Daydream thread continues.....

lostinrates

alfie_1 wrote: »

strange mix of furnishings IMO...:eek: very bland yet clashing...
i like a bit of a "living" feel. LIR's lounge [which she will say is gonna change..;) ] is SOOOOO cosy and relaxing and the big pic on the wall sets it off ...;) her new kitchen-to-be is enhancing the feel/original room that it was...
why do people want to "straighten" out all the creases of an old house...i personally just dont get it....:o

Only things change in sitting room are:

The 1970s obscured glass doors. ( want doors to mirror the window shutters, so bi fold still but, sort of sympathetic, carpet returned to wood (no wood underneath or would have been done already) and would prefer to take out wood burner and return to open fire. Oh yes, I am planning on painting the fire place brick work too......the mortar is u.g.l.y. Going to paint it something like elephants breath.

Oh, and one other thing, there is a 'hollow' bit of house. We thought it was a smoker, but that's behind there (though I think I see the trace of a bricked up opening in the side of the inglenook) but at the top of this 'space' is floorboards, so that sounds a bit dodgy...would a smoker not have gone up into the chimney? (there is a smoker on the otherside I think (dining room Alfie) which does. Anyway, this big space I might like to make a sympathetic cupboard door into, to hide the gaggle box in. ( a bit like the cupboards to the left of your fireplace).

We want an beautiful old house, not a new one in a 'pretty' shell iyswim. The problem is that previous modernisation has been unsypathetic and 'vandalism' (seriously, who fills in a cellar, and puts cement mortar and modern brick in fireplace repairs, cuts literal corners with wiring, etc etc.

The resurrected bit, when it's done' will be 'cleaner looking' so fussy guests can be entertained in there.

I think that we are putting corrugated iron back over the utility roof (when it's been insulated and made good) is testament to the 'not prettying up' or wanting to obscure all changes of time, we don't want it fancy, we just want it water proof and warm.

I think RAS's house is over santised, but cou
D be returned to 'graciousness' with out too much difficulty. The placing of the book shelf (and that bright wood next to the old wood) really grates...why block a window?

I cannot see Dave's.

Itismehonest

rhiwfield wrote: »

Loved the hospitality this week of Itsme and Davesnave (and OHs) but Devon is even wetter than Wales!

I seriously think that the jetstream move has brought the lousy weather further south

LIR - We always kept bantams because, despite being slightly smaller, their eggs are normally available for many more days in the year for those who don't want to resort to having to light.... which we though a bit unnatural. Even layers deserve a little rest every year :D

CTC - If you're going to hire out for filming it's better to do it before you do the place up. TV & film companies aren't always the most careful or considerate from what I've heard.

RAS - Black painted beams. Always a give-away.
Many of ours still have bark on so painting them would be a total sin. However, we have mixed the old with the new in as much as the 'original' parts of the property have been dealt with in older styles using traditional methods & materials while the more modern parts have more modern furnishings, materials & methods.
It does mean a mix of styles but most older places have that. I think it's possibly a mistake to think an entire property should look as if it is from one slot in time. People have always adapted to what became available as things progressed. If we hadn't then none of our period properties would now have electricity or running water & proper sanitation.

lostinrates

Itismehonest wrote: »

I seriously think that the jetstream move has brought the lousy weather further south

LIR - We always kept bantams because, despite being slightly smaller, their eggs are normally available for many more days in the year for those who don't want to resort to having to light.... which we though a bit unnatural. Even layers deserve a little rest every year :D

CTC - If you're going to hire out for filming it's better to do it before you do the place up. TV & film companies aren't always the most careful or considerate from what I've heard.

RAS - Black painted beams. Always a give-away.
Many of ours still have bark on so painting them would be a total sin. However, we have mixed the old with the new in as much as the 'original' parts of the property have been dealt with in older styles using traditional methods & materials while the more modern parts have more modern furnishings, materials & methods.
It does mean a mix of styles but most older places have that. I think it's possibly a mistake to think an entire property should look as if it is from one slot in time. People have always adapted to what became available as things progressed. If we hadn't then none of our period properties would now have electricity or running water & proper sanitation.

I don't mind giving chickens heat and a bit more light. I kept chickens when I lived where days were longer, milder and eggs were a longer season.

But bantams are cute!

Black on beams is a nightmare to get of too. The stuff here seems to be coming off ok, still one more room to de black after this phase though. Luckily the bulk here was left alone. One thing to be grateful for. I spent months and months of my free time trying to get that black stuff of a beam years ago. I knew tis time to get it on the builders list:o

RAS

lostinrates wrote: »

Oh, and one other thing, there is a 'hollow' bit of house. We thought it was a smoker, but that's behind there (though I think I see the trace of a bricked up opening in the side of the inglenook) but at the top of this 'space' is floorboards, so that sounds a bit dodgy...would a smoker not have gone up into the chimney? (there is a smoker on the otherside I think (dining room Alfie) which does. Anyway, this big space I might like to make a sympathetic cupboard door into, to hide the gaggle box in. ( a bit like the cupboards to the left of your fireplace).

LIR

If you look at picture 5 in the house to which I linked, there is a small dark wooden door in the far corner, with a single angled step below?

If you look at the plan, immediately above that in bedroom 2 there is a cupboard?

This was where the orginal stair case running up alongside the front of the house within the stone core when the inglenook and upper floor were installed. DS has similar staircases at the side of the fireplace in 2 18th century houses, although they were spiral at the bottom as well.

