Decorating Time

When we bought our house five years ago, we were lucky that it had just been painted throughout. The house needed very little work and in fact the biggest jobs we undertook were replacing the living/dining room and bathroom flooring. The rest of the house, barring a few minor bits and pieces in the kitchen was ready to go. The walls throughout the house are the same shade of magnolia, which whilst giving the house a neutral modern feel is a little on the boring side. We didn’t do anything about it however as it was all freshly painted.

Five years on and the walls are starting to look a little grubby in places so we can start to make our own mark on the house and give it some colour again. We won’t be choosing bright or garish colours, we like more muted and natural shades, but we will start to give each room its own individual feel again rather than it being one big lump of magnolia.

The first room we aim to tackle will be the kitchen/breakfast room. We spend a lot of time in this room, cooking and socialising, it is the real hub of the home, so it seems right to give this room a lift first. We will keep the white ceilings as this gives the room a fresh look and makes the ceilings appear higher; however we are going to paint the walls in a lovely coffee brown shade to compliment the natural limestone tiling, white units and cherry wood effect work surfaces. We also plan to fit some new flooring, the laminate we inherited has served its purpose well but we really don’t like it and it looks cheap and nasty. We are trying to find some retro styled black and white chequered vinyl flooring, which will fit in with the retro theme and the old metal signs on the walls.

Next on the hit list will be the master bedroom. Perhaps not the most obvious place to jump to after the kitchen, but this is a large and airy room that needs making the most of. The master bedroom runs the full length of the house with windows on both the front and rear elevations, making this room light and bright at all times of the day and with great views over the city from the rear of the house this is a great opportunity to make this room a little bit special. The carpeting in this room, as with the whole of upstairs is fine and will just need a quick once over with the carpet cleaner to spruce it up a little. The walls are in good condition and just need a lick of paint. As with the kitchen we intend to keep the white ceilings and woodwork, but in this room we plan to paint the walls in a pale, muted shade of blue. We hope to give the room a relaxed, seaside feel and as the room is so large we will also be able to introduce a comfy leather tub chair to compliment the bed and a small white coffee table in front of the rear window, to create a space to relax with a good book and enjoy the views across the city.

The aim is to eventually decorate throughout the house but we are going to take it one room at a time and starting with the kitchen and bedroom will hopefully give us some great ideas for the rest of the house. We won’t be in any great rush with the decorating and will take it as and when it comes along, but we hope to bring the house to life in colours that we like and will enjoy. We have thoroughly enjoyed our five years in Foxhill so far, we have had our ups and downs, but the house has served us well and it is now time to start repaying it with some TLC. Watch this space for further updates and progress reports on this little project.