July 11, 2020

OUR RENOVATION JOURNEY : THE PLAY ROOM/ DEN MOOD BOARD REVEAL

July 11, 2020/ Amanda Cotton

As we reach our sixth month anniversary of building work over at the ‘Rat House renovation’, I thought it was about time I shared one of my mood boards for our first room reveal.

Today I’m talking about our playroom/ den.

Located on the right side of the house on the ground floor, this room was previously used as a dining room by the previous owner. It was filled with antique furniture and a lot of rat poison (I’m not exaggerating- at least they were aware they had a problem), it had been left pretty neglected and hadn’t seen a duster or a hoover in a long old time, although it was easy to see that it must have looked beautiful in its former life.

The evolution of the playroom

This room is now going to be used as a playroom for our little boy during the day, and a cosy den for us Adults in the evening. A space for us to retreat in to watch a movie whilst having the eco wood burner on from Arada stoves (I’ll talk about this more soon).

Although we will have a lounge across the hallway from this room, we love that this room is completely separate to the kitchen/ dining space and you can shut yourself away and have more privacy. Aka, when I have my mates round and we’re drinking Prosecco in the kitchen my other half can lock himself away with a tv and a cosy wood burner and escape from the cackles.

We want the space to feel fun and imaginative for Otis, but also grown it up and quirky in the evenings once the toys are packed away. I’m envisioning this room becoming a musical room one day in hope we might own a piano for our son, and then will evolve into his X box room, and then one day his pre drinks space with his mates. Ha, yes I am already thinking that far ahead! And although I’m sure I will have decorated this room a trillion times by then, I’m hoping I won’t want to change it for at least a few years (he’s only 2 so I have plenty of time until then).

I still need to research storage, but I’ve got my heart set on a large sideboard for our grown up lounge across the hall and would also love something practical and hardy for storing toys inside in this room. For the playroom I don’t want it to look too childlike, but it also needs to pass the toddler durability test. I saw a beautiful sideboard at a Heals press event which I literally dream about day and night, but sadly its out of my price range (even in the sale), and I’m under no illusion that this would work for a playroom, but I’ve still stuck it on here anyways as you should all see it.

We will also have a tv on the wall, away from little hands, which will also be handy as it will take up less space.

But back to the wallpaper, and the theme. Because let’s face it, that’s why you’re all here.

If you haven’t guessed already, we’re going for a subtle jungle theme in here. As you know we’re big fans of jungle prints, so it was inevitable that we should continue this theme into our new home. Plus, being a massive fan of Divine Savages and their beautiful wallpaper and prints and having had their Deco Martini wallpaper in our previous home I was super excited to see that they had launched a new colourway of their Faunacation print into the jungle greens, so it seemed like a match made in Rat House heaven.

And yes, I know what you’re thinking. I said I wasn’t going dark… I just like to keep you on your toes *wink. What I probably should have said is that I’m not going to have any Railings paint in our house which was a bit of a trademark paint colour in our old home. So much so, I wish I’d got ruddy shares in the stuff we had so much of it. But it’s time for a change, and this time I’m also giving some new paint brands a whirl to see how they stack up as I think it’s time for some new kids on the block.

We’re putting picture rails back up and will be wallpapering up to the picture rail and then painting above it in new paint company Lick Green 06 in Matt, then using Lick Green 06 eggshell on the woodwork and using Lick 02 white on the ceiling. Lick are a new paint brand which I discovered in lock down and I’m excited to see how their paint compares.

We’re getting some gorgeous new cast iron radiators from Best Heating for this room and for our grown-up lounge across the hallway- these are the Milano Tamara oval column in antique brass from Best Heating and are just stunning.

We’ve removed the old brick fireplaces that used to be in this room and the main lounge and we have replaced the fireplace in this room with with a beautiful eco burner from Arada Stoves for extra heat, and I’ve bought an original 1930’s deco wooden surround on ebay for a bargain £150 which I want to leave in the wood to contrast with the wallpaper and side board. And even though we have stripped the house back to the bricks and removed the original features, we’re hoping it will still have bags of character from what we put back in.

