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Help me make the most of our first house (pics)

16 replies

eastwest · 19/04/2017 21:54

We have just (finally) managed to buy a house, and we love it, but it is a bit of a project in that it needs a lot of updating. There are so many wonderful period details that we absolutely want to keep , but I also want it to look contemporary - not like someone's granny's house! I need some inspiration. Examples:

  • the hall way has, I think, Anaglypta throughout. I don't like the flowery pattern but we haven't the time to strip it all off right now. What can I do to make it less dated?
  • I love the mantelpiece in the kitchen, thinking of painting the boarded up bit with blackboard paint (we eventually want to open it up, but again can't do that right now), but any other thoughts on what colour to paint it, etc? (There are red quarry tiles under that lino).
  • these shelves over the front room door- what to put on them?? (Definitely need to paint them and the picture rail something other than brown...)
  • this mantelpiece in the front room - I love it but how to make it less dominating and lighten the room?

All ideas welcome! :)
Help me make the most of our first house (pics)
Help me make the most of our first house (pics)
Help me make the most of our first house (pics)
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Ohyesiam · 02/05/2017 23:42

If you use a very matt paint, the anaglypta will stand out much less. F and b do very matt stuff.

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MovingtoParadise · 02/05/2017 22:51

Don't paint that brown panelled fireplace. Take out the non-original white bits that were part of the electric fire and leave it. Paint that room a light colour like Dulux Timeless and the fireplace will look lovely.

If possible strip it as I think the darker colour isn't original.

Try pale powder (a light plaster colour by Farrow and ball) on the anaglypta - might make it disappear a bit - or if you want pale grey try Cornforth white (this would honestly look fabulous).

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Thefabulousfeminist · 02/05/2017 22:47

My top tip is live in the house for a while and really decide what you want the purpose of each room to be. We only decided after a while how we wanted to use the space.

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BumWad · 02/05/2017 22:45

We have anaypta too in the hallway we have painted it all a lovely light grey - looks a bit like Movings first pic with the white dado rail in between and brown/white staircase Grin

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Lilnikkiuk · 02/05/2017 22:43

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Miniwookie · 01/05/2017 21:12

Definitely keep the anaglypta. It looks like a really old one. We have some of the same pattern in the back of our airing cupboard! Is it a 1920s house? A lot of your features look like the ones in my house. Can you change the glazed door? It looks horrible with the lovely trim and shelf. Agree with pp, don't put anything on it. Personally I would leave the fire surround, but take out the fire inside as it doesn't go.

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MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 26/04/2017 14:20

Could you put in a dado rail and cover the top part with lining paper? That would be smooth enough to paint but may be a bit too thick so you would need to do a test.

Of course if you did that you could put panels underneath too. That may mitigate the unevenness of lining above.

I'm going for the paper in the third pic (although I REALLY wanted the lincrusta but couldn't justify the cost!) with grey/blue on the bottom and a warm white on top. Long view is to tile the floor too so lucky you if you have terracotta tiles already! Choose the green for traditional contrast - I long to but my hall is too small and it would be too dark.

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eastwest · 26/04/2017 13:40

Thanks so much, so sorry to take ages to reply - internet has been patchy due to move. So I guess I will hold fire on the anaglypta! Trouble is, it goes up to the picture rail (no dado) so there is a LOT of it. And the pattern's not really my thing - I love the Art Deco anaglyptas but this is a bit 'pretty' for me, and I'd want to paint it something quite severe/strong (teal, grey, vivid green). But then you've got a severe/strong colour flooding what is quite a narrow hall, which has terracotta tiles on it... oh I don't know! :) I guess I'll just try a few test pots and see how it looks.
I like the idea of stripping the mantel back to pale oak very much. Like this? st.hzcdn.com/fimgs/dbe15cbd0ffafbd9_5634-w500-h666-b0-p0--beach-style-entry.jpg

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KingsCross88 · 23/04/2017 01:48

Definitely hold fire on the anaglypta. Several home style blogs say it's about to be very trendy!

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NotAMammy · 22/04/2017 19:12

I'd paint the skirting, picture rail and shelf in a satin white and white above the picture rail. If you're painting the rest of the room in a light shade you could keep the mantlepiece dark?

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Bluntness100 · 21/04/2017 09:31

I'd strip back the fireplace mantle to the original pale wood, possibly oak, it would be stunning.

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MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 21/04/2017 09:22

Something like this...

Help me make the most of our first house (pics)
Help me make the most of our first house (pics)
Help me make the most of our first house (pics)
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MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 21/04/2017 09:20

The anaglypta goes under a dado rail so I would either just paint the paper to create a proper contrast - racing green for a traditional Victorian feel or maybe a grey/blue for something more contemporary and freshen up the paintwork and wall above.

Or, I would paper over the top with a different anaglypta probably in a panel design. I'll post a pic.

I started a thread recently about putting anaglypta back in Grin

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LightastheBreeze · 21/04/2017 09:14

We have old anaglypta paper in our hall and couldn't face stripping it and also what might be revealed underneath so we painted it and it looks fine. The paper had shiny bits on it but it still painted up alright. The paper was really well stuck on and we felt if we stripped it the plaster might need skimming so more expense.

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Qwebec · 21/04/2017 03:06

I find the anaglypta really nice. Look around for pics of it in bolder colors, it can look really elegant. If you want it less obvious, I would be tempted to paint it a dark color, don't rip it!

Chalk painting the board in the kitchen is a good idea because now it looks rather pointless.

I would put nothing on the shelf above the door

I feel the brown, black and white of the mantle are too much. As you want to make it less obvious, paint it the same color you plan for the rest of the room or white. Black could make it a great feature.

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eastwest · 19/04/2017 21:59

Oh and there are deep green tiles behind the white stone thingy insert in the mantelpiece. white stone thingy housed an electric fire and we will remove it eventually.
Pic of anaglypta (?) and hall (sorry about mess).

Help me make the most of our first house (pics)
Help me make the most of our first house (pics)
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