I think I would prefer to keep the French antique carved wedding bed in original condition as love the warmth of the wood and detailed carving. Would love to change the carpet eventually as money permits. I have a gorgeous antique chest of drawers also in the room but can't get the angle of the camera right. Should the carpet eventually be darker or lighter? I Will look around for some beautiful artwork and add some texture to the bedding. Your input is very helpful, thank you.

Hi Coupp77, To be honest you have to do something as it has been left in a bad condition. Ideally the best would be to remove the wallpaper and plaster the whole wall as this was what you really wanted - (it might be worth saving for). Option 2 - Remove the wallpaper, sand the wall (especially in the location of the new plaster and fill up the patches) and lay a new layer of wall paper. It would be best the use a thicker wall paper which is heavily structured so you see less imperfections. Option 3 - Sand the wall, fill the patches and lay wallpaper on top of the old one. You will have to prepare the paper (such as painting with PVA potentially) and keep in mind that it may not look that great ;-( I would use the same wall paper type as above. Not really the answer you wanted, but it might be worth getting some quotes for the work - some younger or start up companies or decorators might be willing to do a good job for a bargain price in order to get a project published.. don't give up hope. Goodluck. Jo

I presume you are changing the windows because they were single glazed or in poor condition? If not, why are you changing wooden windows to plastic fake wood ones that look worse? I totally agree with S and 'Man about The House'. Your house could look lovely. Currently, it's a modern house with fake leaded strips (which block a lot of internal light), designed to look older than it is. The problem is in the detailing as the brick doesn't look right for the era it's supposed to be from. It's like someone trying to paint the Mona Lisa with a spraycan. Painting and rendering the lower level (especially if it's insulated) would transform it and it would look good for years with little if no maintenance. It would feel more Arts and Crafts with the lighter windows and shades of warm natural, muted colours. The Oak door idea of M.A.T.H. is nice too. It will make such a difference and fit in better with it's environment and neighbors. Fake plastic rosewood windows are horrible. They wouldn't suit the house at all (I think Plastic windows should be banned, the previous owner of my house replaced the original sash windows with clunky plastic once and they don't fit properly and look awful but I can't afford to change them). The black plastic ones are slightly better, but these days there are great systems with aluminum cladding and timber insides that look fantastic and are extremely thermally efficient and are now very cost effective. It's worth walking around areas with genuine houses with original features from the era your house aspires to. All houses (and high streets and shops) looked better when they were first built with the features from the era they were designed in (or to look like).

When you talk of removing plaster, do you realise that in a modern house like yours the plaster is likely to be a skimming of plaster over plaster board so basically its impossible to just remove the plaster. To take this all back to basics, you need to understand what your house is constructed of - what makes up it’s layers, so to speak - and how its constructed. When you start to get quotes from trades, say an electrician, they will tell you what they want, such as cutting out channels for the trunking, wiring etc. Don’t start taking out everything in your house without taking some advice from a builder. Also remember any builder worth their salt will be busy and don’t pay anyone ANY money up front. they will invoice you for work they have completed. Don’t take the ceilings down or try to get the plaster off until you’ve spoken to a plasterer. Again, plasterers are hard to get hold of as there is so much housebuilding going on and belive me its not a job you can do yourself. (Unless you are a plasterer). Also, as you are a beginnner, you will have plenty to worry about other than the colour of the bricks! If the bricks of neighbouring houses look similar then possibly it’s weathering. As long as the pointing is good, don’t worry. Also bear in mind the shortage of materials and increasing costs when you are planning work. having said all that it is exciting and rewarding to do up one’s home. Good luck and enjoy!!