PROPERTY | HOME LIFE
ROOM IN DETAIL
‘The bathroom is possibly my favourite room of the house. I didn’t want cold tiles – my aim was to create a room with a bath in it rather than a ‘bathroom’ so to speak. I chose a solid oak floor and tongue and groove wall panelling with a shelf above it. It took me ages to find the right paint colour for the walls and I painted the underside of the bath blue, too. The curtains and lace panel are both from Laura Ashley. I found the chest of drawers in an Emmaus charity shop. I particularly love the material on the little French boot stool, which I bought at a market in London.’ ABOVE Rebecca bought the large poster from a museum in Paris. She found the picture frame in a skip outside an auction house.
78
BELOW The delicate jug is another of Rebecca’s free finds, also left at an auction house. She bought the chest of drawers at a charity shop.
AUGUST 2011 GOODHOMES
GHO_0811_House2.indd 78
‘Beautiful art need not cost a fortune, you can find bargains at local auctions’ railway advertising posters hanging above the dining table from The Railway Museum in York. ‘When you buy posters from exhibitions or museums and frame them, not only do you have art on your walls but a visual reminder of a good day out. Having beautiful art need not cost a fortune, you can get some relative bargains at local auctions and charity shops. I collect all sorts of picture frames – sometimes I just need to get glass cut for them or I’ll paint the frame.’ Rebecca’s last big project was to revive the dated bathroom, which had a leaking toilet and walls that needed replastering. She decided the room had to be completely gutted and asked her brother to take a sledgehammer to it! Now it is her favourite room in the house. ‘I bought a roll top bath as I have always loved them.’ She darkened the colour of the floorboards in both the
bathroom and the living room using a wood stain in American Walnut.
FINAL TOUCHES
Rebecca wanted to create a relaxing feel in the main bedroom and used a soothing colour palette of pink and green. ‘It’s a favourite combination of mine,’ she says. The pink walls are luckily a hit with her fiancé, too. She put in a new fireplace surround to replace the old one that had been made from painted chipboard. After six months of hard work, Rebecca moved in to her new home. ‘I have loved the process of seeing it evolve from a neglected house into a place that I love. In the future, I hope to get stuck into a new property with my fiancé. This house has given me lots of ideas and has been an outlet for my creativity but now I am after a new challenge!’ GH
goodhomes.net
15/06/2011 10:03