We love watching the progress of Alex and Elle’s Edwardian renovation over on Instagram, which has been a joyous transformation to behold! We caught up with Elle to find out more.
We bought our first Edwardian home in South Wales in 2021. Buying this house, we really did think it was just a painting and decorating job until we got in and started pulling things away. And that’s when it accidentally turned into an Edwardian renovation… As first-time buyers with a DIY renovation, it’s fair to say we’re winging our way through the entire journey!
Our Edwardian Renovation
Everyone really does make renovating look so easy! But wow it has been stressful! Going from the mindset of just painting and decorating to realising almost everything in the house needs replacing/redoing was a lot, I won’t pretend it wasn’t! But I’m looking forward to where our new journey will take us and we are learning tonnes along the way.
Our plan is to fully transform the house into a grand, bright space during our Edwardian renovation. After overhauling the bedroom, spare bedroom, living room and dining room, the next task was the hallway. We really wanted the hallway to be a big statement of our house; being the first impression of our home we wanted to create a classic space and also add some period elements back into the house.
However, the hallway came with a lot of preparatory work – a year’s worth in fact! We had part of the wall on the stairs re-rendered and plastered back when we bought it in August and needed to iron out some small damp issues. We knew we wanted to achieve a classic black and white theme running throughout the hallway to keep in the style of our Edwardian renovation so these tiles worked absolutely perfectly.
We loved the idea of a traditional black and white floor but opted for replica Victorian tiles which were waaaaayyy cheaper and they still look just as amazing! We shopped around for Victorian black and white tiles but Direct Tile Warehouse had the best price for a quality product. We chose the Regent Black and White Victorian Tiles.
Before and during
The service was great! Direct Tile Warehouse worked out how many tiles and border tiles we would need for the space. And once ordered we received a phone call for when we could expect the tiles to arrive at the warehouse for delivery.
The tiles went down in January and we are absolutely in love. They have definitely transformed the whole space! We’re absolutely over the moon with the finished result of our Edwardian renovation and it is exactly as we envisioned.
We would 100% recommend Direct Tile Warehouse in the future.
Elle’s Top Tips for Renovating
When it comes to renovating, you have to lose your fear of failure. I think the fear of not doing things “right” or it looking good after you’ve finished is definitely a fear I had at the start of our Edwardian renovation. We’d never done anything like this before, I hadn’t even painted my own previous bedroom!! I was scared to even get going.
But if you don’t at least try, you’ll never know and sometimes you do have to get it wrong to get it right and that’s the best way to learn and achieve.
I think it’s too easy to get wrapped up in these ‘perfect’ looking homes on Instagram, but your home isn’t there for anyone else, it only ever needs to be good enough for you.
Here are my top tips:
- Everything takes 10 times longer than you think
- Be prepared for what you’ll find when pulling something away, this house did well to cover everything up!
- It needs to look much worse before it gets better
- Polyfilla is your new best friend
- Patience is everything (something I don’t have much of!).
I have learnt so so much by just going for it, it doesn’t mean I wasn’t doubting myself through the process. But it does mean that you achieve things you never thought you could and continue to grow and learn. Have fun!
Edwardian Renovation with Regent Tiles by Edwardian Elements
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading about Alex and Elle’s Edwardian renovation! For more customer projects, check out our page or head over to Instagram.
Would you like to create your own project with Victorian tiles? Shop our range here.
Do you have a tile tale to tell? We’d love to see your tile transformations – send your pictures and comments to [email protected] or tag us on social media.
Follow Alex & Elle on Instagram
