I think I hate our newly restored floorboards obsessively
houseadventure
5 years ago
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houseadventure
5 years agoRelated Discussions
I think I hate our newly restored edwardian floorboards..
Comments (38)Georgina, you are most welcome. Yes, I saw that you said in your initial query that you had lacquered them and did not want to sand it all back, hence my suggestion for the least messy option (otherwise yes would be better to sand it all back etc etc like others have said but let's be practical not perfectionists). Yes a tinted lacquer, yes I'm sure you can buy it, I've mixed it myself but best to just buy one but beware not to go too far the other way and take tiny steps. Paint a bit that's going to be under a desk etc and leave it for days to dry and look at it in different light etc. It's not ideal, but I suggest you use the same clear lacqer and add a tiny bit of tinted one because you are painting on a darker colour already so experiment with small amounts of each, keeping track of how much you have put in. (I mix my own wall colours so have just learnt to give it a go in small portions). You also mention wanting a black and white rug, these colours will clash with the wood (colour theory) and make it look even more orange so best to use a colour that tones more. It's hard to tell the exact colour from the photos but go with warmer deeper colours which will then tone down the orange rather than clash with it and make it look cheap and more orange. So if you want to go dark then a rich chocolate brown with some creams, khaki and even a bit of burnt orange for example will make the orange in the floorboards recede....See MoreDead space in living area
Comments (38)Thanks for all the suggestions. We're definitely looking at a new radiator for the room. I've also moved all of the furniture in every way suggested but it definitely works in a similar way to the way we have it at present. I've attached a few photos from when I was moving the furniture around. For the meantime I've popped the Tv on a smaller unit and it's made it less obtrusive to the eye-still doesn't quite fit the space though! I've had an electrician come out to quote for putting ceiling lights in. Due to works we are planning in the rooms above the living area, it can all be tied in which is great, I'm now trying to decide whether regular pendant style or spotlights will suit the room best. With regards to using the room for another purpose, due to the configuration of the rest of the house, it is best used as a living area. I've attached the floor plan, again, suggestions welcome. Ideally, if we had three good sized bedrooms upstairs instead of 2, I would reinstate bedroom 3 as a dining room. We have the opportunity to go into the loft (many of the houses on the terrace have done so) but I feel that with it being just the two of us, we don't really need all that extra space! With the points raised about difficulties/hassle in bringing food to the dining area, we have a lovely hostess trolley that is used when we are cooking for the extended family which we have done quite a few times and works really well in reducing any awkwardness in orchestrating a dinner party....See MoreNewly sanded/restored wood floors
Comments (8)Hi Edwina, Im probably a bit anal / perfectionist and yes I can see the scratches and greyer toned board... if this was a brand new hardwood floor I would be deeply unhappy but in your case I would embrace them and agree with JC these 'features' add to the wonderful character of your period property ...there will be many more to come with memories made over the years. Your floor is a beautiful, traditional pine floor - a softwood and therefore will dent / scratch easily. Without being up close it is hard to see whether the scratches are on the surface finish or within the floorboard...my guess is that they are ingrained into the floorboard rather than the surface finish. You will drive yourself mad trying to keep your pine floor completely dent / mark free . We have clients requesting distressed / aged / antiqued / worm-holed surfaces to new timber floors and have to try and recreate them lol .We also have clients specifying a pine engineered floor in office spaces which will be dented within a day due to the softness of the timber. That said to prolong the surface finish...do not wear stilletos on this floor - you will see every heel mark , do put felt pads under your furniture and install a large coir mat (inset if possible) at external entrrances to force feet wiping & trap dirt and grit. Grit acts like a sand-paper to the floor finish and will mark / indent a pine floor. Best Wishes, Charlotte Woodflooring Engineered Ltd...See MoreWhat do do with this fireplace?
Comments (37)Looking at it, I think it's a mishmash of periods. the mantelpiece and overmantle is characteristic of a late victorian/edwardian style. We are more used to seeing these with vertical side panels of decorative ceramic tiles and a cast iron firebasket raised off the floorlevel. the actual ceramic glazed fire you have in there appears possibly to be anywhere between 20s & 50s, probably a replacement because the original burned out (assuming it's in the main living room it will have been a main source of heat for the house). So the question is, what do you love and what do you hate about it? Because it's not working for you right now. Usually edwardian fireplaces with an overmantel (and edwardian/victorian furniture in general) comes apart into sections. the tricky bit is finding which sections! But I'd imagine the entire overmantel with the mirror could be taken off leaving the mantelpiece intact, albeit with peg holes that would need filling on the top of the mantel at the back. Usually there were wooden pegs and holes for placement. If you are on a very tight budget, and assuming you don't want to keep the rather lurid carpet, simply keeping what is there, and adding a fender would work (as someone suggested above). You can get low level ones in brass that are extendable to fit relatively cheaply, or there's vintage ones that range from low level right up to having padded seats. If you intend to actually USE the fire, then it may be possible to pull up the 20th century ceramic tiles (if that's what they are) lay a screed underneath and then relay the tiles a bit higher so they are proud of the floor level. If any are broken it might be possible to relay them at the edges where they are less in the way - but at the end of the day, open fires are messy and what you really need is a slab of clean smooth hearthstone to make it easy to keep clean. Alternatively if you don't like early 20th century mashups, then you could (carefully) take out the fireplace, sell it on (someone would love it - personally I don't like the murkiness of that sort of fireplace ceramic colourwise, but I do recognise it's a nice and unusual example of the genre) and buy a replica more suited to the surround. You can get some rather nice ceramic edwardian style tiles for the sides. Have you tried to light the fire? it may be the hood is necessary if the chimney doesn't draw well. Or it could just be an aesthetic choice a previous owner made without considereing how the fire actually performs. As people have said above, you can paint it. Whatever paint you use, make sure you aren't totally knackering the wood underneath in case you want to have it stripped back to wood in future. The suggestion of hanging a picture over the oval mirror is a good one. Though I suspect with a different less instituttional carpet and the fitted cupboard gone, a judicious choice of plants or ornaments might make the whole thing recede into the room as a whole and be less 'in your face' at the end of the day, it's actually a time and labour intensive decorative heat source, so if you aren't going to have an open fire, and it's not a listed building, consider selling it and getting rid completely. It's a mishmash anyway that doesn't work so well aesthetically, though individually the separate parts of edwardian/ mid 20th century do have charm. but together? ouch you are living with some dearly departed's poor design choices! Which I suspect are not going to be so easy to marry together. Though as people have said above, painting it white is going to help a lot! My final thought is that you've got off lightly with that overmantel with a plain oval glass! When I was a kid we had an edwardian house near manchester, in what was the day nursery, behind a baize door, on teh first floor, had an overmantle with a plaster of paris insert that weighs 25kg with rather terrifying fairies playing in the moonlight as it's subject. The house was due to be demolished so we took the plaster behemoth with us. It's currently hanging in my hall and scaring all small children that pass by!!! 40 years on I still can't decide if it is actually totally hideous or so ugly that it's beautiful. Mostly though I just don't want it to fall off the wall and kill one of the cats! Here it is in all it's fugliness. Framed in the 1980s in somewhat ungracious proportions to just top off the general weirdness of it!...See MoreUser
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