What to do?  Where to put it?  Where will it fit?  Will it look silly?  Does it suit the new place?  Soooo many questions… in fact…until you get into your new place and measure and place things here and there…how do you know!  On entering the door of our new townhouse, you pass a stairway which opens up into a long, narrow room.  At the bottom of the staircase we have turned a “nothing area” into a lovely little reading space, which visitors make a beeline for when they come to visit too!

A nice place for my morning coffee

Having been pretty strict on ourselves in our packing,  we of course did bring a few things that we had to find places for and having come from a house with lots of rooms to a place that was one long, narrow room virtually from the front door to the back doors (without so much as a room divider to be seen) was a challenge.  One of the things we had to find a place for was our huge antique gilt mirror.  By placing it opposite the courtyard, it reflects the light and bounces it back into the kitchen, making it lighter and giving a “window” effect.

I can see the greenery and the birds who come to visit

Again, there was the previous owner’s colour scheme of purple to consider.  First things first, out came the painting clothes and copious amounts of Dulux “Whisper White” for the walls again, a trip to Porters Paints to continue our theme of silvery grey on our day to day furniture and a shopping trip to buy a new rug and new cushions for our new colour scheme.

Our dining table and chairs fitted in very well in the space opposite the small courtyard.  We are people who use our table not only for eating, but for spreading out the newspapers (particularly the weekend ones) and Mr. E.N.L. always sneaks downstairs from the study with his MacBook Air and takes over the table daily.

Great spot for entertaining

The beautiful wooden floors worked well with the Whisper White walls and opened up the area so it did not look too narrow and by keeping the area free of clutter, we achieved a pleasing effect.  However, we did feel it was a little “woody” and bland-looking so our choice of rug was very important.  We think it was a brave decision to go with a black and white rug but were so pleased with the outcome  we went out and bought black cushions and lampshades to continue the black and white theme.

Our new rug!

The whole back of the house comprises doors which lead out onto a paved area which is has a retractable awning for Summer shade.

The awning helps shade the interior of the house too

It’s nice to use all the space that you have – and use it well!