We've Bought an Historical Old Vicarage!

[ItsMainelyYou]

Thank you! The end is definitely in sight & only 7 wks to moving in date! The girls have gone from feeling sad to be leaving our very lovely & perfectly adequate home to bursting to get in now that it's not a total building site! Here's a snip of DD1's room that I took last wk whilst the painting was in action. There will be no stark white or gloss in the house as it doesn't lend itself to it's age. The ceiling is an off white & walls a dove grey, to flow from her black & white bathroom.

That's no time at all now!
I love this color and have it in my own bedroom, which for me is a little unexpected because usually I go bolder. I wasn't prepared for how much I loved it as it was going up. It's a great chameleon color and she'll be able to anything against that backdrop. I'm giddy for you and can't wait to see this fully come together

 

[MissGotRocks]

The pictures are fabulous - thank you for sharing! It is really getting exciting now - plans in motion and all falling in line!

 

[Ally T]

That's no time at all now!
I love this color and have it in my own bedroom, which for me is a little unexpected because usually I go bolder. I wasn't prepared for how much I loved it as it was going up. It's a great chameleon color and she'll be able to anything against that backdrop. I'm giddy for you and can't wait to see this fully come together

It’s a surprisingly calming colour, isn’t it? It adds a real contrast against the ceiling without being too harsh. Her bed is steel grey velvet, cabinetry is off white & waterfall Roman blinds are a woven fabric with off white & dove grey threads. She has this amazing & huge white Goose feather lamp shade for the central light & has bought a steel grey satin throw for across the bed. She also wants a big armchair & foot stool in there for reading but hasn’t decided on colour for that yet. That’s not priority furniture!

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

It’s a surprisingly calming colour, isn’t it? It adds a real contrast against the ceiling without being too harsh. Her bed is steel grey velvet, cabinetry is off white & waterfall Roman blinds are a woven fabric with off white & dove grey threads. She has this amazing & huge white Goose feather lamp shade for the central light & has bought a steel grey satin throw for across the bed. She also wants a big armchair & foot stool in there for reading but hasn’t decided on colour for that yet. That’s not priority furniture!

Lucky, lucky girl. She has great taste.
Maaaaaybe weirdo auntie will 'pass out' dramatically and have to commandeer that room for a spell because my caftan will surely rip if trying to drag my lumps back down onto the Chesterfield. Sorry doll, we're civilized here. Yes, be a love and close the door on your way out

 

[mrs-b]

It's looking fabulous, @Ally T! The opened dining room looks wonderful!

How are you doing the floors in the bedrooms? And - 7 weeks to go?? Woo hoooo!

 

[yennyfire]

Oh my gosh @Ally T it is so close to being done! I love the windows in the dining room, as well as those in your DDs room alongside that soothing dove gray! It’s going to be spectacular!!

 

[Ally T]

It's looking fabulous, @Ally T! The opened dining room looks wonderful!

How are you doing the floors in the bedrooms? And - 7 weeks to go?? Woo hoooo!

Thanks, beautiful! So the main staircase is having this RIDICULOUS hand woven woollen stair runner, made by actual Pixies in Neverland using solid 24ct gold needles & wool spun from the coats of Woolly Mammoths. At least that is what I am expecting for the most EXPENSIVE STAIR RUNNER IN THE WORLD I've swallowed the cost because there are just no alternatives that are anywhere near the same. The runner will meet a silky soft deep pile carpet at the top of the stairs, which is a pale sage green. All the landing, bedrooms, attics & servants stairs top to bottom will be in this carpet. The rooms are colour themed off this runner, so it was important we stuck with it. I drank stiff Gin after confirming the order.

 

[Ally T]

Lucky, lucky girl. She has great taste.
Maaaaaybe weirdo auntie will 'pass out' dramatically and have to commandeer that room for a spell because my caftan will surely rip if trying to drag my lumps back down onto the Chesterfield. Sorry doll, we're civilized here. Yes, be a love and close the door on your way out

You definitely qualify for your own guest room, purely for keeping me entertained & making me smile through the Hell that has occasionally been this renovation. You have NO idea how important your humour has been!

