We have owned The Outhouse since 1993, so approaching 30 years and are, and have been, very happy here. We rented it out for a while when we lived and worked in Hong Kong and Tokyo, but we returned in 2001 and have been here ever since. We occasionally flirted with moving over the years, but never managed to find anywhere we liked more.
In the last 5 or 6 years we have acquired two other properties, Andrew’s House, our cottage on Exmoor and Merryweather in Bourne End, both formerly owned by my parents-in-law (Catering clearly has issues with letting go). Both these two properties have been renovated relatively recently and are lovely, while the house we spend most of our time in (particularly at the moment while locked down and working from home) has been somewhat overlooked. Parts of it have not been decorated since our return from Asia – there’s still a wall that needs painting after we moved a radiator nearly 20 years ago!
A discussion last year settled the issue of whether we are planning to spend the next stage (post-children and into retirement) of our lives here, apparently we are. Don’t get me wrong, I am happy with that, but on the understanding that the Outhouse needs to be updated – it needs a little TLC.
So the exciting process has started and in the spring (dates still tbc) the transformation begins. We will be replacing all the doors (internal and external) and windows (I am hoping this might get rid of the cold draft one encounters when sitting on the loo in the en suite bathroom), re-designing the kitchen (including taking down an internal wall and going open plan), moving the dining area to the far end of the living room and decorating throughout. All fabulous stuff, but what I had completely forgotten is the number of decisions you have to make in a process like this and how they all in some way rely on and influence one another.
The initial headache has been about the colour of the kitchen units (First World problem I know) which is blue, specifically dark blue. I had no idea the number of possible shades of blue, not to mention their elaborate names – stifkey blue, hague blue, scotch blue, cook’s blue, seriously the list is endless. All very lovely, but none of them the sort of dark blue I am after. When did plain, good old-fashioned navy blue stop being a colour? After going round what felt like the world, I think we have finally cracked it and Fired Earth carbon blue seems to be the closest to navy I am going to get. Next stop, when I have the energy, is floor and wall tiles…
