Purple Oak Tree Properties, Interior Design & Oak Furniture

I was once the proud owner of a victorian mid terrace – built in the late 1880s.  It felt old then and very cold all the time, even in the warmth of summer.   The shared roof spaces – with just minimal half walls separate each did allow warmth from our immediate neighbours but also the nightmare of a shared problem when one of the  chimneys caught fire and serious smoke damage and structural weakness was caused to our property too.   Getting the fire services up to roof level was challenging as we had a very narrow back with the kitchen and coal shed tacked on in a line down the garden – leaving hardly room for ladders to reach the upper storey or gutters.  The fire service ended up blocking the entire road getting their turntable ladders up to the main fire source, and they then went through systematically checking the adjoinging shared roof spaces and houses attached.  The follow up renovations were carried out by professionals paid for by home insurance.

I have friends who own several properties – a house in the local village, in fact one of the minor manor houses of it’s day is their main residence.  Then they have a very modern no frills pad in the docklands area of east London – it was bought with a permanent move to the City in mind and was a snip at the time.  Very good choice too, the value has quadrupled in ten years.  Finally they enjoy trips to the south of france to their old farmhouse – another snip of a property, bought from an ex pat who was rapidly going bankrupt, and they helped his liquidity.

Having lots of places to stay is exciting and a great advantage sometimes.  It is also a job to keep everything updated and if they didn’t use a property maintenance contractor for the two oldest properties, these could cause serious worries.  Always worth the fee for peace of mind and keeping values up.

Years ago my family went on mass to the Isle of Wight for long carefree camping holidays.  The weather forecast were fantastic, hot and dry all the way.  We had a caravan and a motley collection of tents, no electric hook ups, no tv, no washing machines . . . . .  We always had a great time on these simple sites.  One of our favourite pilgrimages was to a seriously old manor house in the middle of the island – nowhere near anything else.  It advertised itself as the oldest inhabited property and it certainly felt it.  The decor and furnishings were wonderfully authentic and it made us all want to have old cottages from the same age!

Although none of us have achieved that since, in fact we’re all ultra modern, but it has made us all appreciate the homes we do have.  Giving more attention to the upkeep for example.  They won’t last anywhere near as long, but they’ll see us out!

If you buy a very modern home, it is almost obligatory to fill it with scandinavian rubber wood, cheap and wonderfully long lasting furniture.  The 1970s brought us Habitat, the store that had the most up to date, uber trendy furniture.  Everything was very streamlined and expensive, compared to the swedish mega outlets that furnish our starter homes for a fraction today.

This made my mind wander back to when my husband and I first set up a home together after years of sharing furnished flats.  That was an experience – one I would not wish to repeat, but also, not to ever overlook.  The mix of ghasly stained, lumpy, ugly furniture we put up with!  Battered looking chairs, tables with mended legs, wardrobe doors with missing handles and a collection of tiny little holes all over the back panels.  It made me appreciate fully how lucky I am to have nice looking, good quality furniture today.  Ive earned it!

We all need to look at our houses and homes at some time in our busy lives.  Once upon a time, say just after the early 1920s,  we would have been happy with the small scullery kitchen, the tiny draining board that also had to act as a worktop.  Then there was the lack of kitchen cabinets – no wall mounted cupboards for the china and other crockery.  Usually there was one large walk-in cupboard that acted as a larder and pan store.  There was no room for a washing machine, tumble drier or dishwasher of course – they hadn’t been invented then!

It seems unbelievable to us today that families got by like that.  We demand so much more of houses now and our interior designers have a lot to answer to when a reworking or remodelling is needed to give more working space, or that larger lounge and dining area.

When my family first moved into our nicely spacious and comfortable family house, we were able to furnish most rooms from a spectacular purchase at a closing down sale of a well known and very long established family furnishing firm.    We had the advantage in that my husband had worked for them in the despatch department for years and I had been in the sales and finance office before we’d both moved on and up to other things.   Prior knowledge of what was coming up in that clearance was so helpful.  We got a huge 4 seater leather sofa, with it’s twin 2 seater;  one king sized 4 drawer divan, matress & headboard;  a double set complete;  one single set.  With these came 24 studio pictures from the room settings in their onc magnificent high street showroom – an incredible amount for only £3,500.   Timing was critical.  No such bargain sales these days, sadly!

When we were redistributing the furniture and effects from an ancient relative’s bungalow recently, the grandchildren were invited to take the main items.  One had the gorgeous danish inspired dining set from 1961 which still has the critically important blue serial number labels atached to each item.   Another less astutue candidate somewhat ungraciously agreed to offload the beds and dressing tables.  I notice he’s still using them in his newly bought marital home.   The other grandchild put in an early bid for the g-plan sideboard.  Apparently she’d ben advised by her papa that this would be a winner later on.  Fair enough.  None of them seemed particularly grateful for their bounty at the time but they have all been carefully scanning the well known auction sites to see how their newly found gains might fare if put on the market.  Very well is the resounding answer.  Especially the danish dining set, complete with original seat cushions and very little damage. . . . .

One of the nicest things about living in a modern family home is having fitted wardrobes and cabinets in each room.  Today we seem to own and hoard masses more stuff – books, cds, pictures, clothes and bathroom products.  I can well remember as a child having to keep my few pocessions in a box under my bunk bed.  The shared wardrobe was purely for hanging my clothes and school uniform.   We now have masses of room per person in the average family house.  On every lifestyle property programme, the buyers demand a bedroom for each child, ensuite bathroom facilities to at least the master bedroom and separate untility room for the laundry operation.  The interior design of houses has changed over the years to facilitate these needs.  But houses have to get smaller as building land become scares and we need to preserve green belt and pasture lands.  We are more conscious these days of our needs to downsize.

On a recent stay with relatives who live in the country amid lots of gorgeous stone and thatch cottages, I was very seriously taken with the idea of living in such a beautiful place.  Just for a few years of dreamily romantic fun.  Obviously I was persuaded not to do anything rash by my very smart companions.  I did proffer he idea that I let my nice but overly large family house out and rent a cottage for a while.  This idea did meet with more approval than the other.  Then came the endless list of pitfalls.  My current house would need totally clearing out from top to bottom; that would require repairs to the garage door wihich doesn’t up and over as efficiently – need to get garage door specialist in.  Clearing 17 years of junk overload! I was recommended to engage a property studio to advise and redress my house, clearing as they go.  To get it in first class rentable shape to allow me to indulge . . . . .

I was talking the other day with someone I used to work with some years ago – she and I were having a fabulous catch up session – what her family have all got up to and how my life panned out.   We both bought our first homes in the same year.  She bought a tiny 4th floor flat in town and my partner and I bought the middle one of a set of three victorian terrace houses.  Her flat was small but immaculately finished – the vendor had really worked magic to make the kitchen a spacious as possible – a fold down table with comfy stools;  integrated white goods behind cabinet doors and a bedroom with wonderfully modern fitted ensuite bathroom.   Whilst we were reminiscing, she told me that the vendor had used the profits on his sale to start his flat conversion business.     He’s still in business today and has an excellent reputation!