August Update – Living room and window restauration in full speed
Since June, many family members visited us and helped us with the restauration. However, compared to last summer, the restauration took a more secondary role. This summer we spent some time hiking, going on tours and chilling out in the evenings. The weather was also incredibly good until August. For a fortnight now, however, the weather has become rather mild and now and then the rain surprises us. The rain is very good for the garden and the land. Our vegetable garden is now in full splendour and I can harvest something every day.
Anyway, here is a little update on what happened over the summer and how the plans will develop.
You have no idea what we are up to here?
The easiest way to find out is to read the previous article!
Painting work with hard-working helpers
The living room – the red and blue salon, was the focus of the restoration. In June, my mother-in-law had already restored the first of 4 windows and motivated us to finally make some progress.
When my sister, a good friend and my husband’s brother (and his girlfriend) came to visit, we girls got busy in the living room. We painted all the walls together. This was when the first “change of plan” happened.
Change of plan – Restauration chaos
The golden wallpaper we bought in Germany in March turned out to be a mistake. On the one hand, the wallpaper looked more like papier-mâché and on the other hand, it was very difficult to put up. So then, the wallpaper was peeled off again (after we had painstakingly applied three sheets) and carefully packed away. Now we have 2.5 rolls of this papier-mâché wallpaper…. Maybe we will find another use for it.
Then came the thought of what to do instead. Here we agreed to wallpaper the wall that needs wallpapering anyway. But with white wallpaper, which we will then paint red. But only half of it. On the lower side of the wall, we want to put up wooden panels like the ones in the dining room.
In addition, we decided to remove the wood fibre boards on the right side (door), as we could discover panels behind them. This immediately made the room more old-fashioned, harmonious and easier to work with!
The colours
The colours turned out incredibly well. We are both super happy with our choice and the result. The blue in particular left us speechless.
Colour finding
Next we need to finalise and shop for the grey shade my husband wants.
He wants the panels and the door in a light grey tone.
Window Restauration Update
At the moment, the living room is used for window restoration. I have sanded, primed and painted twice all the interior windows of the entrance hall, study and living room. This time I used linseed oil paint and am thrilled with the results! Painting with the paint is very easy and the paint is very efficient and has good coverage. The only downside is that you have to paint three coats and allow about 2 days for drying in between.
I have already received some tips to speed up the process (for example, hang the windows on hooks so you can paint both sides at the same time). However, this was too inconvenient for me and I found a trick to put the windows up in such a way that I can still get to both sides.
Unfortunately, the living room is missing two interior windows. We have already searched the entire shed and would also have an alternative (we would bring another old window that just fits into the mould). However, we want to wait to see if this window is really not needed anywhere else.
The wall of books
In addition, we had to rethink our bookshelves.
Yesterday I wanted to start sanding down the two old Billys when the thought came to me: Why do so much restauration work when we can make it easier?
We have a lot of Hejne bookshelves in the shed. All of them are in very good condition and just need to be painted and spruced up. The fact that the back is open also works to our advantage. Since we put panels on the back of the bookcase, the back of it just gets painted too and looks better straight away!
As we are adding skirting boards and decorative trims, the shelves will end up looking completely different. Only the basic structure will remain the same.
For this, I did colour tests directly yesterday. Firstly with our dark brown oil, the blue colour and another light blue colour, and once primed.
I actually like the dark blue tone best. It was super easy to apply and it covered right from the first coat. And it’s fitting because we still have 1.5 cans of the blue paint left. Unfortunately, the dark blue tone is hard to see in the picture, but it looks best in real life.
Outlook for the next steps
Next I will paint all the parts for the bookshelf. After that, we need to clear out the living room as best we can. Some furniture will have to stay in there. And finally, at the end of August, the floor will be sanded!
In September, Felix will then oil the floor. Felix’s aunt brought us the oil from Germany, which is a lot cheaper there than here in Sweden!
At the same time, we need to contact our heating installers and plan the installation of the heating, as well as let our electrician know, as we don’t have electricity in the room yet either.
All in all, we still have a lot of work to do. However, I am thrilled that we are really dedicating ourselves to the project with patience and passion and also spontaneity and desire & whim and feel little to no stress.
The next update will probably follow in october!
Until next time,
