March and April have been beautiful, family- and friend- filled months, punctuated by renovations slowly ticking by in the bathroom. Sometimes, it’s easy to focus on renovations when planning a room, and forget that life has to also be lived inside this project. Because it’s not just a project – it’s our home.
Why does everything take so long? I’ve realised that we must underestimate the length of time each project takes by at least ten times, and I’ve also learned I am the most impatient person in the history of time. You would have thought we’d have learned how to adjust timescales accordingly after the hallway took 6 months (with a projection of 6 weeks! Ha!) but no… we’re still blindly stabbing at the calendar with ambition that is totally unfounded. But progress is progress. And as the tortoise will tell you, slow and steady wins the race. So maybe it’s better not to rush a renovation. At least that’s what I’m telling myself, anyway.
Progress Peek:
If you read the last issue, you’ll remember I was nervous about John having to fit the glass shower enclosure. Well, praise be, he managed it without any accidents and we now have a working shower! Yay! I no longer have to shower like Gollum in the en-suite bath, crouched undignified whilst accidentally spraying the walls with the hose attachment.
Not only is the shower functioning, including with hot water (John’s replumbing worked!), but it also looks beautiful, with the chrome fixings and green stacked tiles really adding an elegance to the room. I have bought a hotel-inspired bottle holder to affix to the wall, just so the shampoo, conditioner and shower gel aren’t messing up the lovely shower tray, and instead are neatly organised and tidied away in their respective containers.
We’ve been slowly working on bringing the garden back to life too, planting more shrubbery around the front and vegetables in the back, and jet washed the patio to within an inch of its life. We have also been re-grouting it to try and combat the pesky weeds which come back with a vengeance every 6th working day, which is starting to prove successful.
In The Details:
Now the plumbing and shower are complete in the bathroom, we’re focusing this week on the panelling, which we have decided to stain a dark French Oak to make the whole room look a little more vintage and farmhouse in style. John is a bit of a pro at panelling now, so I’m hoping that by next month’s issue, we’ll have also fitted the sink and toilet and nearly be at the painting stage.
We applied for Listed Building Consent last month for the living room, which you guys voted for as our next project. We have always said that we want to finish one room before starting the next, so the aim is to have the bathroom finished in the next 4ish weeks, by which time we’ll hopefully have the LBC approval through to get started on my Nancy Meyers-inspired lounge.
It’s been a very busy couple of months, with not only renovation works peppered throughout, but my birthday celebrations, which included a Georgian-themed birthday party where everyone dressed up, and a tiny cabin retreat in the Northumberland countryside, plus a family holiday to Disneyland. It has been absolutely wonderful, and a totally necessary break here and there from renovating to have some family time and remember to live life in the moments between the tiling and grouting. If you want to catch up on anything, I upload videos every Sunday to our YouTube channel, which is The Georgian Farmhouse.
Farmhouse Finds:
Palette Pick: Marrakech by Fenwick & Tilbrook. Curveball here: I showed you guys a bunch of neutrals for the bathroom a few weeks ago, and asked for your votes. However, I also asked what you thought of a pink bathroom, which had quite a popular response and I’m leaning more and more into it. I think a deep, Venetian almost plaster colour will look so authentically Georgian in our bathroom, and this shade is just perfect for it!
A brand I’m loving: Namie. This is where I got the lovely hotel-esque bottle holder for the shower from. The bottles are an amber coloured glass, with clean white labels on and chrome pumps to match the stand. They do other personalised household items and I just think they all look so lovely and classy.
Photo of the Month:
Just to give you guys an idea of what’s in my mind for the bathroom… I’d love to know your thoughts.
Around The Farmhouse Table:
Last night, I shared that I recently discovered John doesn’t have an inner monologue: he can see images when he needs to think about things but he doesn’t have a running voice telling him his thoughts. This is absolutely wild to me and here’s what you guys said:
- “I have an inner monologue but can’t see pictures.”
- “My husband can stare into space and not be thinking about anything, whereas my inner monologue more than makes up for it!”
- “He’s a freak.” (Can’t disagree with that one haha!)
Looking Ahead:
I absolutely love May – the weather is warm, we can have long evenings sitting in the garden discussing room plans, and hopefully be surrounded by the new blooms and hear the nearby newborn lambs.
It’s also going to be the month that we should have consent to commence work on the living room, so watch this space! We already know there are some (potentially) original floorboards under that grey carpet, but what else might we find?!
Until next month you beautiful bunch,
Shanice 🤍
The Georgian Farmhouse 
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