This week, Naomi Findlay shares the second finished room in the rundown 1880s stone cottage she is renovating. If you missed room one, check it out here. Over to you, Naomi…
I don’t really know where to begin with how I feel about this room. It’s been quite an emotional journey. I was definitely super stressed at the thought there’d been some kids here that had experienced some trauma. So it’s quite humbling to look around and see the way the house has accepted what I’ve wanted to gift it.
These walls used to be adorned with such horror, and now they are just shining and fresh and they’ve been really welcoming to the treatments that I’ve wanted to apply.
There’s a couple of key things I love in this space from a functionality perspective, and they’re really similar to the things that I loved about room one. First up, the front doors. Without doubt the amount of ventilation, security, and privacy that these Invisi-Gard French doors give me is out of control.
I specifically love the fact that I was able to customise the colour of the handles. So, no longer do these doors look like they belong on the outside, or on a garage, or in an outdoor area. They fit perfectly into this really, really elegant bedroom space. And while we’re on the door front, not only do I love the profiles of the Hume door that I’ve used in this bedroom, but that colour, it is absolutely gorgeous!
When I look around this finished room for the first time, probably in my life, I’m actually a bit stuck for words! It’s really comforting in here. It’s really nurturing. And I think part of that comes from the other layers that we have.
We have beautiful near-realistic timber-look vinyl planks on the floor. Those who know me, know I’m a tomboy and pretty clumsy. So I like the fact that these have a specific surface treatment that makes them super easy to clean and they’re low-VOC, which is great for allergies, especially for a bedroom.
I am blown away at the details in the trims and the timber work in this room; the skirting boards and the wainscot panelling and the chair rail. And naturally, I love the functionality of the picture rails, which mean no holes ever in the beautiful wallpaper that adorns the walls.
When I was styling the room, there were quite a few different layouts I could have gone with, but this one is definitely a winner for me. It allows for maximum view of the bed when you enter through the door and also allows for beautiful cross ventilation across from it. My biggest challenge renovating this room, without doubt, was battening out to put brand new gyprock on all these walls. There wasn’t a baton or a screw that stuck first time, it was a real challenge.
My favourite part of this room is the wainscoting, the panelling, and all of the trim work. From a visual perspective, whatever happened in this room previously or whatever it looked like before, is now a distant memory. This is now a dreamy, nurturing, layered and quite elegant space.
Getting the curtain rail to stay in place was another challenge because the bricks underneath the gyprock were so fragile. The easiest part was the French doors from Hume and the Invisi-Gard screens from Alspec, and the reason why is that they were all custom made, so they were perfect. That was a hands-off experience for me. They came, they measured, they made, they fitted, dream!
If I had my time over again, I would have loved to have the front facade of the house done first because it certainly was a challenge keeping the crud and muck out of the room as there was such a mess.
I must admit I’m pumped. It’s come up beautifully and I’ve chosen elements that are well-wearing and quite classic. So not only will it stand the test of time in regard to the products I’ve used in here, but this room is also going to be fit for purpose and beautiful for at least a couple of decades.
Find all the suppliers and products used in room 2 as well as behind the scenes videos here.