decor – Page 3

Chimney Breast Part 1

The kitchen layout has evolved since we first talked about what we wanted. We were originally going to have a range cooker in the chimney breast and had a gas pipe, which was to be connected to a gas bottle in the garage (no mains line gas), installed along with an electrical outlet with enough power for a cooker.

Then I had a horrible realisation. The sink was on the other side of the room, so if we were to cook pasta, for example, we’d have to walk across a wide kitchen to drain it of boiling water. That was never going to be practical with two young girls in the house.

We considered adding a second prep sink next to the range with a worktop. However that would mean introducing a water outlet which would have a knock on effect of moving the electrical outlet, already situated in the base board, due to the danger of a potential leaky/burst pipe near the electrical point. Added to that the outlet for the wifi is situated in the same place. As our internet has been tricky due to the house’s thick walls we had previously queried moving this; it would be expensive and messy.

Then one evening we were at a friends house and they were cooking on their open fire as we sat in the kitchen. My husband looked at me forlornly; “we definitely can’t use our fire can we?” You see the fireplace in our sitting room was added by the previous owner, and it includes a much, too small flue. As a result we were warned it would be dangerous when we subsequently had it cleaned. All the other chimney breasts in the house are blocked up and this was the only open, functioning one. We had asked the previous owner if it worked and we had been told it did. So the only functioning fireplace we were going to use to house a stove…..

which would prove tricky as the stone mantle was very low and we would have to build at the back of it to bring it sufficiently forward to reach the back hobs successfully……

and now we’d have to do lots of additional work to make it work too.

I realised that if I moved the oven to the back wall we would lose some of the electrical work we’d had done, but wouldn’t have to pay out for additional work and we could put a breakfast nook in the corner of the room, next to the working open fire. My husband was reluctantly persuaded, tempted by the thought of a roaring fire to stop his anguish of wasted work and money.

I’ll be honest with you, I’m not keen on the fireplace. More to the point I’m not keen on the ugly, lower half of the fireplace. So I intended to do something with it. I thought to keep the stone on top, but add a shelf for display on the ugly lower half. Then I’d paint it white to give it a cleaner look.

I’d been thinking over how to bring this about, the main stumbling block would be the solid stone which would prove difficult to get a drill though, when I realised that there was a seam of cement that could be drilled into which would make my work easier. I had been poring over designs for how to put together a mantle piece when I saw this at my local brocante..

It’s really sturdy and I could never reproduce the lovely scalloped edges. I’d intended to get some form of wood carved appliqué, but any this size would be expensive. So in comparison to individually buying the wood, brackets and appliqué its purchase at 35€ was a no brainer.

To fix it to the wall I decided to use these z bars which are meant to be able to hold 20kg each – I got 4 just to be on the safe side. The benefits of these is that they interlock, so you screw in one side to the wall and then the other side into you shelf/cupboard/mirror top and then slide it into the bar on the wall. You can make sure the bar is horizontal with the supplied spirit level and there should be no mistakes. Mmmm, let’s see.

I realised my first problem was going to be the uneven nature of the wall. Although there was a horizontal seam of cement, the stone work jutted out haphazardly so that the lip that the second piece was meant to slip into was obscure. I had to find a way to make it stand proud of the wall.

My solution was a length of wood, narrow in depth, that would allow the bar to be sufficiently away from the wall.

I marked off the middle of the chimney breast with a marker pen. Then I cut the piece of wood to the length of the top of the shelf. I then marked the middle of the piece of wood too.

Laying the piece of wood on the worktop I placed the receiving bars along the length. Ensuring the bars were directly aligned with the wood edge I marked were the holes should be for the screws. Then I placed this length of wood so that it’s edge was aligned with the edge of the top of the shelf.
You must remember that whatever side of the wood faces you is the side that has to go against the wall. I marked mine so I knew which side was which.
Holding the wood in place I drilled into the wood were the marks were, so I drilled the additional wood and the shelf at the same time. This way I knew the holes would align, and therefore the z bars would. As the inserting z bar was going to be at the upper edge of the shelf I knew the shelf itself would sit fractionally above the cement seam.

Then it came the time to mark and drill holes in the cement.

As it was difficult to get the marker tip through the drilled holes I laid the wood against the seam, making sure it was level, then I marked where the holes would be with lines drawn away from the wood. Then I marked the wall along the length of the wood, focusing on the z bar areas, with the marker point as close as I could get to the wood edge.
Then I got the z bars and put them along the drawn edge, aligning with where the screw were meant to be. I then scratched into the holes of the z bars with a screw, removing and marking the scratch with the marker pen each time so I didn’t lose sight of where each hole was meant to go. Now it was time to drill.

I obviously used a stone drill, but even so these are difficult to drill into hard cement. So, making sure the drill was set to hammer, I used the narrowest, stone drill bit I had to start out. It didn’t go in very deep, but I drilled all the holes along. Then I went up with the successive drill sizes until I’d made the holes sufficiently big enough to fit the raw plugs inside the holes.

