A Design For Life

I think, with some trepidation, that it might be finally safe to declare the Slum ready for someone else to slave over.  I think we've finally finished clearing/stripping/cleaning/dusting/sweeping.  We are laying down the wallpaper stripper and claw hammer.  I might even recommence using fabric softener for the purpose it was originally intended for.


So it's also time to tell you about the design.

You know that the downstairs previously-carpet-filled room is to be the bike store, so I won't bother to show you that, since we aren't really changing much.  The first major change will be the removal of the walls that currently separate the asbestos-toilet from the random extra bit of landing.  We are going to put a sliding door in, creating a bathroom with shower on the mezzanine floor (bet you never thought the slum could have something as fancy as a mezzanine!):

On the first floor, we are knocking out the stud walls that separate the main bathroom from the landing, removing the bathroom, and making a library.  (I know!  First a mezzanine, now a library!  I'm not sure Nunhead is ready for these heady levels of sophistication!).  That's it opposite the stairs.  The grey portions that look like the bread in a particularly chunky hotdog are floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.

On the top floor, we will be putting up a wall to box in the space between the two bedrooms, creating another bathroom.  

We will also hopefully be turning the eaves spaces (they of the wattle and daub and elderly newspapers) into cupboards (that's all those extra doors).  However, it turns out that each of the eaves contains one beam of wood that is apparently holding up the whole house.  Really.  And so doing any work around that might be expensive.  I'd upload a photo of the pesky beam, but I was concerned that breathing near it, let alone risking a camera flash might destablise the foundations.  Or the roof.  


And now comes the best bit!  We are all about interior design from here on - hopefully less dusty and dirty and more exciting and fun!


Rob doesn't really approve (no doubt not the first time I'm going to be typing that) but I've created a pinterest board here so you have some idea of the vision we have for the slum (sorry about that, but I think if Nunhead can cope with a mezzanine and a library, it might be able to cope with a vision).


Since the bank holiday weekend is upon us, Rob and I will be making a trip to Ikea to touch some kitchen cabinets, stroke some lino, sit on a few sofas, and so on.  In true bank-holiday-couple-in-Ikea-style we may even have a row in the bathroom department.  If you are really lucky, I might even blog about it.  Croydon, prepare yourself - the Slum is on its way!