Suppliers and Finishing Touches

Well we are nearing the end of our refurbishment journey and what a journey it's been.  We've had our challenges but overall it's been a really positive experience.

Before I post the final pictures I thought it might be helpful to list some of the suppliers I've used and places I've sourced for the internal fit out and furnishings.

I decided to paint most of the rooms white and chose White Glove from Crown's Period Collection in a matt finish, however for the kitchen units we used eggshell which gives a washable and durable finish.

To give the white kitchen units a backdrop I chose a dark grey/blue called Denim Drift from Dulux,

                                 Crown White Glove Emulsion - Homebase £18 for 2.5litre

                                             Dulux Denim Drift - Homebase £19 for 2.5litre

Downstairs we opted for underfloor heating and therefore went for oak flooring with an oiled finish which has a matt appearance.  We sourced this from BSL Build Supplies just outside Padstow http://www.buildsupplies.co.uk/.

Upstairs we chose carpets and decided to go with a national retailer Carpetright which it turns out was a good decision as we ended up choosing and buying them in Birmingham, sourcing them from Bodmin and getting the fitter from Truro, all to ensure they were laid on time.

As these were the last things to go down it felt like a real luxury when they arrived, having lived with gritty and painted chipboard floors, which when barefoot in the middle of the night are not the most pleasant things to be walking on. The picture below is of the stair carpet, unfortunately I've deleted the bedroom carpets which are pale grey.

Lighting was a major decision as we wanted a soft ambience with the option of bright lights when needed.  Spots were a necessity but I didn't want them to be the main source of light so decided to go with some wall lights and lamps too.

In the living room I chose these chrome and glass wall lights which when paired with a vintage squirrel cage bulb have exactly the vintage/modern look I was hoping for.

                                                  These range from £20-30 each on ebay

Upstairs we have mainly ceiling spots along with bedside lamps which I managed to get at a considerably discounted price in one of my favourite shops TK Maxx.

The bathroom mirror lights were bought online and again offer a touch of vintage to fit in with the patterned floor tiles and retro sinks that I chose.  The ensuite tiles were bought from Topps Tiles along with the Metro shower tiles and we were given some great advice and guidance in their Kings Heath store. 

This is the overall look White Metro Tiles from Topps Tiles

                                         Berkeley Blue Floor Tiles £67.95 per square metre

York Green Floor Tiles £67.56 per square metre

The white headboard and bedside tables were again bought online from Bentley Designs and we supplemented them with a tall chest of drawers from Cotswold Company as we couldn't get the right size from Bentley Designs to fit the small space available.

In the front bedroom we went for a more traditional look with an iron bedstead but again mixed in the modern lines of a shaker style wardrobe and bedside tables from M&S.

Bentley Design Hampstead Headboard - Oak Furniture Solutions £124 

Bedside Tables £149 each

                            M&S Hastings Triple Wardrobe £499  & Besdside Tables £129 each

The sofa and chair in the lounge were bought as ex-displays from Laura Ashley at a significantly reduced price and the console table came from Dunelm.  Pictures of these will be in my next and final blog.

Pulling the look of the cottage together has been fun and I've loved every minute but there were times of indecision and worry about whether it would gel together and there's always the dread of an expensive mistake, but all in all I'm really pleased with the end result.

We still have some finishing touches to add such as shutters and blinds, mirrors and pictures but the finishing line is in sight and I feel that it won't be long before we can simply arrive in Padstow and enjoy the cottage rather than having to work on it. 

Until next time....

The Kitchen's Journey

When we bought the cottage seven months ago the kitchen, like the rest of it was pretty dire and if you've been following this blog you might remember that it even came complete with it's own loo in the corner!

Since then we've removed everything you can see in this picture, along with the sloping roof which wasn't taken down when the 1980's extension was built, despite there being a ceiling above it.  The upside for us is that we now have a lovely high ceiling which gives the room a much more airy feel. We also demolished the stud wall on the adjoining wall and gained about 200ml in length so the room was getting bigger by the day.

This is work in progress but by taking down the end wall we've been able to insulate and sound proof it which we've done throughout the cottage as the wall is only 4 inches thick and also it will make it much warmer, especially as we have under floor heating downstairs.

To bring in more light our builder Kev suggested we had bi-fold doors in the back wall which I resisted for a long time as I wanted windows, but eventually he talked me into it and I'm so glad he did. They have made such a difference to the whole space and light now pours in, or rather it will when the box that's leaning up against it is removed!

Because we knocked out  the wall to make the opening for the doors we decided to re-tile and re-rendered the back wall which has really smartened it up and it awaits a coat of paint to complete the look.

