Hello everyone! I’m back with some updates and final reveal pics from one of my slow burner projects. It’s been hard, but something I’ve had to accept is that when things really picked up for Making Spaces a few years ago, it meant I didn’t have time to sit down and write about my job, because I’ve been so busy doing it. The projects I love and am trying to focus on are full house renovations, extensions and builds and how to create real impact with those at planning stages. These projects require layers and layers of work for numerous rooms at once. I’ve got several similar sized projects to share over the coming months, all that have been underway since 2021. So with that in mind, let me introduce you to the Tewit Well Road project over in Harrogate.
You may remember The Edwardian Project in Harrogate a few years ago? I’ve been working with these guys since 2016 and over this time we’ve built a pretty good working relationship. I know what kind of stuff they like and they know what kinda stuff I don’t like (and they know what I’m like as well).
Well my fab clients, Vanessa and Andy sold that house about a month or two after it was completed and soon afterwards in 2021, bought another period renovation project a few streets away. Because they are self-confessed project junkies.
For things like process and lots of “real renovation life” footage , I highly recommend sifting through their Instagram account – especially their Highlighted Stories on Costings where Andy has broken down financial aspects of the project into chunks. Really useful for those considering similar renovations as most people underestimate the amount of work involved and how that translates to £££.
The whole house needed stripping back and reconfiguring from what was 2 x 2 bedroom flats back to a single dwelling. New steels fixed to allow for new openings, new glazing, rewiring, re-plumbing, new heating, floors refurbed or replaced where necessary, original plaster details and wooden mouldings replicated and re-fitted, fireplaces recommissioned, all of the external brick work cleaned and repointed, oodles of skips filled with overgrown garden detritus…. and a partridge in a pear tree. This was not a a lick of paint and a new sofa job. Andy and Vanessa signed up to rescue a beautiful old building that had been left empty and neglected. Last decorated in the 1970’s by the looks of things, half a century ago. God I feel old.
May 2021
Soooo let’s jump forwards two years of hard graft, juggling finances and feeling the fear and doing it anyway. I’m simply here to share some “final reveal” photos for three of several spaces we’ve worked on so far. Let’s start with final reveal of “The Drawing Room”. As you can see it’s not a small space. I would go as far as to say, it’s XL. At the front of the property with the classic bay window – this screams “I am a formal sitting room, where are my Chesterfield sofas and my big empire chandelier?”.
And now: May 2023 – “They’re here!”
It was the Rozalia wallpaper design by Divine Savages that was chosen first for this room with the rest all stemming from there. The ceiling certainly wasn’t going to be white, not for these guys so a dusty rose was chosen to pick up on the rose design within the wallpaper that wrapped its way around the room.
The floral theme continued throughout with cheeky accessories and artwork by Brunna Mancuso, framed in rose red, wooden moulded frames.
The gloss red, bobbin table lamp from John Lewis picks up on the linear rhythm of the roses within the wallpaper. These are the kind of links and connections that wander through my head when i’m selecting pieces for a room. Nothing’s just chosen without a serious amount of overthinking.
Just like these milk glass wall lights from Pooky which were selected because of the petal like, scalloped shades with the red ruffled cushions adding some frivolity to the formality of the sofa.
The antique Persian rug was a cracking Facebook marketplace find, along with the writing desk and corner chair. All of these were found by Vanessa for less than £100 each. The fire surround and marble hearth were repurposed from two other rooms in the house where they were no longer needed. Great for the environment and great for the budget too!
I’m hoping to get shots of the other sides of the rooms in due course, but for that to happen we need curtains around that bay window at one end of the room and a kitchen that’s not being used as a storage facility at the other. Basically, to capture photos of any house, you need everyone to bugger off and make out like nobody lives there. Interiors photography is funny like that.
And onto the Kiddies Bathroom:
May 2021
Before
Originally already a bathroom, this space was a really good sized but it was in a dire state. The brief was to transform this 70’s inspired death trap into a “fun, family friendly bathroom for two boys under 5 years of age”.