Starting at the middle I attached the z bars to the wood with the screws then, following my earlier direction note, I screwed the screws in the wall just a little bit all the way along. Then I put extra strong builders glue all the way along the back of the wood. After that I screwed the nails in all the way.

I took the leftover piece of the length of wood and glued that in the middle of the mantle as between the z bars and the wood length there would be a slight tilt in the shelf otherwise.

I left the glue to set overnight.

The next day I checked that I could slide the shelf z bar into the one on the wall. When I was convinced all was well I slipped some raw plugs under the edge to make it stand proud of the breast, levelling it with the z bars. Then I took the builders glue and piped it under the edge of the shelf, smoothing the excess around the edge of the shelf like it was acrylic, sealing it all.

To disguise the difference between the mantle edge, the shelf and exposed stone I’m going to add some trim. I’m not painting it yet as I’ve more work to do; I’ll update you with that soon.

Giving the bookcases gingerbread flair: Part 1

When we moved in the bookcases in the room where already in situ. They’re built in and were used to store the files of the doctor who owned our home and had his office in this room. I had thought that I would remove them originally, but seeing open shelving on pinterest helped me to change my mind. Nevertheless I didn’t want them all to be open plan, as I wanted to hide cans and other uglies away.

Regular readers will know that we had a wardrobe that had warped. The curved top was used here….

and the intricate sides here. Well the central, mirrored door I planned to use on these bookcases.

I had orginally thought to hang the door on hinges, but the more I thought of it the more I realised that this would probably end in the weight causing any hinges to split the wood of the bookcase. I needed to bear the load of the weight in some practical way.

I then came up with the idea of making it into a sliding door. There are lots of examples of this on Pinterest, with the weight of the door being supported on coaster wheels. There were two problems with this. I didn’t think a barn door look would go well with how the kitchen was developing, having more of a French provincial look, and also the door has an arched top. That means the flatter areas, where the equipment for hanging the door at the top would need to be, would be lower than the top of the arch.

I’ve been mulling over just how to do it when I found these sides of an old armoire and realised if they were added to the side of the mirror door the eyelets could be fixed to these. The strut sides already had an indentation that allowed them to not only fit snugly, overlapping the front and side of the door, but also at the top.

I spray painted the sides with primer. I often say it, but dealing with salvaged wood has taught me the hard way to be wary of bleeding varnish, even with chalk paint. I then glued the first side in place, leaving them over night before starting on the second one.

When I did glue the second one I laid it flat and added this 1/4 round to the bottom at the same time. I just elevated the door on two bits of wood so I could do them both at once. The 1/4 round is to add depth to the base of the board so I could attach coasters to it so that it would roll along. You’ll notice in this picture how the side struts go beyond the base of the mirror. I was happy with this as they are just a little shorter than the length of the door + wheels, so they will disguise them from side views when it’s all in situ.

I needed to add height to the door so that the rail it would slide on was in line with the top shelf. I had another decorative cupboard top so added this, and then two cupboard knobs that would have large eyelets screwed into them. These were all screwed and glued in place.

Then I took two decorative pieces and used them to fill some of the space between the original mirror and the new top as it was looking a bit thrown together. You can see the top of the door after it’s been hung here, although the cupboard itself needs more work at this stage so please ignore it’s current appearance.

I filled gaps with acrylic before painting the door in chalk paint.

To hang the door was a case of trial and error. I needed to have a pole for the eyelets to run along, and one the would be sturdy enough to hold the weight of the door. I also wanted to create a sort of lip to keep the door running in one straight line. I’ll go into the lip in part two. However in the end I ended up using a curtain rail like this one, but I also used a long, metal curtain pole and ran this over the two sections of this extendable pole to ensure that it wouldn’t get caught were the smaller met the larger pole. You can see I also had to change the position of the eyelets to the top of the arch where they were more secure.

I haven’t finished painting with chalk paint and sanding yet, as you can see. There is a lot more gingerbread style detail and I’ll go into how I finished the book cases off in my next post. See you then!

30 Inspirational Lincrusta, Anaglypta and Embossed Wallpaper Details

Lincrusta is like linoleum for the walls and ceilings. It differs from Anaglypta wallpaper; it’s harder wearing as it doesn’t have a paper or vinyl base. As with Anaglypta it can be identified by its raised relief. It can be painted, and is perfect for hard wearing areas such as hallways.

It was very popular in the Edwardian period. I used to go to many Victorian houses in my old job and the, now sad looking, grand premises often had stained glass doors with Lincrusta on the hallway walls. They’d often be painted in gloss paint and, although they interested me, they often looked….bleugh. But it doesn’t need to be; more on that later.

Lincrusta is expensive. It’s about 300€ per roll and a freize with a Lincrusta design on it is the same amount. So bear that in mind if you’ve moved into a period home, spy it and want to tear it all down!

It’s made from a paste of gelled linseed oil and wood flour spread onto a paper base. It is then rolled between steel rollers, one of which has a pattern embossed upon it. The linseed gel continues to dry for many years, so the surface gets harder over time. This is why it’s so expensive and hard wearing.

