Likewise for the door and the window seat window above, the minute it was painted white it looked ten million times better.
Thanks Dad!
Next were the floors. Some people say that you should do the floors before you paint walls, but both our decorator and the flooring guy told us to decorate first so you don't have to worry about covering the floor up. We just had to touch up the skirting boards after.
Whilst the boards were in pretty good condition, when sanded back and all smooth you'd really notice any imperfections. We realised that they'd need some TLC so got a company in to sand them, do some repairs to a few boards {plumbers are notorious for cutting through straight lines of floorboards rather than lifting the boards!} and then stain them. Ben had sanded the floors in the bathroom and bedroom himself but this was a much bigger job and it would take forever for us to stain it all over three coats plus we didn't have the materials to match the old boards in easily for any repairs. So we got a company in and while it wasn't that cheap, if we'd laid new floors it would have cost a fortune anyway and it's a large part of the house that would look rubbish if they hadn't been done properly so we decided to prioritise a chunk of the budget on them. It took a team of 5 people 3 days in total.
They looked so weird once sanded back! Virgin boards. You'd actually not believe they were old if you came in and saw them like this.
We then had to choose a stain. We wanted something quite deep, classic and dark to offset the light walls everywhere and light windows. We went for the darkest one in the photo on the far right, it's Mylands Light Fast Stain in walnut which was thinned down by 50%. On top of this they finished it with Bona Traffic in a matt finish. But these stains will come out very differently depending on what kind of floorboards you have and how much oil is in the boards, how old they are, how soft etc etc so it's worth trying stain out on your boards first. The colours also look very different once sealed and dried. It was a tough decision!
I'm really pleased with how they've come out though. With the floors and walls finished, next were the finishing off and decorative bits:
The lounge didn't have a fireplace on this main chimney breast despite there being one the other side into the dining room. There's a log burner and weird marble {with unfavourable Greek looking pillars} fireplace at the other end of the room but it's not where we want to have the sofas so have decided to use this as the main fireplace. At the time we couldn't open the chimney breast up to install a log burner until we got permission for amending a listed building. So until then we found this flat fireplace on eBay that gives the room and walls a focal point but without actually eating into the wall at all. It was two pieces, we bought the cast iron hearth separately to the pine mantel. Ben's amazing on eBay, I wouldn't know where to start with trying to find two separate pieces that fit together! We primed the pine using this primer {the best primer ever} and then painted using white eggshell paint before fixing to the wall in front of the skirting boards.
We ripped out all of the old radiators, wanting column radiators instead which are a bit more in keeping with the style of the house. We had originally wanted old proper reclaimed cast iron radiators but it would have cost a fortune and been a lot of work to track enough down that were the right size and condition etc. So in the end we went for these which are all new, efficient but still look prettier than your standard radiators. We bought them online here, using an online calculator to work out the BTUs and heating requirements for the size of the room. There are these 5 super cute ones which sit under the window and then a larger one on a back wall which should keep us nice and toasty in the winter along with a fireplace.
8 weeks after we ordered the sofas, they arrived! Which was funny as when we ordered we thought we'd have the lounge all finished and we'd be waiting for the sofas but in the end the renovations took longer than we thought so they beat us to it. They're the Lynden range from Laura Ashley {with a sale on top of a sale and found an extra 10% discount code online} with a footstool from Loaf. It took us a while to decide on the layout. I originally thought they'd be facing each other either side of the fireplace but then it hides the bay window and the cute little rads! So the L shape won but we may change it all around at some point if we need to.
After the floors were finished the decorator came back to finish the skirting boards off and finished the window seat and windowsill.
We fitted shelves in the alcove next to the fireplace, they're Homebase floating shelves which annoyingly are now discontinued. They're great as you don't need to have brackets on show, we did use a couple of extra little angle brackets to help give extra support and keep them level but these are hidden by our picture frames/books etc. Homebase has been taken over by an Australian firm and it's really changed since. We cut the shelves down to size and then primed and painted them wall colour.

It was then time to start unpacking. We packed our old house up in such a rush and stupidly without labelling very well. I mean, we knew which rooms they were for but if we'd have had more time I would have boxed things up much more systematically. It was chaos unpacking with bubble wrap and paper everywhere for a couple of days. I was selective about what we actually wanted in the lounge. Until we have the dining room sorted we have so many books, cushions, candles etc but only one lounge. So I've boxed a lot of it back up again now I've decided what I want to keep out in here for now. It was SO good to be reunited with our things!

We had a window seat made by a local upholsterer and I love it! It's an awkward shape bay so going bespoke was the only option. I used this fabric and then got these cushions to decorate it with. Without realising it, our bedroom, bathroom and lounge are all pink white and grey so far. Interior fail. I blame the shops, blogs and magazines for making it so on trend right now and subconsciously sending me that way... But what I love about this room is that apart from the slight hint of grey in the curtains, this room is neutral enough to change it around as trends come and go. We can change the cushions if we want to make it feel like a new room again.

We looked everywhere for a console table but couldn't find one suitable or the right size so Ben being Ben adapted two different tables. We bought one from eBay for the nice legs on castors which we stained down and then cut a different table {again sourced on eBay} down the middle to the size we wanted and stained it to match the legs. It now looks like one proper table. 

Reunited with my Diptyque collection!! Out of sheer luck it was in the first box I opened!

We put up walnut curtain poles {from Dunelm} across the back door and Ben had to cut down and adjust three poles for the bay window. We've got Ikea grey curtains which cost a fraction of the price of the quotes I got from local upholsterers. Just £35 each! Steal and they were the exact colour I was looking for.
The curtains are just dress curtains in the bay window. Because of the size of it, the amount of fabric needed to close across all of it would mean blocking a whole window each side of gathered fabric when they'd be open. Too bulky, we'd lose light and heat from the radiators. So they look nice and soften the window/room without actually closing. We bought the off white roller blinds from the previous owners who had had them made for the windows. They're simple and hidden enough when you want them up but equally give privacy and make it feel cosy at night when we pull them. I had originally wanted plantation shutters but the framework would block so much light and detract too much from the beautiful windows. The curtains draw across the back door and we need to get a blind sorted for the window seat.
On a trip to Kempton with my Mum in the summer, I fell in love with these shutters so they're now sitting at the side of the fire place. Such a great feature, nearly everyone comments on them when they come in the room.
We hung some vintage mirrors, full post on that here.
We kept the sofas covered for as long as we could, dust gets everywhere!

It was all coming together and then finally time to move in properly!

After: