Decorating a Victorian flat

The fun bit begins

I won’t bore you with all the details but in July we bought a flat. The flat is a one bedroomed affair on the ground floor of a large Victorian building in Crystal Palace.

The idea was to do some cosmetic improvements, put in a new kitchen and bathroom, paint throughout and lay high quality wooden floors. That on its own would have been plenty to keep us busy but thanks to shoddy building work, London clay and a surprise cellar full of water, the work has gone from cosmetic to structural.

10 weeks since work began we are still without a kitchen but the end is in sight and we can now start thinking about the fun stuff. That is the decoration, accessories and finishing touches.

A trip to Rye on the Sussex coast this weekend turned out to be an ideal place to find some of these finishing touches. Antiques, vintage, retro…Rye seems to have it all. The shops know what they are doing though so prices aren’t the best but you can still find a bargain if you look hard enough an negotiate a bit.

Our purchases: