That 'big project' I've been banging on about for a few years now....

[James Harrison]

Excellent idea.
James, if you'll provide the tea I'll bring the brandy.

Do let us know when the housewarming party starts.  I'll bring scones.

I'll let you know when the corporeal Brassgoggles clubhouse opens its doors.  I'm hoping to organise an open-house style event in the summer for people who want to come visit. 

[The Bullet]

Wasn´t the idea to have the party at Cremorne & Pittance staton?
Waiting room should be big enough.

[Banfili]

The move-in has begun; a couple hundred books have gone over (and it still looks like I've three times as many to actually shift...)

In other news, a television stand arrived (that's going in the alcove in the front room), as did a rather nice table and chairs (for the dining room) and a bed is turning up tomorrow.  So I have at least the rudiments of some furnishings.  I'm looking at a nice leather Chesterfield sofa too- if it can be made to fit- but that's a purchase for next month.  

First thoughts for the front sitting room/library.

For the dining room I have in mind lighter colours (it faces north so needs all the help it can get) with a picture rail and frieze, a nice arts and crafts style wallpaper (probably not a Morris original as they're £80 a roll at least) down to chair rail level and then matchboard panelling below that.  

Complete with puppy, James?
I have a dog now - I think she will look lovely on a rug in front of the wood-burner this coming winter (if we get one, that is!)

[James Harrison]

I'm allergic to dogs, sadly.  Which is a damn shame as I absolutely adore them. 

The move is tomorrow and then- I will probably 'go dark' for a few weeks as I won't have internet until early March...

[Banfili]

I'm allergic to dogs, sadly.  Which is a damn shame as I absolutely adore them. 

The move is tomorrow and then- I will probably 'go dark' for a few weeks as I won't have internet until early March...

Cat? They look really good in front of a fire too!

[James Harrison]

Cat- I'm not sure about.  I like cats.  But I've not been around one long enough to know if it will kick off my allergies. 

We moved most of the stuff over yesterday, which was a long and exhausting exercise, but that took so much time that there was none left in which to build what furniture I have.  So that can be next weekend's task, when I plan to move in.  This week I'll be roughing it with the bare minimum of belongings. 

[Banfili]

Cat- I'm not sure about.  I like cats.  But I've not been around one long enough to know if it will kick off my allergies. 

We moved most of the stuff over yesterday, which was a long and exhausting exercise, but that took so much time that there was none left in which to build what furniture I have.  So that can be next weekend's task, when I plan to move in.  This week I'll be roughing it with the bare minimum of belongings. 

Many people with "cat" allergies are not really allergic to cats, but to cat spit, which gets on their coat when they groom. A daily wipe over with a damp cloth usually takes care of that problem, or if allergy is sever, twice a day. Or you could get get a couple of rabbits (desexed males are best!) - they can be litter trained, like cats!

[The Bullet]

A daily wipe over with a damp cloth usually takes care of that problem......

And who takes care of the claw marks you receive during that process?
(Our furball would take revenge if you approach her with anything wet).
Wearing chainmail is impractical for catching the cat.

[J. Wilhelm]

A daily wipe over with a damp cloth usually takes care of that problem......

And who takes care of the claw marks you receive during that process?
(Our furball would take revenge if you approach her with anything wet).
Wearing chainmail is impractical for catching the cat.

Wearing chainmail may be the only way to keep from getting scratched - outside of your face, which will shurely be targeted first.

[Lord Pentecost]

Good luck with this James, I bought a mid-terraced house just over a year ago. Mine was built in 1997 to a vaguely Victorian style (but with the addition of a double length garage in place of the cellar). I am slowly Victorianising/Steampunking it internally.

[Banfili]

A daily wipe over with a damp cloth usually takes care of that problem......

And who takes care of the claw marks you receive during that process?
(Our furball would take revenge if you approach her with anything wet).
Wearing chainmail is impractical for catching the cat.

Wearing chainmail may be the only way to keep from getting scratched - outside of your face, which will shurely be targeted first.

If you start when the cat is a young kitten they get used to it, and its more or less what their mothers did when they were babies. Im not allergic, but I do give my boys a wipe down with a damp cloth - and they are both rescues!

[James Harrison]

I was working from home today (because the country that invented the railway grinds to a halt when it rains) and my mother was dog-sitting for my brother.  Charlie likes cats.  Cats don't like Charlie.  If I had a cat it would have to be a nice cat. 