 

[mrs-b]

I love the runner. This is going to be so wonderful - I can't wait for the day we get to sit in your garden with your chickens and have gin and tonics!

(...you and me - not the chickens. Altho - those chickens can be pretty badly behaved!)

 

[SparklieBug]

It's all looking so great, @Ally T! I absolutely adore the deep windowsills.

Seven weeks will pass in a flash—if it were my home, I'd be delirious with excitement by now...

 

[kah42]

This is looking so beautiful! I really like that runner -- although, I guess I better if it is being made from actual Pixies from Neverland I can imagine the stiff drink that followed, but it looks and sounds like it will be worth it!

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

There isn't ONE detail here that would be boring! Wonderful journey!!!

cheers--Sharon

 

[lambskin]

The runner is perfect! I watched a YouTube video on the ‘last‘ of the carpet mills in the UK I think. I think it was in the north and the carpets that grace Buckingham Palace and other important places were made here Over the years. It may have been Ireland… I can’t recall. The designs reflected the heyday of carpet weaving and went through sourcing local cotton and wool for weaving. It was sad to see many of the factories shuttered. So your custom runner i wonderful. I also love how they identified your sample as the old vicarage. I hope you are saving all these wonderful tags, swatches, and samples, receipts, and photos in a scrapbook for historical purposes. Maybe Lucy Worsley will visit one day….

 

[Bonfire]

Just getting caught up here Ally! Absolutely magnificent!
I love that you are sharing this journey with us.
Fit for the beautiful queen that you are. Your avatar is very apropos.

 

[PastryGirl]

You could never bore us to death with these wonderful updates!

 

[Neptune]

Popping in to see if you have any cheery spring blooms yet...

 

[Ally T]

Popping in to see if you have any cheery spring blooms yet...

Unfortunately not very much, as the garden has all been levelled & around the house ha been dug out for patios (see pics on P17). We’ve had snowdrops & there are a lot of daffodils in one back corner, but that’s about it until the trees & bushes burst into colour & we re-plant flower beds.

 

[rainydaze]

This is such an incredible undertaking and so breathtaking! Such a labor of love and creativity melded with history. I love coming here to see the pictures, progress, and transformations. Thank you for sharing it with us!! Yay for seven weeks... seems like one of those times where time will both stand still and fly by!

 

[Neptune]

Unfortunately not very much, as the garden has all been levelled & around the house ha been dug out for patios (see pics on P17). We’ve had snowdrops & there are a lot of daffodils in one back corner, but that’s about it until the trees & bushes burst into colour & we re-plant flower beds.

Thanks for the update.

 

[Ally T]

We have a fully plastered kitchen extension



We also have the first of three coats of paint in the Winter Lounge. The Edwardian Duck Egg coving was originally painted a minty green against cream walls & looked really wishy washy, but the dramatic solid paint has allowed the light to bounce off those eggs & highlight them perfectly.



And lastly for now, the Guest Rooms are fully decorated & the carpets get fitted a week on Monday. This is the larger room where we were able to retain the beautiful iridescent green fireplace.

 

[MissGotRocks]

Just gorgeous! It is really coming together now! That green fireplace is so beautiful!

 

[SparklieBug]

Thank you, @Ally T! This must so, so, SO exciting for you and your family! I'm excited a gazillion miles away.

 

[empliau]

OHHHH I love an egg and dart (or egg and something else- my eyes aren't what they were) molding! Such beautiful details! What a wonderful restoration/rebirth!

 

[Ally T]

Just gorgeous! It is really coming together now! That green fireplace is so beautiful!

Thank you! It needs a soapy clean & new coals, but the chimney has been sealed & there are no draughts. The photos make the room look small, but if you can see where they have put in double sockets each side of the window, that is a wide enough gap to take a double bed & bedside tables - the windows are very large. We are actually now putting a King bed on the right wall, which is 4m long, (the wall, not the bed!) & I’m going to put two bottle green velvet armchairs either side of the window with a small table between, to create a nice reading nook. The green will really bring out the fireplace. There are horses in that field next door & I personally could sit there all day watching them chase eachother around!

