Our New Project - fondly known as Padstow 2

Welcome to our new 'shipwreck' acquisition!  

This is our new project and one which is keeping me very busy.  We've actually had it since April and we're making good progress so I have a lot of catching up to do on the blog. These photos show how the house looked when we first viewed it and I thought I'd take you on a guided tour so you can follow it's transformation.

As you can see from the front it looks fairly respectable and unlike our first renovation it does have four good walls and a roof which doesn't leak however....

From the back it's not so good and the vegetation has started to take over inside and out as it hasn't been lived in properly for about 3 years.

The front room had a lot of old furniture still in it including this beautiful old dresser and the oak table you can see below.  The cottage formed part of an estate and the trustees sold me all the contents they didn't want which are currently holed up in storage.

The lounge and dining room look as though they are in good order but the whole place is extremely damp and in need of some major TLC.  The house was originally two cottages which wasn't apparent until we started to strip everything out but you can see the identical cupboards at each end of the room and the original doorway through to the back is masquerading as a bookcase. 

This is the kitchen!! most of this stuff went in the skip but I kept the 1960's cabinet and anything else I could salvage.  It was quite difficult to go through what had obviously been somebody's belongings and I wanted to keep what was worth salvaging. 

 Here are the two staircases which were positioned opposite each other and went to their respective bedrooms, again a relic of the two cottages.  I can also tell you that the third step up on the above staircase was lethal and totally rotten which made navigating them a little tricky.

 And finally downstairs the appalling bathroom, complete with Ivy coming through the window.  It was in a filthy condition and obviously hadn't been touched since the last resident left (excuse the scary image in the mirror : )

Upstairs somebody had started to do some work and had put in a couple of small velux's and built a block wall between the bedrooms.  As you can see the fireplaces have been breeze blocked up too.  The roof is totally vaulted in one bedroom but in the other has been shaped like a 'Dutch Barn' to accommodate a water tank, which will be going but I think the 'Dutch Barn' effect will stay.

Outside the back garden is a bit of a mess but at least we have one and ultimately it will make a lovely place to sit and have a glass of wine or G&T after returning from the beach.

And that's it for now.  I'll show you what we did next soon as I have a lot to share, until then have a great Bank Holiday Weekend!