Oh what have we done? {home maintenance}

Living in an old house means that there is often a
fair bit of maintenance required. Living in a Victorian terrace in a seaside
destination also brings with it salt and water (and sometimes wind) problems, the
salty air is highly corrosive.  However my current home maintenance project hasn’t come from
salty air but high levels of water ingress and my desire for change. My darling DH and I have set to and
demolished our built-in bay window seat only to find that a lot of maintenance
was required before we redecorate our living room.  It’s not a huge surprise but it is a pain in the rear end….

If that wasn’t maintenance enough we’ve also whisked
away the carpet on our stairs (it was tired and quite frankly I didn’t like it
anymore – far too oatmeal in colour). This now means that apart from the fact
that Milo won’t walk up/down the stairs anymore (we now have to carry him up
and down; how pampered is our pooch?) that we also have some serious sanding and filling to do. Well I say “we”,
when in fact I’m getting a “man” in to do it.


Do you live in an old house? Do you find its a bit like the Forth Bridge and needs
constant maintenance? Is it your pride any joy though, filled with your love and labour?

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8 Comments

  1. April 25, 2012 / 3:12 pm

    Gosh, your poor bay window looks like a bomb has dropped on it! I have an identical photo of my stairs too. The carpet was ripped up back in 1996 and still nothing has been put in its place, apart from a lick of F&B Flake White, which incidentally is 'Flaking' from volume of traffic šŸ™‚

  2. April 25, 2012 / 6:30 pm

    Wow it looks like a good deal of work!! But I am so sure it will be fab after the work has been done! Though, I admit, I am not a fan of living on a construction site, but sometimes it just can't be avoided. On the other hand, there is nothing as special as living in an old house. I prefer that to modern, impersonal buildings…

  3. April 26, 2012 / 2:38 am

    Ah, the surprises you get when you own an old house. You think it will be a quick project but then you discover something unexpected. Been there, done that. I'm sure the finished projects will look great. Sanding and painting our stairs is on my list as well…Btw love your bag!

  4. April 26, 2012 / 7:35 am

    We're having the paint colour debate for the stairs right now. I'm up for something dramatic, DH less so – it'll be a compromise but that's ok. What I couldn't believe though was that the previous owners had covered the newell post. I thought it had been removed so left the boxed monstrosity there but in fact they had covered it – why? I do not know.

  5. April 26, 2012 / 3:52 pm

    You'll find something that will look great and make you both happy! I'm not sure what color to paint our stairs, have a pinterest board just dedicated to stairs šŸ˜‰

  6. April 26, 2012 / 5:34 pm

    Eek Mary what have you done!!!

    Ah the one benefit of living in rented is that sort of mess is not our problem. But we do have to live with lilac walls in the bedroom.

    I think you should decorate the stairs with lots of pansies, birds and portraits xa

  7. April 28, 2012 / 4:29 pm

    Mary, it will be worth the effort! your lovely seaside home needs a lot of maintenance, with the salt air, but worth every penny, and the extra space in the bay window just the place for another chair – and chairs are your passion!

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