First-time house renovation

suisidevw

Nice one PP. sounds epic! When can we see more photos? I swear I ask this every other week?! The house sound brilliant

pawpurrs

I know, I know, havent actually taken any photos, except a few of the kitchen, did you see the link to the kitchen on one of the threads? Will get round to it one day!

pawpurrs

Just for you Susie;)

http://s43.photobucket.com/albums/e386/pawpurrs/renovation/

Hope that works, theres a few there of the kitchen, in progress and finished and a few of the start of the bathroom, and a few of the sitting room and nearly finished as well as the stair runner.
Excuse the mess, I am sure you all know whats its like living in a work in progress!:p

http://s43.photobucket.com/albums/e386/pawpurrs/renovation/

andrew-b

Wow looks good pawpurrs. Lovely house with tons of character...though id probably need to walk around with a crash helmet on to save myself serious injury on the beams! Kitchen looks great...the duckegg blue, pine block worktops and floor tiles go really well and fit with the property perfectly.

Do keep taking pics as you go...i'm finding mine to be very useful for reference. Yesterday i was consulting my photos of when we have the soffits and fascias replaced so i could work out exactly where the roof timbers were before drilling holes for cables for outside lights.

It turned out not to matter in the end as i could drill a hole diagonally upwards through the render and outer leaf of wall and come out above the cavity. SDS+ drill and 12" long drill bit proved themselves useful again as the render is really hard. Outer leaf of wall is about 10 inches shorter than the inner leaf (pics confirmed without needing to go in the loft) so i could reach down in the loft over the wall plate to grab the cables fed up from below - though i couldn't believe my luck when the first cable i fed through actually came out above the wall plate right next to where i wanted it.

And yes I won't be going up the loft again in a hurry - like a sauna..but with cobwebs and bits of roofing felt thrown in and fibre glass - my arms itched all last night!

littlerose12345

I agree about taking photos along the way. We love looking back and seeing what we've achieved, when it gets really tough, just look at the before shots and makes you feel very proud.

I need to take "after" shots and will update the blog when I have time after the wedding

pawpurrs

Thanks Andrew,
The house had no character when we moved in, so pretty chuffed so far, there were no beams, 1950s chipboard doors throughout, no heating, etc etc!

suisidevw

PP, it's absolutely stunning, EXACTLY the sort of property we are after next. How are you finding the seagrass/sisal carpet? Really suits it and I think it's a runner you have too. (edit, just gone through all photos and you do-Lovely). Kidston duvet cover?! Like the Smeg/smeg style fridge too, suits it. Would be great to see more as the property develops. do you have any pics of the outside as I can picture it in my head! Where about sin the country are you?

Love the range/aga sat in the recess too!

Did you have to sandblast the beams or is that the condition they were in when boarded over? Did you know they were like that when you viewed the property to buy?

all in all, i love it

pawpurrs

Thanks Susie,
I am loving the seagrass, the runner is sisal. Yup thats a CK eiderdown, goes in the bedroom.
I didnt sandblast the beams, they would be lighter if I had, just cleaned them all off by hand, sandblasting is a nightmare, but they can look nice if done. I didnt know what condtion they would be in when I ripped down the ceiling, the middle beam is quite eaten, but have chipped off the damage and wirebrushed it, that was boxed in by a horrid black gloss chipboard. The paler oak room divide, we put in ourselves, there was a wall there and we have opened up the space. There was a horrid 50s fireplace that was revolting and we knocked that down, I have a woodie to go in that space eventually.
We didnt really like the house, but DH lost his job, and we werent happy in the last house, even though it was beautifull, it was in the wrong location. This cottage is quite small, but we will make it nice, it needed a lot of work!
The house belonged to a neighbour, we used to have a house opposite, we rented it for a few mths before buying it, with no intention to buy it, then I started to think, perhaps there were things I could do to it, although I didnt really like the house, so wasnt bothered if we got it or not,however if we could get it at the right price, put in a cheeky offer, not expecting to get it, and well here we are!
We are in Sussex.

suisidevw

pawpurrs wrote: »

Thanks Susie,
I am loving the seagrass, the runner is sisal. Yup thats a CK eiderdown, goes in the bedroom.
I didnt sandblast the beams, they would be lighter if I had, just cleaned them all off by hand, sandblasting is a nightmare, but they can look nice if done. I didnt know what condtion they would be in when I ripped down the ceiling, the middle beam is quite eaten, but have chipped off the damage and wirebrushed it, that was boxed in by a horrid black gloss chipboard. The paler oak room divide, we put in ourselves, there was a wall there and we have opened up the space. There was a horrid 50s fireplace that was revolting and we knocked that down, I have a woodie to go in that space eventually.
We didnt really like the house, but DH lost his job, and we werent happy in the last house, even though it was beautifull, it was in the wrong location. This cottage is quite small, but we will make it nice, it needed a lot of work!
The house belonged to a neighbour, we used to have a house opposite, we rented it for a few mths before buying it, with no intention to buy it, then I started to think, perhaps there were things I could do to it, although I didnt really like the house, so wasnt bothered if we got it or not,however if we could get it at the right price, put in a cheeky offer, not expecting to get it, and well here we are!
We are in Sussex.

Great, would like Seagrassl in next property, got a crucial trading sisal rug, it's brilliant! I recognise the CK etc, my wife is well into her laura ashley, kidston, bridgewater etc..... I think our house is overrun by them but luckily she tries to buy in sales but is very crafty and buys their fabric and makes cushions etc

The beams look great and the stove will really set it off when it's in there too!

I think I mentioned before that we were buying ours when you were trying to sell yours so I was up to date with the sellers thread on 'house buying' forum and remember you were let down quite a lot!

Is the property a cottage? I know Sussex very well. Lived there all my life until a few yrs ago. My inlaws still live in Cuckfield (nr Haywars Heath) and my parents live in Newick (in between Uckfield, HH & Lewes), great part of the world

redlady_1

http://s380.photobucket.com/albums/oo244/redlady_1/Lils%20renovations/

Right, I think this should take you to the album. As you will see nothing is yet finished and I certainly hope you can tell the before and after! I will upload some more another time as I am going back to painting the ceiling in the bathroom!

Where the fridge is now is where the downstairs toilet used to be. Just that one thing has really opened up the kitchen as you can see I doors or stairs on three walls.