Not only is Lincrusta expensive to buy, applying it is different from putting up standard paper or vinyl based wallpapers and would need a specialist. You need to cut the Lincrusta panels to the required size and then soak them in warm water until they are malleable, before sticking them to the wall using a special Lincrusta adhesive. The expertise is especially significant as it can’t be cut to allow it to go around corners.

A little history. Lincrusta was invented by Frederick Walton who also patented the aforementioned linoleum flooring in 1860. Lincrusta then followed in 1877 and was used in places from royal homes to railway carriages, hotel foyers, bars, restaurants and casinos.

Can you believe that it was in six staterooms on the Titanic? It’s also in the White House. Like I said – if you have it and are restoring please don’t tear it down!

Although Lincrusta was originally manufactured in various locations all over the world it is now produced in Morecambe, Lancashire using traditional methods.

Both oil-based and water-based paints can be applied to Lincrusta. Below are some inspirational images, but it’s worth bearing in mind that it can provide a base for a variety of treatments.

These are some traditional dado style Lincrusta. As said earlier, this is likely to be found in a hallway. Even giving it a fresh coat of eggshell paint will make it look dramatically different. However you’ll see other treatments too.

A whole wall of Lincrusta? Take a look at these…

Stunning isn’t it?

I can’t afford Lincrusta, I don’t even think I can afford Anaglypta – it’s poor, but still expensive, cousin. However I might be able to afford some embossed wallpaper. Why would I want to introduce this into our house? When you live in a period, stone house you notice the cold. Once it gets warm it stays warm, but this is largely because we have double glazing. However we’re always looking for ways to add insulation.

As there are a lot of these types of homes here in France using a thin layer of polyesterene prior to wallpapering is common. It adds a layer between the cold stone and the wallpaper, stops the heat seeping into the wall.

In the upper rooms and hallway we have a lot of polystyrene tiles on the ceiling for this reason (😱). So I’m thinking of replacing that with a polystyrene sheet and some embossed wallpaper. It won’t have the durability of the Lincrusta, but you don’t exactly get a lot of traffic on the ceiling. Why would I do this? Take a look…

The other way I’ve been inspired by Anaglypta is the friezes. They’re as much as the wallpaper. Yikes! So I’ve come up with an alternative. I’ll tell you about this shortly, but here’s what’s got me salavating…

12 Posts of Christmas; Sliding and Hidden Doors

This old house has a mixture of beautifully panelled, traditional doors and plain modern ones. Obviously I want to keep the traditional, but what to do with the newer additions?

I’ve come across these images of doors that have been hidden within paneling and as I want to panel lots of rooms where these doors exist that’s a good option.

I also need to add doors and I’ve come up with these; an American style French Country take on barn doors.

Oh, and I need a door into the kitchen and fell in love with these.

It’s Epiphany here, so festivities continue but the decorations come down tomorrow. How was your Christmas?

12 Posts of Christmas; 10 French Couches

I bought a little French, wooden sofa last year that I’ve avoided reupholstering. I made a mistake when I purchased it as I didn’t check how sound the springs where. Some are decidedly ropey and will need replacing. That and the horsehair that it’s filled with has made me nervous about even attempting to upholster it.

The couch will be in the American style French Country living room and so it needs to be a white or natural shade. So all these inspirational images follow that theme. Enjoy and have a blessed Sunday!

12 Posts of Christmas; Little Girl’s Bedroom Ideas

I’m doing my little girl’s bedroom little by little as my daughter keeps being over enthusiastic with her felt tips. As a result we have a little bit of decor done when there’s no additions to her graffiti wall.

Here are some of the ideas I’ve been saving for her bedroom.

12 Posts of Christmas; 30 Utility Bootroom Ideas

An alternative use for the space earmarked for the butler’s pantry, some utility and boot room ideas.

12 Posts of Christmas; 15 French Country Bedroom Ideas

Looking ahead to decorating our second spare room, 15 inspiring American French Country bedroom details.

12 Posts of Christmas; Sitting Room Decor Ideas

I’ve spoken about our difficulties getting a real fire in the living room. As a result, depending on whether it’s possible to open the fireplace, we may turn the adjacent room into a music room with more formal sitting that we’ll use on high days and holidays.

If we do so I plan to keep the paint scheme as it is, meaning only a change of furniture will be needed.

Here it is currently as the dining room.

So with the blush in mind here are 15 images that are inspiring me.

12 Days of Christmas; Ironwork

This year our salvaged marquise went up – the difference it’s made to the front of the house is substantial. I have more plans for the front that I may work on progressively over the year.

Here’s a quick reminder of what it looked like before….

And here it is now…..

The first thing that I’m thinking of changing is the colour of the marquise; at present it’s this purple. Originally it was spray painted lavender, but the paint got damaged when erected and I couldn’t spray paint it in situ. As a result I tried to recreate the colour with white metal paint and a colour addition. The lovely grey purple I’d had just couldn’t be replicated, to my disappointment. So I’m thinking of going classic Parisian black or grey like this….