The landing when we viewed the house - nice and open. That's the bathroom right ahead.
We liked the open feeling of the house, helped by the wide landing with skylight above. We didn't, however, love the old striped carpet.
These shots were taken after we moved in: standing by the bathroom door:
You can see the skylight in this one:
A cheap plywood chest someone was throwing away provided some storage for a while. Aaaaw, look at little Daniel (17 months old)!!
When I was pregnant with Noah we decided to replace the carpet. We ripped all the old carpet up and Grant nailed down some loose boards.
I couldn't believe how much it stank, a sickly musty smell. I expected the smell to dissipate but a week later it still smelt awful. Finally the light dawned when I said to Grant, "It smells a bit like ... gas."
We got the gas people out and yes, we had a massive gas leak. Located right outside our bedroom doors. And it was Friday and I was going in to be induced to give birth on the Monday.
What had happened was that some previous homeowner had cut a notch in a joist and run a gas pipe through it ... and that is exactly where Grant had driven in a huge nail to fasten a loose board.
The leak had been round about here, just outside our bedroom door:
Anyway, we had the leak repaired and new carpet laid before Noah was born the next week.
The story of how we got new carpet is a bit long. My friend Rebecca and I had decided to check out a particular store in Preston town centre. We knew there was no parking there so we parked nearby in the parking lot of a carpet store ... let's call them Meanies. We'd each driven our own car because it was easier than shifting car seats over. She and I were both heavily pregnant at that stage and toting toddlers - Daniel was 2 and a half and Rebecca's daughter Emily was a little over a year old.
When we came back from checking out the other store twenty minutes later (which was a washout anyway) we saw to our horror that both of our cars had been clamped! Neither of us had noticed the signs saying that only Meanies customers could park there. We went into the store to try to sort it out and they were so rude and obnoxious to us. They also wouldn't unclamp us without each of us paying £50 (around £75). Both of us were hard up for cash, so this was not an option. We determined that if we were customers then they would have to unclamp us. So we had to buy something from the store.
The cheapest item was a rug for £100. I had planned to buy the rug and later return it. So I purchased it, we got unclamped and we went home.
Then I read the fine print on the sales receipt saying that goods can only be returned for a store credit. Aargh!!
We discussed selling the rug on eBay and getting at least part of our money back that way, but in the end Grant took it back to Meanies (no way was I going back there!) He walked in and said he'd like to return it and the rude clerk snapped, "You can't have your money back!"
Grant snapped back, "I never said I wanted my money back, I said I wanted to return it." He got a store credit and came home.
Later we decided to use the store credit to buy carpet for the stairs and landing. So I had to show my face back there again and choose carpet - it came to pretty much exactly £100.
So all's well that ends well - Rebecca and I can laugh about the experience now (although still cringing) and I got new carpet. My friend Karen's husband Mark fitted it for us and gave us a great deal and he did fantastic work.
We also painted the walls a very pale ivory. We got a hand-me-down pine wardrobe which we adapted but cutting the sides and reattaching the back so it was shallower and painting it white.
We would have liked to open up the railings and install spindles and a banister but never got around to it before moving out.
