Back to the struggle

Back to the struggle of renovation, after the flights of fancy and the family history of some of the previous posts. I am going to add some photos today of some of these 'features' that I keep mentioning, and the restoration that I'm carrying out on them.

Number one is the doors. It's funny how you get accustomed to doors, the demarcating line between cooking, sitting, showering, sleeping;  between porch and landing and hall; those solid blockers of draughts.  For the  past five days I've had all these artificial barriers removed. I've been living in an open plan New York Loft type environment where the uses of the rooms have blurred and shifted and I've found myself sitting on the edge of the bath to eat, wandering into the bedroom with a frying pan in hand while I talk on the phone, or sleeping in front of the fire on a mattress, fresh from surfing the net to look at Farrow and Ball paints. 

But my own doors are back from their dippin' an' strippin' and while I thought they would come up lovely, as they say, the finish that Complete PaintStripping  of Chester have got is out of this world. The doors (the photos should illustrate this) were old, battered pine, covered  in layer after layer of shiny gloss paint and with their handles and door furniture coated in the same stuff. On return they are all soft, glowing natural wood, still very slightly damp after the stripping process. Even the Victorian glass and  the metal handles are now sparkling and polished. Thanks to Steve for a great job, and  Simon for his very careful courier service!

Glass panelled door, pre treatment

I've also been cleaning the remnants of some ancient black paint from the slate surrounds of the dining room fireplace - see picture - and also made a start on the built in range in the kitchen. This is very rusty inside and I'm not going to attempt to make it useable, but I will be tarting it up to bring out the vintage character - and make it a 'feature'! Pictures of that too.

I've just found that  you can view the photos at a larger size if you click on them, btw.
Short and  sweet this time as I'm boshing it hard, as my brother Toby used to say. It's typical cool damp Snowdonia weather outside, slate coloured skies and drizzle, so I've got all lights blazing, vintage  jazz on the stereo, and of course a cup of tea on the hour every hour...    Will

After dipping

Slate panel with varnish remover brushed on

Chatanette original kitchen range

Door furniture stripped back to the metal

Doors back, beautifully soft and glowing!