Ex council house .. modernist cool.?

[Freelady]

Hello, we moved from a stunning period home of 5 floors to a 2 storey ex council house in a very expensive an beautiful area... think sea, woods, etc.
I love the area but am struggling with the shape of the house, the low ceilings, the windows long and wide not tall and high.

Our previous home was mostly wood floors, white walls with original windows and fireplaces. We also had strong confident colours. I understood the shapes and style.
In this house ,i utterly lack confidence.
The doors arw cheap flat doors. The simple style does suit the house tho.
I feel that this era ( boxy 1950?) Suits minimlist design? However, it can also lack style and strenght in this settimg cf with a ,say, stunning modernist home.
I have white upvc windows, all beige carperts and neutral walls ( shades of white). My dh finds it relaxing.
In my old house the white worked , as the housw had drama . High celings, 25 foot kithen ,sash windows, woodburners and original fires. This house needs a style injestion .. the house does not carry its own style iyswim?
Ive looked at the book style council on line but not bought it. Ive bought some ercol, which i love and a unit ( side board from made) nothing looks cool with the cheap doors, the windows.. i just cant seem to crack it .. i dont know were to start.. any ideas please and also any web sites. ?
There are only two rooms downstairs both face the road.( privacy also issue) and are long and narrow to back of the house at about 10 feet wide each ,then 15 long to.rear of house.
Thanks ... thanks !

Hello all. Thanks so much for help. Nearly done kitchen .. just need retro handles for a cupboard. Cant find yet... and to decide wether to keep the curtains or go for white roller blind. Am also think of privacy window film as window faces main rd on both kitchen and living room

So! On to living room and the despised carpet !.having made error in kitxhen flooring, i need to get this right.!
But .. oh no ! .. dh says he likes the cosyness of the carpet and with rising fuel bills wood floor too cold.
I am hoping to work on this.! We had pale engineered ash througout in old house. It gave me joy each day and was lovely underfoot.
From what i have been learning on this thread, mid c modern was about contrast and therefore wd pale wood not work? PLEASE SEE MY EECOL TABLE.. FEEL CURRENT CARPET AND WALL COLOUR IS NOT SHOWING OFF THIS STYLE AND THE TABLE IS A THING OF BEAUTY TO MY EYE , SO I NEED COLOUR ETC TO SHOW PEICE THAT AND THAT STYLE!
So .. what wood floor wd be good.. having got it wrong in kitchen n dh reluctance i really need to be confident on what i propose! I saw up thread suggestion of a dark wood?? Please hit me with your ideas ! Any links to pore over wd be fantastic.
Walls! Aware thw yellow does not work. Am thinking of farrow n ball Olive ? Discontunued . Cited as mid c green .. cant get samples now but tins can be orderd ! Risky. Or a dark advocado?
What about curtians? Am used to plain walls and pattern curtain .. feel like roller blind
( plain.. white..) may be stark but good? Please suggest any colours !!!!
Thank you , thankyou !

The room with the carpet
of doom

Bump 😘

I haven't read the whole thread, but I remember hearing a designer - maybe Nicola Harding? - talking about adding weight and character to a 'flat' design by focusing on 'touch points'. So things like door handles, cupboard knobs, light switches, taps - go for high spec design. Corston Architectural is often mentioned in this context (apologies if I don't have the name absolutely right). Forbes and Lomax do good switches, as do Elesa. Creative Cable for nice ceiling roses and lamp flex. The Great Indoor podcast has lots of content on newer builds, and Mad About the House is a good blog.

Living by the sea sounds brilliant

I can't remember if this has been mentioned already OP but artwork can really help complement the era of your house. I have two cheap bauhaus prints in my living room at the moment (hoping to replace them with something more permanent once we get sorted) and in the hallway a framed exhibition poster from a thing I went to at the Barbican. The poster doesn't have any images of the Barbican but just the font is a subtle enough nod.

The slightly clichéd thing to do with mid century housing is to fill it with kitsch Tretchikoff or JH Lynch prints (which are fun, don't get me wrong, I have one in my bedroom) but really, there's a whole world of modernist art to explore, I would say, from about 1919 onwards.

Also go big with your artwork, the pictures on your wall at the mo look teeny tiny!

MargotEmin love love the bahus prints! You said you may replace ?? What with / what sort of thing please?

Its now this .

Just need to address kitchen.
wish i could afford woof floor in kitchen and living room!
the floors are sold concrete and really cold . Carpet is warm but i hate it .
unsure if wood-floor can go on top of concrete anyway? Ive onky ever done on wooded floor/ joists.

No advice but love what you've done OP!
Inspiring me with my ex council!

And I especially love your dog 😍

Wow looking good OP. I bet it looks super cosy with that lamp and your fire on. Could I make just one tiny suggestion maybe? I would bring your framed print down by an inch or two to give it more of a relationship with the sofa and lamp. It's quite common to hang artwork slightly too high (more so if you're tall) as that placement can look right when you're standing up close to the wall but leaves the artwork floating a bit when you come away.

Thanks!