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

We have a fully plastered kitchen extension



We also have the first of three coats of paint in the Winter Lounge. The Edwardian Duck Egg coving was originally painted a minty green against cream walls & looked really wishy washy, but the dramatic solid paint has allowed the light to bounce off those eggs & highlight them perfectly.



And lastly for now, the Guest Rooms are fully decorated & the carpets get fitted a week on Monday. This is the larger room where we were able to retain the beautiful iridescent green fireplace.

Where did you get the paper and do they have other smaller geometrics like that and I need the name of that paint!! It's lovely!

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

Oh, I forgot.



It's so, so, so, my jaaaaaaaaaaaaaam!

 

[Ally T]

Where did you get the paper and do they have other smaller geometrics like that and I need the name of that paint!! It's lovely!

Hi gorgeous! How’s your kitchen coming along?

That wallpaper is beautiful & has a lovely iridescent glow in the late evening sunshine . It’s by a company here called Jane Clayton & the paper is Maris by Sanderson in Oyster. We have bought quite a few papers from this company for various rooms, as they lend themselves to the period feel of the house. Can’t remember the shade of paint & will need to look it up!

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

Hi gorgeous! How’s your kitchen coming along?

That wallpaper is beautiful & has a lovely iridescent glow in the late evening sunshine . It’s by a company here called Jane Clayton & the paper is Maris by Sanderson in Oyster. We have bought quite a few papers from this company for various rooms, as they lend themselves to the period feel of the house. Can’t remember the shade of paint & will need to look it up!

Hiya, sweets!
Still waiting for my lights to be built. I should hear in a week or so.
I'm papering the ceiling in the butler's tomorrow. I've got the hood on order and will order legs for the butcher counter. Then the oiling and assembling. I just want all the crap out of there. That's all I want.
We'll do the other counters and sink this summer. We need a break.
Septic work starts shortly and I'm in process of convincing DH that it's worth hiring out to reclad/paint the house this time. He insists on recladding the two sides needed himself. 'Yoh-kay, with what time, you workaholic hobbit?', is my response to that nonsense.
He forgets that I do 80% of all painting and that I'm older and markedly chubbier than I was the last time. And I. Don't. Wanna!

 

[RMOO]

I die, this is so beautiful!

 

[Ally T]

Hiya, sweets!
Still waiting for my lights to be built. I should hear in a week or so.
I'm papering the ceiling in the butler's tomorrow. I've got the hood on order and will order legs for the butcher counter. Then the oiling and assembling. I just want all the crap out of there. That's all I want.
We'll do the other counters and sink this summer. We need a break.
Septic work starts shortly and I'm in process of convincing DH that it's worth hiring out to reclad/paint the house this time. He insists on recladding the two sides needed himself. 'Yoh-kay, with what time, you workaholic hobbit?', is my response to that nonsense.
He forgets that I do 80% of all painting and that I'm older and markedly chubbier than I was the last time. And I. Don't. Wanna!

I feel your pain, but I am so excited for you! As a woman, our kitchens are so important to us. But trust me, it’s a man thing. Mr T says “no, no, I’ll do it, I’m not spending money if I don’t need to….”



Throughout this renovation he has largely been working & away Mon to Fri. I on the other hand, could often be found rocking in a corner in Nov / Dec overwhelmed with decision fatigue, wanting to smash my phone to stop the INCESSANT calls form the builders / interior designer several times a day (necessary to make decisions that they couldn’t make or relating to problems that had thrown up that needed a monetary response etc) & wanting to inject neat gin into my eyeballs & fall asleep for a LONG time. I had several mini tearful breakdowns. By Christmas I had decided I was going to flip it as soon as it was complete, because it had been such a pain in my balls that I NEVER wanted to actually live there.

But now I can see the end! And it’s beautiful & it’s everything I envisaged & said I wanted that they have managed to pull off. She’s our forever home & she looks beautiful & all those decisions I questioned (there have been many) are perfect. Bloody perfect.

Renovations are HARD. You make sure you take a breather from it as often as you can. And I have the most PERFECT kaftan here for your visit if you want to hop on a transatlantic flight