To furnish it, we will be super excited to be reunited with some of previous belongings which will fit nicely into this space, including our West Elm Drake green velvet sofa and Distressed Arabesque wool rug in steel for this room, and layering some of my favourite House of Hackney cushions which have accents of gold and teal to being some new colours into this space.

I’ve also found some beautiful lacquered brass transparent light switches and sockets which are amazing to go over the top of wallpaper from Corston Architectural detail. They’re clear so let the wallpaper shine through whilst still being practical and having a pop of brass which I think will look amazing in this room.

That just leaves me with deciding on a light and curtains. I’m hoping for something with a bit of drama like the attached Anthropologie Victoria tassel light or something similar.

So what do you think? Was it pretty obvious that we’d go jungle somewhere? You never know, the giraffe might even make an appearance in here at some point. You’ll just have to watch this space.

Lick Paint Dark Holly Green 06 in Matt for the wall above the picture rail ( £38 for 2.5L)
Lick Paint Off White 02 in Matt - for the ceiling (£38 for 2.5L)
Divine Savages Jungle Faunacation wallpaper (£140 a roll)
West Elm Drake sofa in Green Velvet ( £1,099)
1930’s original wooden surround purchased from Ebay £150
West Elm Distressed Arabesque Wool Rug in Steel and £449
Corston Architectural detail switches and sockets from the £28
Best Heating Milano Tamara - Oval Column Cast Iron Radiator - 760mm Tall - Antique Brass from £229
House Of Hackney Saber cushion £195
House of Hackney Florika cushion £165
Heals Remi sideboard - large £2,639
Anthropologie Victoria tasselled light £298
Arada stoves eco burn from £879

I’ve also done a bit of research on beautiful sideboards as I’m currently looking for two and have become sideboard obsessed.

Anthropologie Wallace Cane and Oak Sideboard £1,498.00
Heals Remi sideboard £2,639
Mustard Made Olive sideboard £249
Made.com Markle sideboard £549
Anthropologie optical inlay sideboard £2,498
Mango Wood & Marble Dark Oval Sideboard / TV Stand £1,300
Made.com Anderson sideboard £649
Cult furniture BALHAM WOODEN SIDEBOARD WITH THREE DOORS, NATURAL £1199.00
John Lewis & Partners + Swoon Franklin £699.00

Which ones your favourite?

February 09, 2020

OUR RENOVATION JOURNEY : OUR PLANS FOR 'RAT HOUSE'

February 09, 2020/ Amanda Cotton

OUR RENOVATION JOURNEY: OUR PLANS FOR 'RAT HOUSE'

On Tuesday 22nd October 2019 our mortgage lender transferred the funds to our solicitor and then the email came in. We were now the owners of a pile of slightly crumbly bricks, a lot of cobwebs, some small rodents, a persistent musty smell of damp/ dog poop which still won’t shift and some adult reading material and teeth which we hope belonged to a canine friend and weren’t from the human variety- but we’ll skate over that part.

Although someone lived here up until quite recently, it’s not quite up to my Beyoncé standards, and most importantly our energetic toddlers who I’m sure would love to stick his fingers in an unearthed plug socket (Always wear rubber sole shoes guys).

As tempting as a caravan in the back garden sounded to my other half, who is basically more of a diva than I am when it comes to cleanliness and hygiene, we opted to begging my dad if we could move in with him. And Luckily for us he’s a complete and utter ledge and said yes to us moving in “for a few months”. Four months later and we’re still in his house, but things are starting to progress, and we have some big plans for ‘Rat House’.

WE’VE GOT PLANNING PERMISSION!!!

In November 2019 we submitted our drawings to the council for approval.

Did you know that you have to be the sole owner of a property for 21 days or more before you can submit an application? Otherwise, you need to give notice to the previous owner and get their consent. I didn’t know this, and quite frankly we couldn’t be arsed to go down the route of seeking approval as buying the house had been stressful enough, so we decided what’s another 21 days to wait in the scheme of things.