Here’s what we did…
A proper fun space
Things kids’ bathrooms need:
- Easy clean surfaces
- Dirt forgiving tiles
- Low level storage
- High level storage (to keep dangerous stuff out of reach)
- Colour
- Space for a grown up to sit next to the bath
- Bomb proof brassware
- Soft edges
The fittings around the bath were all integrated. The two-way valve you can see above controls the deck mounted hand held shower, and the bath filler.
Where’s the bath tap then?
There isn’t one. It’s an overflow and bath filler all in one. A really good option for kids (and adults to be fair) as there’s nothing for them to bang their heads on. I have real issues with things sticking out and dangling into baths, especially shower hoses. Just annoying and a nightmare to keep clean.
The double vanity with integrated sinks, deck mounted taps and rounded corners was probably the most child (and budget) friendly option I could find.
The drawers house all of those bits of bobs little people need close to hand, like flannels and toothbrushes and toothpaste (to smear it all around the basin obvs). Whereas the full height wall cabinets on the opposite side of the room are filled with cleaning stuff, chargers, loo rolls and what not. The mirrored doors helping to bounce the light back around in this north east facing bathroom.
Speaking of north east facing, they’re tricky rooms to choose colours for as they get the early morning light but can appear dingy, dull midday onwards. This prompted me to use a strong, brightly coloured, gloss tile on the wall opposite the windows. And what better way to counteract the scourge of the durge than canary yellow?
The yellow walk in shower literally brings the sunshine to this space and the door in Little Greene’s Mr David is a great colour match.
The Kitchen
Out of the three spaces I’ve shared today, this is the space that’s changed the most. It was originally a bedroom and to become a kitchen in this new home’s layout, it needed some walls taking out in order to connect it with the rest of the ground floor rooms.
Before
Recognise the fire surround? That’s the one we repurposed in the Drawing Room. It was no longer needed here as the kitchen needed to be built across the across the front of the chimney breast to work with the new layout.
The kitchen was supplied by Kin by Mowlem and hand painted in Paint & Paper Library’s Copper Beech, a deep brown with red undertones – almost like mahogany. It’s a cracking addition to this Victorian home which adds some gravitas to the space.
We added lots of luxe finishes such as the marble effect Atlas Plan worktop, brass hardware from Corston Architectural , brass boiling water tap by Fohen and the beautiful reeded chandeliers from Pooky which are absolutely brilliant at lighting up this room. No nasty downlights required!
Before
What once was a ground floor bedroom window, is now a large opening with double doors leading out onto a courtyard garden with outdoor cooking and dining space.
You can just about see here where the floorboards would have run around the fireplace hearth. Keeping these kind of details in is a lovely nod to the building as it was originally. Another antique Persian rug was added to help soften the room, adding texture, colour and contrast.
Hopefully I can show the other side of the kitchen sometime later this year, it opens up into the family room which isn’t quite finished yet. Like I said, these kind of projects take lots of time and budget juggling. But for now, I thought you’d like to see one of the five projects that’s been keeping me busy.
A few sneaky peeks at some of the other spaces still underway…
I really hope you guys like what we’ve done so far. It’s impossible to really convey the size and complexity of this project and the amount of additional work a long-time neglected period property brings to the table. If you’d like to see more finished pics of this project – pop over to Making Spaces where I’ve recently added Tewit Well Rd to my Portfolio.
And for those of you in Yorkshire that may have grand plans to update, re-configure or extend your home in 2024, I am now considering applications for new projects from Autumn 2023 onwards.
Thanks for popping by peeps!
The sitting room is lovely apart from in my opinion, the sofa and rosy red as you call it accessories, especially those cushions. They look far too harsh in the room and upset the balance . Make it look cheap. Such a shame.
LOVE the colour scheme in the kitchen! And the advice for what a child-friendly bathroom needs. Xx
So happy to see your work again….love it as usual.
Lovely work as per usual! Love the yellow tiles in the bathroom!
Ooh, I loved everything including the rosy red accessories in the formal room. Great ideas for the children’s bathroom as well.
I nearly bought a Pooky chandelier for my bedroom but in the end decided on a French second-hand one with leaves and tendrils making their way up the rod.
So happy to see your email update pop up, I suddenly thought I had unsubscribed by accident!! Loved your update and amazing work as always; that bath detail and those tiles, wow. Good luck for completion
Loved the way it turned out and specially the kitchen and the the living room area. Amazing work!!