Cottage inspiration please

[HexBramble]

Am considering a move to a 150 year old double fronted house. At the moment, it's pebble dash heaven outside and swirly artex ceilings inside. It will probably need a side extension (I would prefer a back extension but there's a huge bank immediately behind the house) and it definitely needs changes inside.

Where can I go for inspiration? I have some very basic knowledge but I think I need to do more homework!

We're buying a Victorian cottage - textured wall paper, swirly ceilings, odd tiles (!) I used the following strategy to get inspiration:
Search on zoopla using cottage in the keyword search, in regions like Dorset, and browse real homes to see what other people do - then pin the pics to Pinterest.

Also browsed this American site houseandhome.com

If you start pinning to pinterest you'll find examples of other boards that used the same picture and that helps too.

Oh yes, good advice from missmystic we just bought a listed cottage with some dreadful plastering 'techniques' and pretty horrible decor. Another nice thing to do is search the area you're buying in for similar properties but on a bigger budget - they are often more nicely finished but you can probably find similar styles of house which is good for inspiration. Pinterest has been v useful too.

there's lots if pics on Houzz too, some are American but there's a few European too ! I live in an old cottage ! it's lots of work but well worth it if you find the right one !

Thanks everyone. Great tips.

Another question - there was a thread on here ages ago about having a really eco friendly house. Things like efficient heating, triple glazed windows etc. I remember being massively impressed at the wealth of knowledge in the thread and making a mental note to print it out should I ever be in a position to do up a house from scratch.

Oh, and how do I pin a random pic to Pinterest. So far, I just re-pin stuff that's already on the web site.

You would need to spend a fortune to get an Eco friendly Victorian house! You may have single brick walls and no cavity for a start off. If you have original windows, are you prepared to replace them all with triple glazed new units? You could have a biomass boiler, or air source or ground source heat pumps.

Realistically, Victorian and Eco do not really go together. Make sure you have loads of loft insulation and wall insulation if possible, an energy efficient boiler, radiator thermostats and efficient heat controls. Turn your water temperature down, use less water in your loo, get every appliance the most energy efficient you can, get low water use appliances, double glaze existing windows, have really thick curtains to keep heat in, ditto carpets, and......wear a coat!

You should be able to download the Pinterest button to your browser or to do it manually, add the URL of the page and Pinterest should show you all the pics on that page that are available for pinning. Some of the websites will have the Pinterest button on their website, so just press that.

Plus, thick curtains for the doors and pelmets for windows make a big difference. The cottage we're buying has new windows and doors and loft insulation and it was really cosy despite the heating being off and the doors open to show people round. That textured wallpaper probably helps!