I know a friend who got consent from the previous owner and applied for planning before they exchanged, only for the vendor to pull out and to sell to someone else offering more money for a property with planning permission. You’re basically applying for them to have planning, so don’t do anything too hasty would be my advice.

But back to the plans, what plans I hear you ask. I’ve mentioned before how the house is pretty girthy but isn’t very deep, don’t worry I’m still talking about the house guys – head out the gutter. It’s also only three bedrooms, which is fine, but it doesn’t look like it only has three bedrooms and seems like its crying out for a fourth bedroom. Plus, in order for us to add value in the long run and hopefully work with our family’s growing needs (I’m not pregnant nan), we would just like a fourth bedroom for family to stay. Not to mention the dream dressing room, an en suite bathroom, family bathroom and dreamy kitchen island, so it needs to be extended.

This is the existing layout. On the ground floor, you enter into the middle of the house with two reception rooms; one on either side of the hallway which leads to a small kitchen and ironically called utility- It contains a boiler which doesn’t actually work.

On the first floor there are three bedrooms, a bathroom and separate WC.

The existing layout

The current layout of our 1930’s detached house.

The approved plans

The side profile showing the existing and approved plans

The approved proposed drawings for our 1930’s detached house.

Now onto the super exciting part- our approved plans. We have got permission for a 7m x 9.7m square extension to be bolt onto the ground floor of the house, doubling the depth and enabling us to have my dream kitchen/ dining room with 6.7m worth of worktop/ cupboards and the dream kitchen island.

This extension room will also house a sofa/ tv area, a dining table and chairs for family open plan living. Above this extension will be a 3.75m deep double story extension, and there will also be a 2m x 5m roof lantern which will let in more light and will help with our north facing garden.

The existing kitchen is going to be become our utility and part coat cupboard accessed from the hallway, and the under stair larder cupboard is going to be become our downstairs toilet. Finally we get a downstairs loo… now my nan come come over! Whoop! Boxing day at ours, yea?

For the windows at the back we will be looking to add some aluminium/ Mondrian style steel and glass doors on the ground floor and aluminium framed windows on the first floor.

On the first floor it gets even more exciting, we’re going to be closing off the existing bathroom and adding a doorway from the master bedroom to create a dressing room, which will lead onto a ensuite. Then off the landing will be 3 bedrooms and a large family bathroom.

WHATS IT GOING TO LOOK LIKE?

That is the million dollar question. I’d love to show you my many mood boards, but in all honesty I change my mind like Katie Price changes husbands, and although I have a bit of a vision on what its going to look like, all of this might change next week.

But heres a few ideas so far…

The Dressing Room

I love the idea of a contrast ceiling and built in cupboards. I also love how we’ll be able to see through from our bedroom to the ensuite through the dressing room. Hopefully our carpenter will have some clever ideas for our doors and storage too as we won’t have as much space between the walls as we did with our old dressing room.

Kitchen & Utility Room

The things we know we want in the kitchen are as follows.. A kitchen island, brass taps and hardware, marble/quartz worktops and some gold metallic in either kick plates, splash backs or even cupboards. These are my wish list features so far. Oh and some black aluminium glass doors into our utility would be ideal so we can see the sink and tap through the doors.

Image from Bakes London. — Image from **Bakes London**.

The above images are inspiration for the layout and the glass doors. The downstairs shows a dreamy brass kitchen with the most beautiful brass splash back.

Image via The Nordroom — Image via **The Nordroom**

The Play room - AKA the sitting room on the right

This room is marked as a study on the ground floor floor-plan, but it will probably become our second lounge aka Otis’ play room. The vision for this room is Wallpaper, wallpaper and more wallpaper. I don’t know which one, but I love the idea of going all over in a statement print. I’m even considering wallpapering the ceiling too but it all depends on the paper. I don’t want it to feel like a play room in anyway though. Our long term plan is to get a piano for Otis one day and this the room which it will live. It also has a fireplace which is in need of replacing so the hunt it on for a new fireplace.

