This may seem like the strangest blog post to be writing for anyone who’s followed me for a while, either via reading my blog or over on Instagram. You will know categorically that carpet is not for me. We have a dog, we have a cat and I’ve found it impossible to keep clean so little by little we’ve been pulling up all the carpets we inherited and replacing them with engineered wood floor.
Now it’s just our second bedroom (which we’re going to try and renovate this year) along with our master bedroom on the top floor that still have carpet intact. Both of these will eventually be replaced with engineered wood flooring. Last but by no means least, we have the dullest most uninspiring grey carpet running up the stairs, throughout the landing and then on to the top flight stairs and tiny landing space outside our bedroom. Loves, it’s not the one. Plus, on our first floor landing it’s taken a bit of a battering mainly through my questionable DIY skills. I’ve dropped a can of white paint on it, burnt patches with a heat gun when I was stripping the stair spindles and now there are all small spots of dark blue paint where I got some on my slipper during the kitchen reno and proceeded to trample it all over the place.
Despite that, you know I ALWAYS have dreams for this crazy slow renovation of ours. Our forever home that I know one day maybe when I’m 90 will be finished. And I can very definitely share with you that those dreams include our hallway, stairs and landing and this will be the only place that we have carpet left. But not just any carpet, oh no. It will be the stair runner and carpet of dreams. I have a vision of throwing open the front door of our 1930’s home and seeing the most beautiful tiled hallway floor, with a stylish stair runner flowing up and away onto the landing.
There’s just something for me that looks so elegant and stylish when it comes to stair runners. I’ve seen some amazingly creative stairs where the steps are just painted but it’s not for us. A runner creates a more period feel which is something we’re committed to as we gently work our way through the house recreating features and a look that whilst modern, still pays homage to the era that the house was built.
My mind is now quite firmly set on the beautiful runners available at Kersaint Cobb, handcrafted and made from 100% sisal. This gives us the durability we need (little cat claws are very sharp and bigger dog paws very dirty most of the time!) plus will look beautiful and add some colour to our stairs and landing. I probably never mentioned that I’m a bit retentive (once? Twice?) when it comes to our renovation project and fast interiors/redecorating on a regular basis isn’t for me. When we do it, we want to do it once until the paint starts peeling off. It’s about quality, craftsmanship, knowing that what you’ll be fitting/installing will stand the test of time.
For now, our hallway is in a bit of a flux state. One of the first projects I started when we moved in was stripping all the hideous gloss of the spindles and bannisters to restore the staircase but that was 5 years ago and I haven’t touched it since. We also had the hideous acorns which sat on top of the newel posts replaced with still period, but far less offensive, caps. They’re so much more classic but ever since then, nothing much has happened. It’s become a “there’s no point in doing the hallway if we’re doing a ground floor extension” versus “shall we do the hallway because we don’t know when the ground floor extension is going to happen” catch-22. Despite that, it doesn’t stop a girl from dreaming and I know we’ll get there one day. Until then, I’ll just keep ripping up those old carpets and saving a very special spot for my future stunning hallway. This house has spent many years being neglected and unloved by previous owners but little by little we’re bringing it back to life.
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