Please help me make myself look ‘warm’ again!
Saz
4 years ago
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Ellie
4 years agoSonia
4 years agoRelated Discussions
Advice to make my cold, plain, open plan space feel warm and inviting!
Comments (32)Hi Catherine, You have a lovely open plan kitchen and lounge, but as you say, it lacks punch and interest. Since you're stuck with the stainless steel kitchen for the time being, you need to work with it and have some fun. A symmetrical arrangement of stainless steel shelves either side of the splash back for the cooker would allow you to put up interesting bottles, plants, china, etc. What about painting this wall a bright colour like Seville Orange from Crown and the other walls in natural white. You could also paint the base of the island in the Seville Orange. In the seating area, use the orange colour and some others like plum or blue-grey in fabric patterns, have cushions made up for the seating area. Also an area rug large enough for the front feet of your sofas and the coffee table to sit on with colour would brighten up this area. It's unfortunate that the TV is blocking a French window. Can it be moved somewhere else, perhaps the bay if the bottom shutters are never opened? Instead of half of the bay window having plantation shutters, I would recommend a second upper row, which could be folded back or, if you don't need coverage for privacy on the upper windows, have an interesting, colourful valance. https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=valance+and+plantation+shutters+for+a+bay+window&biw=1516&bih=839&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMIzdu7xO-FyAIVh0gUCh1aigXI&dpr=0.95#tbm=isch&q=valance++for+a+bay+window&imgrc=SjLxqYYGnQmhlM%3A...See Moreforever home for myself and my two children...shoe string budget..help
Comments (16)How about something like this. Shorten the kitchen and block off door to create a bathroom which should be relatively easy with regards to drains. Take down wall between existing kitchen and lounge and utilize the extended space under stairs for the kitchen diner. Create access to garage from kitchen and use part of garage for utility space. Garage could be extended forward at a later date. Use the current dining room as separate lounge. Also like Math's idea to square off the garden doorway from current lounge to make the back more uniform. You have a good size house so plenty of possibilities but I'm no expert so couldn't help with how much things would cost....See MoreHow to make a Victorian house warm?
Comments (24)Hello! We have done two things which relate to some of the issues you describe. However, I should point out that we don't have a cellar; we have ground around 30cm below our ground floor joists. We have wooden floorboards rather than concrete - but I would imagine concrete would be easier to insulate, perhaps from below, in the ceiling of the cellar? Anyway, this is what we did: We insulated under our floor borads on the ground floor. (Note that not every single one has to be lifted, you lift a few every foot or so). Celotex was inserted between the joists. There is a risk the insulation will fall out onto the ground below, so they cut it slightly too big and then hammer it in. It's wedged in very tight and we have had none fall out two years later. As I wrote in my post above as well, we added angled vent covers outside to reduce the draft coming in under the floorboards. We were very concerned about air cirulation when doing all of this, but we have come to the conclusion that the air circulation is already so large under our ground floor, that the celotex and vent covers aren't really an issue. It's not like we have sealed everything shut, there are still plenty of tiny gaps everywhere. We haven't had any issues with mould or anything like that. The other thing we have done more recently is to balance our radiators. We had the problem that our front room was extremely cold relative to the rest of the house (although we had high spec/high BTU radiators in all rooms). We thought this may have been due to low power on the radiators, but in fact after doing a big rebalancing exercise, it's now the warmest room in the house. We're quite surprised how much of a difference rebalancing makes. There are plenty of guides online which we followed; essentially, what you do is you first check how open each radiator is (check the lockshield valve, not the TSV!). We wrote this down on a piece of paper for each radiator in the house (e.g. "fully open", "3/4 open", etc). We then put the heating on from cold and ran around the house checking which radiator fires up first/last. Made a note of this on paper. We then realised that in our case, although the front room radiator was fully open (which would suggest it should get the hot water first), in fact so were many of the radiators that are closer to the boiler. As a result, the hot water was going to those closer ones first (it takes the easiest route). The solution was to close the lockshield valves on the radiators closer to the boiler (not completely, you do it 1/4 of a turn at a time and check the effect). After a few runs we were able to get to a point where the hot water was filling up the front room radiators first. Now it's great. I hope this can help you! Good luck!...See MoreHelp make lounge look lovely/warmer
Comments (17)My initial thoughts would be to change the layout. It seems very awkward and has no focus at the moment. It might be worth investing in moving the radiator as it is very tying where it currently is. I don't know what your budget is, but it might not be too costly to move it to the wall next to the door leading into the room from the hallway. You could have a smaller double depth radiator fitted so you do not loose any heat. You could then move the 3 seater sofa onto the wall where the TV currently is and, if you are needing to keep the 2 seater, move it down the end wall (with the external doors) but to the other end where your lamp currently is.. You can then move the TV to be positioned on the long wall, at the sofa end of the room, either on a media unit or hung lower - ideally at seated eye level. Your piano can also move onto the long wall. You will also get a clearer definition of space by doing this, the larger end for living space and the narrower part for dining. By changing the wall colour, adding some cushions/throws to the sofas, and adding some artwork and photos to your walls it will feel a lot more homely and welcoming. I can't really see the dining area of the room, but from the bit I can see I think turning the dining table and moving it away from the wall will also improve the flow of the room coming in from the kitchen.. I hope that helps!...See MorePat Auld
3 years agoarc3d
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3 years agoSonia
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3 years agoSonia
3 years agoPat Auld
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Juliet Docherty