Edwardian House/Interior design.Where to start?

hollydays

Buying an Edwardian House (1910). Never had a house of this age before.( though have had older beamed houses,but this is a different kettle of fish).

It hasnt been messed about with too much and we cant afford to spend too much doing it up,so decided best thing to do is to try and keep the interior as much to the era as is possible.Definitely going to have to replace the kitchen though (and fireplace which is not Edwardian.) Cant afford an Aga!! Arent they about 7 grand?
Anyone any ideas for how to find what the Edwardian style entails.

What kind of fireplace would you have in a living room ? (the bedrooms have the smallish cast iron ones in)
Any Forums I could ask questions.
I have found a society called the Victorian Society that has a website.
Going to order some books from the library starting with "Suburban Style-The British Home.

Anyone any more ideas?

Am quite happy to visit reclaimation yards and auctions if necessary.

black-saturn

I can't give you any advice about decorating but all I can say is that I'm living in a house which was built in 1896 and I still have some of the original fixtures. The original toilet is here which was originally in a shed outdoors until they extended the house and joined a bathroom onto it. All the cast iron fireplaces are here and I have bought Victorian fire guards or flower arrangements in them which look lovely. Do a search for edwardian or victorian pieces on ebay and you will find a lot of nice things to decorate your home with.

hollydays

THanks-btw-just loked up the price of the book I mentioned on Amazon second hand-£314.35!

benood

Hi we're in an edwardian house and have a few books - edwardian house style by hilary mandleberg is ok £15 ish, the elements of style is another but it's only got a small section about edwardian houses. I think that there's an out of print book the house beautiful and useful - but v. expensive. The architects of the era were voysey and lutyens with gardens by gertrude jekyll.

A few years ago we bought a secondhand aga on ebay for about £2,000, just don't get a solid fuel to oil conversion they are dodgy.

We've got a woodburner in the old kitchen (now study) and a couple of open fires downstairs (repro) and open fires in the bedrooms (original). Other original stuff to the house is a herringbone design woodblock floor, sash windows, quarry tiles and a pine dresser which has apparently been here since 1907!

The great thing about edwardian houses is the emphasis on being light and airy.

never_enough

It's hard to live in an older houses sometimes as they're not necessarily set up for modern day living. Edwardian houses tend to have good room proportions & high ceilings with plenty of light. The back of the house, kitchen/ scullery/ pantry are often quite small & dark so there may be options there for incorporating more space or putting an extra window in if you do the kitchen. Obviously not budget options, but worth considering. I always advise people to live in a place for a while before making big decisions, having made some expensive hasty ones myself over the years. It's amazing how your ideas can change... :rolleyes: Anyway, the shaker design kitchens that are available at the moment would look great. I love the cream version with oak worktops. Belfast sinks look good (although I prefer stainless steel as I can't be trusted with a breakable sink!) Yes, Agas are just under £7,000. We have
one & I love it. However I wouldn't put one in somewhere else as it's just crazy money. It also costs a fortune to run (about £15-£20 a week) although the plus side is that it heats the whole of the back of our house which doesn't have central heating. We also have an Edwardian dryer hanging from the ceiling & so don't need a tumble-dryer. So, swings & roundabouts cost wise. They do cook the most amazing food though... :drool: I'd be careful about buying one second-hand they can easily be damaged, go through a dealer if you go down that route & get them to do all the moving etc.
I have some good design books, I'll have a look at them later to see if they may be worth ordering from the library.

crank_girl

We're doing much the same - our house was built in 1916. All the fireplaces have been ripped out so we're replacing them. Fortunately a lot of the cheaper reproduction cast-iron fireplaces are designed to fit with this period so we didn't have to break the bank to get an authentic looking fireplace for our sitting room. Cost £500 for the fireplace and pine mantelpiece. We stained the mantelpiece a victorian pine colour to complete the look.

We've got a huuuuuge back room and tiny kitchen so we're going to knock through and put in a new door, and use it as a kitchen/diner/study. We have millions of books and plan to have lots of bookcases - I can't think of a better-looking but less expensive wallcovering than rows and rows of books. We're going for a more modern look in this room as it's hard to keep the georgian/victorian theme going when you can see washing machines, fridges, laptops and microwaves.

Asides from that, everywhere else in the house will be decorated in keeping with it's age. We intend to replace picture rails that have been removed and repair coving. We're lucky 'cos we have a salvage yard just around the corner where idiots go to dump the authentic stained glass, fireplaces and radiators they've ripped out in the name of interior design. The guy that runs it is an eccentric millionaire and he does it for fun rather than profit so it's possible to pick up some real bargains.

hollydays

Thanks all-some good pointers there

supersavermum_2

hi there, neverenough,
would you mind telling me where this salvage yard is? it's just anytime we go to any of these places everything costs a fortune. we have an older house and would love to pick up some stuff. thanks

jjb73

Hello, It's a good idea to mix and match a bit, sometimes modern replica works just as well. I actually supply bathroom fittings to a number of specialist reclamation and renovation companies and they simply strip off the modern chrome back to nickel and then up the price 10 fold!!! Also, rather than reclamation salvage yards, try your local tip or recyling centre, on several occasions I have been able to pick up original bathroom sinks, toilets and taps for under £20.00. Best of luck Jenny