Image Via House Of Hackney — Image Via **House Of Hackney**

Our Grown up lounge- AKA The sitting room on the left

Currently my head is in a red wine fuzz, or it could just be the bottle of cabernet sauvignon I just smashed back while writing this tonight. I want this room to ooze glamour and opulence (whilst allowing a toddler to trash it during the day, and then it all slide back into place for mama’s chill time in the evening). The tick list goes.. maybe some panelling, marble fireplace (This is already sourced from Stovax and I’m very excited to show you), velvet sofa and hopefully the dreamiest side board you have ever seen because I’ve never owned a sideboard and I feel like a proper grown up being able to have one. (The side board of dreams was seen at a Heals press event and I can’t find it on line. Hopefully it still exists… *stressed emoji face*).

Image via Instagram - roisinlaffertykld — Image via Instagram - **roisinlaffertykld**

Image via instagram - zoffanyfw — Image via instagram - **zoffanyfw**

I could go on and on… but this is where I’m up to so far in my head. Plus, as I mentioned before this all subject to change because A) I change my mind all the time and B) The pot of cash which we have isn’t endless and is already being eaten away by a party wall award and new steels which have suddenly appeared in the plans, so you’re just going to have to watch this space and my instagram feed for the latest updates. And in the meantime I’m sure I’ll be documenting a lot of it on here.

And if any of you have tips on how to manage building stress and messages from our builder like “We need to talk about what we found today when we lifted up the floor boards (which hopefully won’t involve the police) and the cost implications?”, then send them my way as I think I’m going to need them. Wish me and most importantly my husband luck, as he will be taking most of the verbal abuse which I’ll be off loading over this coming year! x

February 01, 2020

OUR RENOVATION JOURNEY : WE BOUGHT A 1930'S HOUSE; AKA 'THE RAT HOUSE'

February 01, 2020/ Amanda Cotton

We bought a 1930’s house aka ‘Rat House’

Our new ‘Rat’ House - A 1930’s detached house in Hertfordshire.

Let’s recap. In May 2019 we had accepted an offer on our house after having it on the market for a couple of months and the search was now on to find our next home. The thing about the UK property market is you can’t really look at houses until you’ve sold yours. Well, not properly anyways. Some estate agents might let you make an appointment to view, but others, the ones with much more common sense, won’t let you view unless you have your property firmly on the market and ideally SOLD ( not including first time buyers). I get it, but it’s tough as it’s a big catch twenty-two scenario, because who in their right mind would sell their home without finding something else to buy? What if you accept an offer, but can’t find anything else? How long will a buyer wait? The answer to that question I have found is… Not very long.

Now we were “sold” we were viewing houses every weekend in an area which we had pinpointed as our dream location. The problem with our dream location was that it only had approximately twelve roads to choose from which sounds like a lot. But when you realise that at least six of these roads have houses which are way above your budget it swiftly brings you back down to earth. The competition was fierce too, with estate agents telling us that couples had “moved into rented” in order to make them more desirable vs us in a chain. The area we wanted was a hot spot for great schools, and we would bump into the same families viewing house after house, all desperate to send our children to the local primary school.

Our budget wasn’t great either for what we wanted. You see, in my head I’m Beyoncé and I want one of those Instagram houses with a huge kitchen island, state-of-the-art appliances and smart home technology. I wanted a huge garden for Otis to play in and a dressing room for my clothes (note how I actually put my sons needs ahead of mine). But the reality was we didn’t have the budget for anything like this in the area which we wanted to be in.

I was on maternity leave, due to be returning to work after a year off any day now, and the prospect of finding a home was starting to stress me out.

Then one day walking back from a baby class whilst pushing Otis in the buggy, I got chatting to a fellow new mum friend who had recently moved into her new home, in the same area that we wanted to buy in, and if by magic she mentioned that the run down ‘rat house’ (her words not mine) across the road from her was going on the market today.

Interesting I thought, it’s probably out of our budget. It was everything we were looking for, it was detached – which wasn’t even in our criteria as we thought detached houses really were only for Beyoncé. It was double fronted.. again, very Bey; it had a huge garden and had the potential to turn into a beautiful family home.

