Welcome to My Tiny Terrace...

Before we bought our tiny terraced house in Kent 2 years ago I would always say to my fiancé “I really would love a cottage.”  I love the cosy feel of floral fabrics and the not quite perfect lines to old furniture and houses.  I wanted somewhere I could make my mark, show my creativity and make somewhere our own – a beautiful home on a chintzy budget.

Now, before you actually begin to look at house prices and the increasing cost of moving home, as I first time buyer I don’t think we (or any first time buyer) actually realises how much everything will cost.  My principle concern was that I longed for a beautiful, cosy home and just didn’t know how I would find that on a budget.  We were looking for a place with good commuter services to London as that’s where we both work, together with countryside on the doorstep. 

Our budget was £160,000 - £180,000 which in today’s property market doesn’t offer scope to be fussy about whether you would like a modern house, a cosy cottage or a high-rise flat – I thought that I would just have to have what was available and affordable.

The house that we eventually bought in December 2011, in my eyes, was a canvas for painting my ideal home.  The house is a pre-1900 farmer’s cottage which over a century ago would have been the all so common ‘two-up, two-down’ arrangement with the lavatory located in the back garden.  Previous owners during the late 90’s had helpfully added a large one-storey extension to house a galley kitchen and bathroom and we saw that even though the house had been enjoyed for years by several owners, this house was in need of some TLC.  Even though many of the original features had been removed over the years, I knew that we could inject the period look back into the property.

We were limited in funds as we spent most or all of our funds on buying the house itself and so we started out buying second-hand furniture, accepting thoughtful donations from family and ‘making good’ of items that we previously owned.  We deliberated on colour-schemes and slowly but surely I could start to see the fuzzy edges of my longed for cottage emerging.

Over the past two years the house that we bought not only became our home, but also became a design project.  The house inspired me to start MyTinyTerrace, the blog.  I was finding that my family & friends were often surprised by how you could really transform a house with up-cycled furniture, experimenting with colour schemes and simple DIY techniques.  And so, here it is, I will share with you decorating tips, room revamps, furniture projects, ideas for small spaces, budget buys and crafty tips – enjoy!

Charlotte x