Most of my stuff got moved in on Saturday, but it took so long that there was to time to build or organise the furniture.  I'm roughing it until next weekend when there will be another determined effort to move the last bits and pieces in and start making headway on clearing things away. 

It might be a few months yet before I make a determined start- much as I want to just grab a brush and some paint and get cracking- I have this determined idea what I want (which I call 'Edwardian' even if it might not be- it's the feel of the thing I tend to go for rather than making sure every detail is absolutely correct).  The problem is, if I jump straight in, I'll end up with all of the rooms in a state, not knowing where to turn and things will stall.  This is why I tend to build my models one at a time (or at least try to). 

The other thing of course is- the cost!  There's been an awful lot of money spent this month already without throwing more of the stuff around. 

[Darkhound]

"Singlefoot" is the way to go. One mod to one room at a time.It's not what you feel lke doing, but it's actually faster in the long run.As Ben Franklin said, "Gentlemen, we have no time to spare. Don't lets hurry."

[James Harrison]

Turns out, the dining room fireplace is a gas fire. There's still an open flue behind it, as though someone took out the original fireplace and just dumped a new fire in front of it. That's probably why it didn't quite look right. Something to look at when I get around to the dining room I think. The only room I have a definite idea for sf the moment is the front sitting room, and rather than just set off in a vague direction I'd sooner have a clear idea of of what I want. Post office man comes on Tuesday to install the internet so hopefully next week I'll be back from the blackout.

[James Harrison]

We made a family outing to the local Ikea yesterday after my brother reported there was a 'Victorian looking room' set up there.  We went, there was, and there was much cooing and 'ooh, this is nice' over it.  I came back with a pair of black/ brown low cabinet units and ten bookshelves, a very nice rug that whilst not Arts and Crafts does have very much that sort of aesthetic about it, and a couple of chests of drawers. 

The rug and the cabinets have been placed in the front sitting room where the general plan is to turn one wall and a fireplace alcove into a wall of books.  The rug covers the wooden floor nicely and removes the echo from the room; at times it does rather feel like you're walking around in clogs, such is the noise. 

Further plans for the front room run to a bespoke desk built into the bay window, a deep red chesterfield sofa (I'm waiting on the showroom for the one I've seen to open next week before buying this) and then paint the room in Farrow & Ball stiffkey blue.  Plus a bit of work removing cables, adding cables and rehanging the door.  Photos to follow when the internet man connects me up next week. 

[Miranda.T]

Sounds great - particularly the bespoke desk. By the way, we've just seen your post on FB - it's not many people who could have a hat tower all of their own  .

Yours,
Miranda.

[Cora Courcelle]

We made a family outing to the local Ikea yesterday after my brother reported there was a 'Victorian looking room' set up there.  We went, there was, and there was much cooing and 'ooh, this is nice' over it.  I came back with a pair of black/ brown low cabinet units and ten bookshelves, a very nice rug that whilst not Arts and Crafts does have very much that sort of aesthetic about it, and a couple of chests of drawers. 

The rug and the cabinets have been placed in the front sitting room where the general plan is to turn one wall and a fireplace alcove into a wall of books.  The rug covers the wooden floor nicely and removes the echo from the room; at times it does rather feel like you're walking around in clogs, such is the noise. 

Further plans for the front room run to a bespoke desk built into the bay window, a deep red chesterfield sofa (I'm waiting on the showroom for the one I've seen to open next week before buying this) and then paint the room in Farrow & Ball stiffkey blue.  Plus a bit of work removing cables, adding cables and rehanging the door.  Photos to follow when the internet man connects me up next week. 

Aaaahhhh, Ikea .....  I don't get in there very often owing to my inability to stop putting things into the trolley while walking round (although my husband has found the shortcut which means one doesn't have to go through all those tempting room-sets!

I am following your project with great interest and wish you every success with it - and a lot of fun along the way too.

[James Harrison]

And... I'm back!  Enforced blackout has come to an end today when post office man connected up my landline and internet.

[Deimos]

How high are the ceilings and (since I am unfamiliar with code/standards in the UK) what is typical ceiling height?

[Synistor 303]

How high are the ceilings and (since I am unfamiliar with code/standards in the UK) what is typical ceiling height?

This is an excellent question! In Australia, the standard ceiling height of a modern house is 2.4m. In the olden days there was not really a standard, but a Queenslander house had ceilings between the height of 2.7 - 3.2m, but my parents' Queenslander had 4+ high ceilings - the idea being that the hot, tropical air would be up away from the occupants. Australian Victorian houses were between 3 - 4m, with 4m being the most common.