The scaffolding has eventually come down so we can now get the full effect of the beautiful local Delabole slates which we used to match the roof.

Once the doors were in we could eventually start to fit the kitchen and whilst it still isn't finished I think you'll agree it's a huge improvement on where we started!

For the floor we  decided to go with engineered oak which looks amazing and I'm delighted with the overall effect.  The kitchen was bespoke and came from Preston Bissett Cabinets in Nottingham and you can contact the very talented Pat McCluskey on 0115 950 6291.

Dave, our friend and decorator is coming in next to start the finishing touches and I'll report on his progress next time.  Until then enjoy the rest of the summer and you never know I might bump into you in Padstow if you visit.

Retaining Original Features & Creating Some New

Since buying the cottage we have taken walls down, floors out, windows, stairs and doors, in fact we have pretty much taken every thing out apart from three walls!

The beautiful walls we exposed were too badly damaged to repair and insulate so we had no option but to board and skim them, all apart from a section at the top of the stairs which we have managed to salvage (although it does still need pointing).

Therefore we have had to get creative when putting back and adding some features to give it back it's original charm and character.

Firstly, we decided to raise the ceiling in the front bedroom as this is the old part of the cottage, this in turn allowed us to expose the original beams.  We then sandblasted them to get rid of the dark brown colouring which had occurred over time, sanded and sealed them to bring out the beautiful wood underneath.

We also replaced the beams downstairs as the originals weren't long enough once the wall had been taken down and rebuilt and so we decided to raise the ceiling downstairs as well.

The upstairs beams add a lot of character as they traverse the landing, bedroom and en-suite and alongside the original stone wall we salvaged, it's starting to regain it's charm.

We also exposed the wood above the windows and gave these the same treatment as the beams.

Because we couldn't retain the original walls we really wanted to have a feature that was as close to the original as possible, so we managed to source some split faced slate tiles from Marble Mosaics which you can see here http://bit.ly/2ujYWyI  These have been an amazing success and we are really happy with the end result.

Next time I'll focus on the kitchen as I'm conscious it hasn't featured for a while and I think you'll see a big difference.

Have a great July!

Resurrection of the ceiling and internal walls Part 2

I wanted to start this blog by introducing you to our builder Kevin Harris and his fantastic team.  If you're looking for a builder in the Padstow / North Cornwall area I can definitely recommend Kev and if you're interested in contacting him, here's his number 07875 760109.

Here he is looking a bit war torn after slate hanging the gable wall.....a man of many talents!

From the very beginning Kev has given us fantastic advice, guided us when required and is always  a calming influence which when you are demolishing 25% of your house is an important attribute, believe me.

Kev also re-tiled (slated) the roof which made the building watertight and whilst we had to use the original tiles where possible the rest were reclaimed, including the ridge tiles which look amazing. 

So last time I focused on the resurrection of the outside wall, whereas this time I want to show you the inside.  

After the barn like cavern that we encountered when we were here on May Day, this time it was great to see some structure being put back and some definitive rooms starting to take place.  We even have a ceiling in the lounge, complete with beams and the 'piste de resistance' is the new staircase.  I can't tell you the sleep I've lost over whether it's going to be too big and dominate the lounge, but once again I should have listened to Kev and trusted that he knew what he was doing.  Sorry Kev, I'm learning as I go along.

We have turned the staircase round in order to open up the lounge and I think it's worked.

And this is the view from the landing!

The outline of the ensuites are also in place and I'm assured the toilet will be on the inside when they're completed 😊.

Both will have pocket doors that slide into the wall to save space in the bedroom, another suggestion from Kev.

Next time I'll show you the beams we've exposed and how they look after being shot blasted along with the other features we're retaining. The windows should also be making an appearance soon and lots of decisions need to be made in the next few weeks, which as we are going on holiday for 2 weeks soon is testing my organisational skills.

Let me know if you have any observations or suggestions, all are appreciated and welcomed!

The Resurection of the Wall & May Day Madness! Part 1

Well, It's been a busy old time recently including a holiday  to Spain with my Mum & Dad and a couple of trips to Cornwall, one for Easter and another for the infamous May Day celebrations.

If you've never witnessed May Day it's a sight to behold and one I would highly recommend as it's an ancient fertility festival which is celebrated every year on the 1st May.  Here's a photo to whet your appetite.

This is the  'Obby Oss' of which there are two, and they spend the whole day dancing around the town with a crowd of followers occasionally meeting at the Maypole.  You really need to go and witness it for yourself.

Anyway back to the cottage, which is really starting to take shape. We now have four walls and a new roof making it watertight which is a relief, however, on our first visit at Easter we had lost the first and second floor ceilings which gave the main building the appearance of an old barn.

