floor is Oak Distressed Old White, an engineered wood from the Natural Wood Floor Company.
Above:Before we even made an offer on the house, I had said that the doorknobs and other hardware would be the first things to go.
We moved the downstairs loo to the space underneath the stairs.
One of our various projects was painting an old pine chest from George’s childhood bedroom in Borrowed Light, a very pale blue-gray from Farrow & Ball.
The Second Floor
And when the money ran out, we turned our hands to DIY. The plug socket sunk into the floor for a lamp on a side table...
...in front of the log burner is now just a trip hazard and something that will have to be dealt with before the baby starts playing there.
We chose carpets for upstairs as a quick fix. I was initially keen on a natural material, such as seagrass or sisal, but was advised that neither is practical with a baby on the way and inevitable spillages.
The upholstered headboard in our bedroom is from Feather and Black and is in a woven cotton in a color called Pebble.
The house had absolutely no fitted cupboards when we moved in, so one of the first jobs was to get a carpenter to create as much storage as possible.
In the master bedroom, the new Shaker-style cupboards run the entire length and height of the wall.
The bedroom wardrobes, as well as the bookcases and shelving in the sitting room, now have pretty French handles that are from my mother’s house.
Our guest room is simple but luxurious.
The guest room’s wall-mounted Ranarp Lamps came from Ikea and have drawn more inquiries than items that are 10 times more expensive.
With an Ektorp Jennylund Armchair from Ikea and a Moses basket borrowed from my sister-in-law, the nursery was ready.
My mother-in-law gave me this vintage copy of Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management.
