As her building work continues, Bronagh Meere made it her mission to decorate the living room first so her family can enjoy Christmas
Feature and styling Emma Fishman Photos Lizzie Orme
I grew up in a Victorian house in Hampstead and always wanted a period property of my own. I just love the history surrounding them. My dad was a builder and as a child I used to go to work with him at weekends and loved looking around other people’s houses, imagining who’d lived there before.
I was thrilled when the opportunity came to finally buy one of my own, but this property was in desperate need of some TLC. It had been split into flats and many of the original features removed. We knew it was going to be a hard slog getting it back to its former glory, especially as my husband, Ben, was going to do all the building and decorating himself at weekends and whenever he had spare time.
I insisted, though, on having one room completed before Christmas. The living room needed totally stripping so Ben prepared the walls and then rewired, re-plumbed and insulated the room. We tackled the flooring, which consisted of mouldy carpet on top of badly damaged floorboards. We found this reclaimed parquet in a local salvage company and knew it would be perfect – although it arrived in about 20 rubble bags!
Next was the fireplace, which I’d been saving in storage. My dad had salvaged it from a house he’d been working on and he knew how much I loved it. It means a lot now he’s passed away and it’s a lovely memory of him in the room. Ben then painted the walls dark blue and I added a pendant light that I’d been coveting for months. I knew I wanted a pink sofa, which cheers up the room. I love colour and the room came together quickly after all of Ben’s hard work. I’m just so grateful we have this space all finished now ready for Christmas.
My problem living room
I loved the proportions in our living room, but it was very uncared for and dated – and not in a good way. We wanted t
