This is the view from the front door. A lot has changed here in the last few weeks. Keen eyed observers will note that we are the proud owners of a significant portion of the EU textured wallpaper mountain.
View of the kitchen/dining room - not the best view. The kitchen is around the corner and is in a galley configuration. While I like the Art Deco fireplace, it's going to have to go. I'm thinking of turning the hole into a winerack and connecting the stove extractor to the flue. This was decided after I carefully set down a scale diagram on paper and arranged a series of cardboard counters on the diagram in a variety of configurations. It was established that it would be impossible to seat six or more people in the dining room and have an open fire without cooking two of your guests. I considered this a feature, Mrs Kinch talked me around.
The rear of the house. The roof is now sound having been given a good going over. The out building at the back is our current bathroom, delicacy forbids further photographs. The jungly undergrowth is being whipped into shape by my mother in law, who doesn't really have a garden in the city and will not be denied. 
The shed, post Mrs Kinchs great uncles clean out. Sadly, it is full again...
Our bedroom, quite wholesome by the standards of the rest of the house. The fireplace is in very good nick, though Mrs Kinch was unable to prevent me from taking a crowbar to the "beauty board" soon after this picture was taken. My desk will go in the bay window.
The bathroom, featuring the hole in the ceiling from burst pipes at Christmas. Alot has changed here. 
The spare room, sadly the old fellow who lived here seemed to equate barred windows with security. They needless to say have all gone.
It's a nice fireplace actually. More water damage here. 
The fire place in the study, or what will be my wargames room. Interestingly, the previous owner used a mixture of wallpaper past and glue to put this wallpaper up.
And lest we forget, the pantry...
The curious thing is that, despite not having indoor plumbing, somewhere to wash or anywhere to cook - my main concern at present is that I have a guest coming for a game at the end of the month and no wargames table!
Life, it's all about priorities.
Conrad,
ReplyDelete"Weaving"?
Regards,
John
It is alway fascinating to see the start of a moving in and renovation project. I recently went through the same process. Though it seems like the work will never ever end, like parenthood, it is the first year that is the toughest! Once the basics and the plumbing, wires, holes and surfaces are squared away you will look at these pictures and see how much progress you have made. It looks like you have found a house with charm - a fireplace in the games room is high class!
ReplyDeleteGood luck and good progress,
Jim
"Weaving" - "get weaving" is something of a Kinch katchphrase, though it enjoys a broader currency. It means "get a move on!"
ReplyDeleteJiminho, I reckon three years before I'm really happy with it. We're aiming for somewhere to wash and somewhere to cook by the end of the month. The living room (not pictured) and our bedroom are liveable, if not pleasant at present.
ReplyDeleteI like to think of it like scaling Everest, one builds a basecamp and sets out from there.
I look forward to seeing how things develop- all the very best with the project...
ReplyDeleteAlan
Good Lord! You are a brave man, Kinch. The tour reminds me why I doubt whether I will move house again. What was it with textured wallpaper? I still have the same horror here in my house - on some of the ceilings! I fear to strip it off, as I suspect it's holding the ceilings, and perhaps the house itself, together. All power to your decorating arm!
ReplyDeleteWe bought a house in Sale that needed a similar amount of work. We started with the 'public' rooms (i.e. kitchen and living room), then the bathroom, kids rooms then our room last.
ReplyDeleteMy only advice - don't try to do everything at once. Do one room at a time. You'll feel you're making progress then.
If you've got any moldy places, be sure to wear masks while cleaning them up. A friend didn't and she's still in bed a week later (even with expensive medication). Mold can be nasty.
ReplyDeleteAnd think of your renovations as being similar to painting an army. At first it seems so so very daunting . . . but spending time whenever you can (even in little chunks), it eventually finds itself all painted and on the table top.
-- Jeff
1:1 terrain! Very cute Mr Kinch!
ReplyDeleteI apologise to Mrs K. if I've distracted you with my Honour Guards, though.
Happy (suburban) terra-forming to you both!
It's the dead spit of my first house... even to the same embossed wallpaper and fireplaces.... don't laugh - I bought the house purely on the basis of the front room fireplace..!
ReplyDeleteTextured wallpaper and cheapo art-deco style fireplace? Just like my first house! It coule be worse - my second house was something of a shrine to artex...
ReplyDeleteLooks like a splendid castle in the making. I did find a 2nd doorway when I removed the wallpaper from one room in this old place.
ReplyDelete