Home Sweet Home (The Journey ~ Part II)

Just over two months have passed since I wrote the first update on our house renovation here. So much happened over the initial eight months from when we started (without any moments to really take it all in), so I thought I would save the next stage for a new post. 

During the first few months of a renovation of this scale, the house is completely torn apart. There's something quite fascinating about seeing the bones stripped bare of a one hundred and twenty year old building. Everything is exposed, which often made my thoughts wander to those who lived here before us.   

Visual evidence of this further heightens the feeling that you're really part of something ~ the newspapers laid beneath the floor from November 1960, the cigarette packets that suggest the 1950's, the nude canvas painting we found buried in the rafters ~ hidden so deeply, to suggest that it should never be found.

Stories of those who we will never know, but who we now share a connection with through the intimacies of our everyday lives.   

When you reach the stage of putting the house back together again, you have a new found sense of responsibility. It really begins to feel like a gift to bring such an old building back to it's former glory.  

It's of course not all as romantic as it sounds ~ there have been times where we felt completely out of our depth and like we had taken on too much. We had a frustrating two months where progress stopped, due to our own indecisiveness coinciding with tradespeople letting us down (if you have ever embarked on renovations of any size, you will know that decision making and tradespeople are two aspects of a project that will tip you over the edge at some stage). 

But as our house is re-built, as we ponder the amount of decisions that we have already made, as we think of all the appreciation we have for the tradespeople who went above and beyond and as we look at our designs come to life, it's a pretty amazing feeling knowing that the building site that we've lived in for the last ten months is slowly morphing into our home. 

The upstairs hallway with freshly plastered walls, the original, deep skirting that looks so lovely with the near three meter tall ceilings and the beginnings of a staircase extension into the loft. 

The fabric and patina of a one hundred and twenty year old building that tells the stories of lives before ours. 

A quiet moment in our bedroom once the new timber sash windows had been installed (it was a lovely day indeed when the metal casement windows were removed to make way for these beauties). 

Freshly plastered walls in the main bedroom. Very tempted to never paint over them....the colour, matt finish and texture have my heart. 

A new window beneath the sloping ceiling in the utility room. The quirks of an old home that I have come to adore. 

Travertine stone tiles, an original Victorian door key and a curved wall (we have a few curved walls throughout the property and it's one of my favourite features). 

The main bathroom coming together with freshly plastered wall. The old bath has been our only source of water in the house since February and has served us well. 

The shower in the main bathroom. The day that we can use this can't come soon enough.  

Our WC in the making. We have something very beautiful planned for the smallest room in the house. 

The loft, which will be my work studio for both 'Kelly Love' and 'Broomhill Interiors'. 

Victorian houses are often quite long and narrow, which can mean dark hallways.  We've added a huge skylight above the stairs and it's flooded the floors below with light. 

Our loft bathroom ~ the light in here is truly something to behold.

I wrote the first post on our house almost two years ago (which you can read here) and I can't quite believe how much thought has gone into every stage since then. It feels like we have really considered every corner and we're now starting to reap the benefits of seeing our designs progress.  

Stay tuned for my next post when the prettier parts will really start to come to life....