Loving this newly restored mid victorian shop window in Coventry's Far Gosford Street ('FARGO') area...
It would be great anyway with all that fantastic attention to detail, but hey, look what theyve done to provide security... beautiful decorative metalwork instead of ugly standard shuttering. Apparently made by a guy in one of the small industrial units just off the main street. Nice job!
I love the look of a good Victorian, or Edwardian window - and a particular feature of the way craftmen put these together is the use of chunky architraves and mouldings to frame the inside opening.
This Autumnal image I took earlier today shows a simple '1 over 1' Heritage Range sash window that we installed into our own attic conversion apartment in Coventry, with nice ogee-style mouldings.
It's a relatively dark room, being north-facing and having just this small'ish window so we wanted to maximise the light coming in, and went for blinds rather than a more traditional curtain arrangement. We've used a regular £15 IKEA 'liselott' roller, with an attractive floral design - and this is my top tip - we've installed it so as to only just cover the visable glass area.
This maximises available light the room, and whilst providing some basic privacy screening - it also allows for a great view of the beautiful moulding detail around the interior of the window.
On larger bays that would normally require bulky curtains, this is a particularly effective solution for dressing window openings - allowing you to emphasise size and grandeur - and really make a 'WOW' feature of original detailing.
Interestingly, combined with heavy curtains, the majority of Victorian and Edwardian houses will have originally been built with roller blinds operating in this manner as they were regarded as an important fixture for maintaining a pleasant environment during the daytime - helping to reduce warming due to sunlight in summer, and holding back colder air during winter. We regularly see evidence of the original brass fixing plates when we restore properties.
Yes, more Restoration Secrets.. this time it's Homebase Oak Woodstain! I use it regularly to glam-up timber stairways, skirtings and architraves if I want a slightly more 'grand' feel to a room or common area. Acrylic woodstains like this are great products as they dry very quickly, and you can easily get a few coats on in a short space of time - and of course being water based it's simple to mop up spills or clean out brushes.
Take a look through the gallery; the first few images are traditional uses at our OAKLANDS development, but you'll also see I've used woodstain to freshen up some plant stands that we found on ebay for use as bedside table lamps (I dabbed splodges on to emulate bamboo art deco effect common in the 1920's). Then there's an example of where we've prettied-up nicely detailed brickwork exposed at the end of a hallway - the original servants entrance, now incorporated inside the building within a wide hallway - and also outside, on a pillar to disguise modern engineering bricks, and then finally, on a painted section of concrete bay tiles on my mate's 1930's end-terrace, where it transformed the street appeal (tile panel now looking more like cedar shingles?) for less than the cost of a pint!
My top tip is to stick with oak - it's the darkest colour in the range so covers best, and make sure you get at least three coats on before inviting opinions as it won't look any good at all before this. Don't be afraid to leave brushmarks, this adds to the effect, but always work in one direction to emulate timber graining - or if outside, perpendicular to the ground, to mimic the effect of weathering - and work quickly so as to avoid over-brushing (it dries quickly, particularly on a warm day).