With no stairs we could only access the back bedroom via these ladders which were a bit scary for us non-builders,but it gave us a birds eye view of the property and enabled us to see how far the new staircase would encroach into the lounge. 

We are keen to keep the space as open as possible as it is a narrow room and otherwise could feel small and cramped.

We were very excited about the wall going back up as this had been the most difficult part of the whole project and were relieved to see it back in situ, doing its job holding the roof in place : ).
The main construction is made of wood placed on blocks but the external wall will be hung with local slate tiles and I'll show you the before and after pictures when we go down at the end of May.

Inside, the other internal walls are really interesting and appear to have a medieval look about them.  They've been constructed using a wooden frame filled with slate downstairs and brick upstairs.  It would be interesting to know whether the original building had only been one storey or whether the top floor ran the full length of all three cottages?  I would have loved to have kept them as a feature but the work involved in making them good was too expensive.

And finally here's John surveying what's left of his investment!

In part II of this post I'll introduce you to our fabulous builder and show you the new roof and how we are trying to bring back some character to this charming old building.  Until then have fun and please do leave any comments or questions which I will happily answer.

The wonky wall comes down!

OMG the wall is down!!! 

This has been the part that we've been dreading the most and you can see why in the pictures below.  We now have a cottage with only 3 walls and a gaping hole where the fourth one used to be.

I feel a little sad that the original slate wall is no longer there and that we've had to demolish something that must have taken hours of labour to build and has stood for over 200 years. Unfortunately though we had no choice, but as the current caretakers we will try and inject as much character back into it as we can, as sympathetically as possible.

For obvious reasons this is the most difficult part of the renovation and even erecting the scaffolding wasn't straight forward, but thankfully it's up and working well.

 

Due to limited space, putting a skip outside wasn't an option so all the rubble and dirt has to be transferred straight on to a lorry and disposed of with the help of this canny conveyor belt.

 

Here's a view through to the back of the house where the wall once stood. 

 

This is one of the demolition team who has managed to squeeze himself into the 18 inch gap between the two houses.  Most of the demolition has had to be done from the inside, unsurprisingly.

 

 

And this is Stuart from Kernow Coppice, the demolition company we are using.  I'm told he's 6ft 7in so it's probably a good thing the ceiling isn't in place or he would be struggling to stand upright.  Our son Jake is also tall at 6ft 4in and so we have decided to dig down another foot to allow a bit more headroom.

 

 

And finally a view from the lounge! You get a real feel for the thickness of the walls in this picture.

 

There is little else in the house at the moment to show you as it is literally a shell.  I'll have more pictures in the next couple of weeks when I'm hopeful that the footings will have been put in and the timber frame erected.

 

We'll both be very relieved when it's in situ!

Demolition begins!

So, it's been a couple of weeks since we last visited our shipwreck and I have to say it wasn't looking great when we arrived!  I think the saying 'It's going to get a lot worse before it gets better!' has never been more true.

This was what confronted us when we opened the door.

 

 As you can see the fireplace has completely vanished (thank Goodness) but so has my lovely old stove which is now in the garden in pieces.  My intention is to see if I can get it refurbished but at the moment it's not at the top of my priority list as you can imagine.

 

Now all the cladding has been taken off, and the stone wall has been exposed I'm quite sad that we are going to have to take it down.  It's so lovely to look at, but unfortunately it's not doing what it should which is keep the building upright and the roof in place (a minor detail I know).

We then ventured up 'those' stairs to see what was going on at first floor level.

 

 This is the back of the house which is approx. 20 years old and as you can see is a very different construction to the original but thankfully is in good condition.

The front bedroom and landing have been knocked into one and when we put up the new dividing walls and turn the staircase around this will become a good sized room, especially with the additional space we'll create by replacing the old stone wall with the new one. 

Just to show you how bad the wall and roof are, here are some photos of the cracks, holes and collapsed timbers that we've uncovered.

 

I'm not sure this photo really shows how bowed the wall is but the snapped timber is an indicator of the extent to which it has moved, and the light coming in is one of many holes in the roof.

 

This is a close up of the actual cracks in the gable end wall and shows how this meter thick wall has moved. 

 

And here is the old roof which when we visited the next day when it was raining was letting in a good stream of water.  Surprising the roof timbers are in good condition in the main and once we re-tile it using the original tiles that are already there it should be fit for purpose once more.

 

To finish on a positive we have now received the planning consent we needed and can therefore start to take down the offending wall and begin the process of making the cottage safer, secure and water tight. 

 

I'd just like to make a call out to our lovely new neighbours to say thank you for your patience and please bear with us!