MEMORIES OF THE FIRST AND ONLY HOUSE I'VE OWNED - TO DATE
When I lived in this 2 bedroom terraced house in Sale (Manchester) from 2008 to 2013, I was a first time owner, so the excitement around the prospect of decorating was at its absolute peak, as you can imagine. For all the years I’d rented flats in Manchester whilst at university and then working in my early 20’s, I’d never been lucky enough to have a landlord that would allow me to paint and decorate my room (with the exception of a few pictures on the walls.)
The Victorian terraced house in Sale had so much potential. It was a two up, two down, with the bathroom as a downstairs extension at the back of the property, and it was mine. I could finally have my way with the design, the colour palette and the decoration. Although there was only 5 rooms in total, they were spacious with generous ceiling height, and the windows were large and in very good condition, which was helpful to me and my budget!
As much as I absolutely could not wait to crack on and buy samples, paint those walls and change the flooring, I also felt the need to pause for a while to live in the house to really get the feel of what I actually needed. Plus, in order to choose the right shades of colour, I wanted to fully understand the amount of light coming through each room during the day. So at first, *we (*’we’ will be explained further into the article) painted everything white, covering up some very jazzy choices (even by my own standards!), and stripped the 1990’s wallpaper with matching border OFF so we could appreciate the shape and character of each room.
I must apologise for the quality of the images on this post… I think they were taken with an iPhone 4! But as we’re taking a trip down memory lane, I hope you’ll forgive.
Grey sofa bed against charcoal grey wall
I bought the first few pieces of furniture; namely a dark grey sofa (well, sofa bed, which proved its worth very quickly and I still have it now) a dining table and chairs, and I had some precious heirlooms and second hand pieces that I knew I wanted to keep and use in the rooms.
After a while, the first decision I made was regarding the wallpapers for three of the rooms; the living room, kitchen and the master bedroom. This, along with the furniture I already had, became the starting point for the colour palette and scheme. I’ve always loved the combination of black and white together with strong colour, and so the thick bold black & white Timney Fowler vertical stripe wallpaper for the living room chimney breast really stood out. At that time, I loved charcoal grey paint on walls, so this, combined with the stripe wallpaper needed something really bright to achieve an edge. I wanted a zingy room with lots of energy.
The paint sample stage, when choosing the right shade of yellow/green for the living room alcoves (and in fact, for all of the colour choices in the house!) was painstaking. I wanted an almost fluorescent colour in terms of brightness, but with a hint of green so that it didn’t just look like a ‘happy’ yellow, (I like yellow, but it has to be the right shade depending on its context.)
Timney Fowler bold stripe wallpaper with zesty lemon in the alcoves and lilac carpet
When we moved in, the flooring in the living room was vinyl in the style of light oak wooden floorboards and I knew that eventually, I wanted it to be luxurious, thick pile carpet. My love of yellow/green and lilac is still a palette that I love now. Lilac seems to be the new millennial pink right now, so the lilac carpet that I chose all those years ago still looks as current today as it did back then.
The Marimekko black and white Räsymatto spot wallpaper was always a definite for my bedroom, (which very sadly is now discontinued), next to a rich and intense shade of raspberry in the alcoves. Similarly in the kitchen, the Cole & Son flamingo wallpaper is something that I’ve always loved. I teamed it with an mid-lilac/orchid hue on the adjacent wall, which was so fun and playful.
Marimekko Räsymatto spot wallpaper
Each and every day, this home with it’s adventurous colour palette and styling that 100% represented me, gave me pure joy. I felt alive at home, energised and ultimately, extremely happy.
In 2010, my dad passed away suddenly. He and my mum lived in Crete at the time, meaning my mum was in Crete after it happened. Once the decision was made, mum moved back to the UK and we had a very happy year living together in the terraced house in Sale which ’we’, (*i.e. the three of us) me, my mum and my dad decorated together, as a team.
I was 25 when we bought the house, did it up and when dad passed. During this time, as well as the previous years of working with my parents made me understand the true meaning of hard-work, motivation, determination, creativity and resourcefulness. They taught me that you can achieve anything with a few tools, some vision and most of all, the desire to do things well. There’s no such thing as 110%, just give it your full 100.
The year I spent living with my mum in this home in Sale was a very special time, as were all the years that I lived in this house. We remembered the time that the three of us took down all every door in the house and sanded them down for a whole day in the living room, breathing new life and love to their original charm. We laughed about when dad literally walked the oven under his chest into the living room so that we could tile the kitchen floor, and when I came home from work one evening, to find dad in the bath, covered in tiles and grout dust as he chipped each one off the bathroom walls, ready for it’s re-decoration.
After this beautiful and emotional year living with mum, I knew it was time for me to move on. It was now mum’s time to enjoy the house and get the same pleasure that I did, and still do, each time I visit. I’m very much looking forward to the next chapter which is buying a house with my partner, where we can apply these important values and create a home which is truly ours.