What are the standard ceiling heights in the US?

[Deimos]

Tract houses (the more-or-less cookie cutter houses in big developments) that are mid -priced and were built in the middle to late 20th C (like mine) had 8 foot ceiling...very close to your 2.4m.

A lot of the newer mid priced homes now have 9 foot ceilings (~2.75m)

A lot of mid priced older houses built before 1950 also had 9 ft ceilings for the reason you stated....pre A/C  a high ceiling permitted the warmer air to rise and leave the "people level" cooler.   

[James Harrison]

Ceiling heights.... I grew up in a 1970s house with 8' ceilings or so.  These ones.... just measured.... 260cm (or so) downstairs floor to ceiling, upstairs minimum ceiling height 210cm (to the front and back elevations) rising to 310cm.  It's surprising how much of an effect that extra 20cm has. 

[James Harrison]

Progress report.  The first room that's going to come up against my take on the Edwardian look is.... *drum roll* the front sitting room.  Work I've so far done on this:

- Found and purchased a nice light fitting;
- Discovered the television aerial plug doesn't work (send for an electrician);
- Discovered there are two television aerials (the other doesn't work either and can be removed);
- Found that the previous owners had both sky and cable television, with about 400' of wiring between them.  I have neither, so the cable fitting was unscrewed and removed (after ensuring the wiring was dead) and the sky wiring- through a hole in the wall and up to a sky dish on the outside wall) was cut back so there's only a few inches of it inside the room.  The sky dish will be coming down at some point and the wiring completely removed and holes made good. 

The general look I want for the room is a cosy reading snug, so on the expedition to Ikea last weekend I bought about ten bookshelves and attendant metal brackets (to go with the five my brother previously picked up for me) and a pair of open cabinets.  The cabinets are for my larger/ more unusally shaped books whilst everything else can go on the shelves.  I still need another five of them, to be cut down so that the library corner fully takes in the fireplace inglenook and down the adjacent wall as far as the cabinets reach. 

Then there was a nice rug I saw; 2.0 metres by 2.5 metres, it just fits the room nicely whilst looking very much in the style of Arts and Crafts to boot. 

Then I bought a few testerpots of paint to try and find a colour I like.  I first tried Farrow and Ball's Stiffkey Blue, but this just looks too dull and lifeless.  I've now found a similar shade of greyish blue, perhaps closer to the blue/green side of things, that seems a bit livelier. 

A big print went up over the fireplace, and at the moment that is about it.  Further plans run to a Chesterfield leather sofa and an oak coffee table, and a desk in the bay window. 

But before any of that can be done; the electrician needs to come and sort out the wires and television aerial and the light fitting, including moving the light switch.  This needs to be done because the door opens into the room but is hung the wrong way; opening the door blocks the room and takes up valuable space.  I want the door re-hung on the other side so that it opens into the wall.  If that makes sense. 

Then when that is done the shelves need to be erected temporarily. This is so that we can get the screwholes for the brackets in, before I undercoat the walls, fill all the other screw and wire holes, and paint.  Then I can call that room tolerably finished for a given value of.     

[Banfili]

One of the annoying thing about my home is that half of the doors open to the wall (preferred) and half open into the room. I have only changed one (back door), which didn't need any rewiring. I would like to change the other doors, but cannot afford either the electrician to do the wiring, or the builder to do the doors!! So, I just have to live with it!

I suppose that the doors opening into the room allow the person entering to surprise anyone in the room, especially if they are entering with nefarious intent!

[Synistor 303]

We just finished the three bedrooms down the back of the house, so technically our house is finally renovated... The carpet was put down yesterday, so the whole house was stacked up with all the furniture and junk taken out of the rooms, including the stuff in the wardrobes and cupboards because carpet went in there too. The floorboards underneath were the most basic of floorboards - pinus radiata, raw, rough sawn, up and down all over the place and unsuitable to do anything with except cover. Quickly.

Of course the carpet only went down after we had removed all the old carpet, the underlay (and two million staples) and all the mission brown 1980s architraves and skirting boards. Then we painted the walls and the new skirting boards and architraves then put them in place. There were also lots of cupboard and wardrobe doors to paint as well as a WIR to paint and new curtains to be made. I'm over it, and we still have to put back all the furniture and accoutrements. (Still, we finally got rid of the old pee stains from the previous owners' dog! and we are keeping our dogs OUT of there!)