What Started This Blog?

The idea to create something like a "style blog" occured to me after we bought that Renaissance town house in a small town in the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains) in a small market town called Marienberg close to the Czech border. It was built on the remnants of two Renaissance houses after a devastating fire, which destroyed large parts of the city and it is in good condition, although a lot of renovation will be necessary to make it habitable. It boasts 30 rooms according to the estate agent's blurb, but after renovation there will be less because it had been used for shops and offices before it was closed down about ten years ago and some of the rooms on the second floor are rather small. The first thing will have to be to update the electricity and plumbing, which are still up to GDR-standard, to add bathroom and kitchen. We first intended to go for fireplaces and ovens, but a modern central heating will solve the problem of the lacking chimneys more effectively. Fireplaces or tiled stove as period features, are, of course, a different matter.



Rooms on the first floor.

Interior decoration has always been a strong interest of mine and the fact that I am a historian by training (although not by profession) may be helpful. However, One big problem is the fact that historically sensitive renovation is of very little interest here in Germany. The main German mantras are "quality" and "novelty", which do not leave much room for style -- as in "period" as well as in "chic" and anything like, for example, the Dulux Heritage range of paints is virtually unknown here. I am browsing through back numbers of English house decoration magazines, the great books by Judith Miller, of which I have several, and the Internet for inspiration and it was, in fact, the blog The Peak of Chic that gave me the idea to embark on a "style" project as well. But the English and American periods are hardly transferable to the period of our house, and because of the lack of interest in historic house renovation and decoration there is virtually no literature germane to our project.




The hall as seen from the entrance.

There is a backyard, romantically placed behind high walls with huge trees, as well. It has great potential as a garden. Sadly, I am the antithesis of a gardener, so I wonder what I will make of that.

There is a multitude of small, useless rooms on the second floow, which have saved as office space. They will be knocked into two units (we think), but apart from that there are no further plans.



One of the rooms on the second floor facing the street.

Not too surprising, my furniture will only fill a small part of the house. It's a great challenge to furnish a place like that on a moderate budget. The fact that it is a period house makes it both at once, more difficult and more easy. Sometimes I think if I had all the money in the world, it would be much less fun and I try not to feel daunted.



The stairs.