I called the estate agent immediately. I was greeted with a less than friendly voice on the other end who stated that the house was already sold to a developer and that it wasn’t ‘mortgageable’ for me to buy, and that I would need to pay cash. But how can it be sold already I asked? You only photographed it yesterday? There was no sign of it online, no marketing on right move, no advertising on their website, not even a floor plan with square footage for me show you now. I pleaded with them to be to be shown around. They humoured me and sent this man boy in a tracksuit from the local office to show us around.

I knew it was a bit of a shit tip inside, but come on pal you’re meant to be selling me a house not something out the back of your car, and the irony is the name of the estate agents was the one that makes suits *wink (Rhymes with Sailors) * anyway, moving on…

We took my dad who isn’t a builder, but he’s one of those blokes who thinks they know everything about building work. We also took a real builder who thankfully did know a thing or two about houses, and we even got a visit from the local undercover police who wanted to know what we and the man-boy in a tracksuit were doing inside this derelict house at 11am on a Friday morning.

But none of this drama put us off, we were in love. It had a hallway big enough to fit at least three buggies in (this was important to me for when friends visit with their babes), two large reception rooms and the world’s worst kitchen. Not just because it was tiny. It was so tiny but it also looked like someone had been murdered in it and had some new form of bacteria festering around the hobs, and dog poop under the counter where small rodents were running around.

The price was great, so surely it was too good to be true. Or maybe no one in their right mind would take on such a project. We offered asking price within an hour of viewing and were told it would be passed on. The following day someone new from the estate agents rang and asked us to get our sealed bid in by midday on Monday. I asked if our offer had been declined? No answer. “Best offer by Monday, ok?”. No, not really. What was going on. I smelt a rat, or perhaps I still had one on the bottom of my trainer. It was gross inside and still full of the previous owners’ contents and his dogs’ shit all over the place.

Worried we were going to lose it we managed to get hold of a neighbour who knew the vendor (Thank you kind Mum friend, I honestly believe the fate of our friendship had everything to do with this story). We managed to get hold of the vendor and asked if he had received our offer. “What offer? It’s not had any viewings yet” he replied.

To cut a long story short, although this story is already quite long (and probably boring to most) , we ended up buying the house directly from the vendor which I reckon you probably already guessed by the title of this blog post. I’m not sure what the estate agents were playing at, well I do, I’m guessing it something to do with a large brown envelope of cash on their desk each month, but it would seem they had undervalued the property deliberately to sell onto a developer, who in return would do it up and re sell it on, aka ‘flipping it’. Making them double commission.

We ended up paying 20% more than the original asking price as we felt it was worth that, and we weren’t in it to make money. We just wanted this amazing, smelly, beautiful house as it had bags of potential and we also didn’t want to see someone be ripped off, nor see this lovely house potentially be knocked down.

I’d love to say that was the end of all the drama, and although as I said we did end up buying it, we did face a couple more hurdles after the blip with the estate agent.

The mortgage. Oh yes, remember that thing you need to actually buy a house if you’re not Alan Sugar. The first lender that came out to value the ‘rat’ house wouldn’t loan on it as there was an offending tree in the garden. Never mind the fact that there wasn’t even running water and there had clearly been a fire in the hallway. The tree in the garden was the biggest issue.

We had to instruct a structural engineer to do a structural survey, which ended up costing us £600 to tell us what we already knew, and that it was in fact structurally sound. Even my dad could tell it was structurally sound. Just kidding, he had no idea.

This was all before we had even signed the dotted line. Before ratty house was actually ours.

We completed on the purchase of ‘rat house’ in the October of 2019, and we completed on our sale in the September of 2019. The one-month gap was a right ball ache and set us back a month on doing anything to it, it also added an extra month to all our belongings in storage. But Rat house was now ours.

We just had to figure out what to do first, and also find somewhere else to live, as the inside wasn’t very habitable.. unless you like poop and small rodents.

So let me introduce to you our beautiful old girl ’Rat House’. Our detached, double fronted, slightly girthy but not very deep 1930’s house in Hertfordshire.