It’s probably now official (according to this blog) that there’s only a Monday every fortnight ’cause yep, I missed a week last week. Again! But we’re working so hard, I can be excused from blogging, surely?
The house is coming on in leaps and bounds! As winter sets in properly, thank goodness we have actual hot water running from a tap for the first time in 2yrs, or is it longer since the old boiler broke? Anyhow it’s bloody amazing to wash my face in steaming water, even if we do still only have one sink and it’s in the coldest room in the house… the one which is still waiting for the second new bay to be installed and currently has a six foot hole in it. In December. As much as I revel in water about 5*C, the one working hot tap is over a tiny sink so we’re still boiling water in a kettle to wash up. I worked out that this cheapo purple kettle has been boiled over 12,000 times and has outlasted many more expensive back up kettles. It’s a superstar kettle and well deserves it’s Monday Moment, thank you Sainsburys 😉
As a direct result of finally getting all the pipework in for the hot water system and boilers, I’m finally on with bathroom designs. I can’t actually stress enough how long I’ve waited for this moment. It’s one of those corner-turning times for a self-builder because you can’t start bathrooms before the site is ready, no matter how desperate you are for a shower in your own house. We’ll soon have three showers here and I’ll literally be running in and out of all of them for months and months so none feel left out and I end up as wrinkled as a prune and loving it. This is one of my sexy shower trays, cool huh? I did um and ahh about black but I’m limiting black to just one bathroom. And it looks cool as hell. 
As a bit of sneaky peek, here are some of the fabulous products being considered for the interiors here. The house is a mix of new build and Edwardian villa, so it’s entirely appropriate to mash old & new, well, that’s my line and I’m sticking to it. Lots of metallics, lots of sharp lines but softened by flashes of unique finishes and bespoke patterning. Making sure everything flows without being samey, and different rooms have their own personality without being themed will be a challenge as I’ve some big spaces to crack, design wise, but it’s all starting to come together.
People ask me whether I’ve had the products lined up and the rooms already planned for ages. The answer is definitively no. I see and am inspired by too much to have made all the decisions already and besides, am quite an organic designer. I need to be in a space to decide what will best suit it, so until the rooms were built and the light flooded in, I found it impossible to start layering in the design. It intrigues me how others can plan rooms without ever being in them, I just can’t!
PS I can’t decide between a black or a copper ladder radiator, which would you go for?!
It’s for this room below…..
….which is the extension bathroom. I adore it, an unusual space with a vaulted ceiling around which I’ve designed a floating shelf for lighting and plants. I spent all day on Saturday painting it crisp white with black detailing and completely did my back in, even though I made sure not to over reach or jump off the scaffold. Totally gutted that I wasn’t able to finish it yesterday, but I should really cut myself some slack as even with the first two coats, it looks fab 🙂
Up on the external scaffolding we’ve been super lucky with the weather and Mr M finished off the giant cuspings in their top coat of deep grey Railings. My guilt every time I look up at our home has now evaporated as they sit protected with new paint and secure fastenings. Makes me feel really good about what we’re doing here, even if it is taking forever. Yesterday I re-read a 2yr old email to a friend where I said this was a six month project… HA!!
Not only bathrooms but the utility room is now well underway too. It’s a little higher than your average utility so the boys have had their work cut out for them on angles and pitches yet again. I’ve been getting stressed out about how long everything takes and can’t everyone go a bit faster and they’ve been patiently putting up with me. All the units are marked out, the wiring is almost done ready to be cover protected before the boarding goes up and well, doesn’t everyone measure for lighting in their slippers?
More next week, when we’ll have a painted bathroom, shower trays in, a painted utility and maybe even some ‘proper’ lights up. Like normal people 🙂
That shower tray is simply stunning! Magical almost! If the radiator is for the same room, then going with the black would tie it in nicely if the room is predominantly white, but if it is mainly black, the mixed metal radiator would be a great feature. Sorry, that wasn’t much help! I hear you on having gaping holes in your house in December – not the best idea we ever had, but kind of necessary! :-O x