With respect to the beams, I strongly suspect that the ones in the dining room are not original. The sitting room ones may be but there was a plain plaster/daub ceiling when I last saw that room.

I think that the whole of the wing that contains the dining room and service quarter behind was built long after the original hall house so am amazed by the split level room given this is listed 2*.

lostinrates

Hmm, that's interesting about the stairs, We have a remnant ( one tread) of an old staircase elsewhere but the location is similar. Hmmm.


Re split level flooring, we were allowed to raise floor level to accomodate the insulation you must now have when you do works ( we did not do this raising, we need the doorway height) and I kow a fair few grade two star listed who have been allowed to dig out for head height. I guess I don't get that, but dh and I are short. If we were taller I might sympathise more?

rhiwfield

I love looking at old houses but live in a 70s box, with artex ceilings (which I like ) and I replaced the softwood mock georgian window frames (all 17 :eek:) with upvc double glazing and didnt lose a moments sleep, nor have they had to be painted every 3 years since. Saved a fortune in heating bills :j. The master ensuite has original 70s light blue sanitary ware and the bath is cast iron. old fashioned but very functional.

I'm probably the worst person in the world to design home decor/style, as function comes first and style second. And as I dont like to scrap stuff while still functional, our soft furnishings/furniture aren't changed that often either.

And still got fitted the window film insulation that I put on 3 years back (the one you put on for winter only ).

We changed the kitchen 12 years back when the old one was disintegrating and DW moved the sink from under the window to a side wall.

Whoever buys this house will want to put their stamp on it, thats for sure

Itismehonest

Yes, RAS is right. We have signs of an old stair case next to one of our inglenooks. In early examples around here they were of stone. They went out next to the fireplace, up the outside of the building & in again under the eaves. Sometimes they were enclosed but sometimes open I've read.

However, I think that even back in Norman times split level flooring was a fairly common thing. The reasons for its' use are many & have changed with time but it's been around for as long as houses, I think.

@rhiw - The purpose of a house is for people to live in - as comfortably as they can.
While we can get all precious about anything with a little age behind it, eventually the choice with old places always comes down to would you rather live in a historic but totally impractical (as far as modern conveniences are concerned) museum, try to hit a happy medium or ignore the history altogether. Most sensible people go for the middle option.
However, like most things bureaucratic, those that actually make the rules seldom have experience of trying to live with them........ eg 1980's Magnet Southern windows
It's rather like the fallacy that living in vast aristocratic piles means living a life of luxury. Everyone I know who's gone through it remembers things like wearing wellies over pyjamas weaving between various receptacles like chamber pots collecting rain from leaky rooves; rooms which completely froze in winter leading to the daily routine of scraping ice off the inside of windows (personal experience on that one); & ceilings suddenly coming down with a crash on the dining table just after the family had got up to vacate the room ...... if they were lucky.

RAS

lostinrates wrote: »

Re split level flooring, we were allowed to raise floor level to accomodate the insulation you must now have when you do works ( we did not do this raising, we need the doorway height) and I kow a fair few grade two star listed who have been allowed to dig out for head height. I guess I don't get that, but dh and I are short. If we were taller I might sympathise more?

Struggling a bit.

The original hall house dates from prior to the reformation and was probably a monastic grange.

Based on other hall houses I have been in round Dartmoor, the "morning room," dressing room and kitchen and the servants room above were added much later on the west side.

The split level room was two rooms, one internal to the hall house (originally the animal quarters and working area) and the other was a workshop with it own external doors at the bottom of the slope. I think that the workshop was added along with the east wing behind probably later than the 17th century suggested in the particulars. If I am right they have completely removed one of the original cob walls from the hall house to incorporate the workshop into the house. Think this was done in the 1980s.

The recent owners have certainly raised the floor in the bedroom above as there used to be two or three steps down into the room and the floor is now level. So I suspect the ceiling in the dining room immediately below is a complete replacement/mock.

Difficult to work out exactly what has gone on over the centuries as all the windows were replaced with the same at some point, probably 19th century?

Actually thinking about it apart from the main beams, none of the ceiling beams were exposed when I first knew the house.

lostinrates

Itismehonest wrote: »

Yes, RAS is right. We have signs of an old stair case next to one of our inglenooks. In early examples around here they were of stone. They went out next to the fireplace, up the outside of the building & in again under the eaves. Sometimes they were enclosed but sometimes open I've read.

This is so interesting. The old tread is no where near the outside of the house, it's up the middle of what would have been the Georgian bit, but also, in the very oldest room, so maybe it did turn from outside somewhere a long the line. The other old (but less old) staircase is also on the internal wall, I.e. only internal. (to a trap door). The 'real' stairs now, are obviously not original, we had thought early Victorian maybe, a bit older perhaps. But will have had significan works in the sixties, as they were just over from what we call 'the original' stair tread. It's very confusing layout really to try and describe!

lostinrates

RAS wrote: »

Struggling a bit.

The original hall house dates from prior to the reformation and was probably a monastic grange.

Based on other hall houses I have been in round Dartmoor, the "morning room," dressing room and kitchen and the servants room above were added much later on the west side.

The split level room was two rooms, one internal to the hall house (originally the animal quarters and working area) and the other was a workshop with it own external doors at the bottom of the slope. I think that the workshop was added along with the east wing behind probably later than the 17th century suggested in the particulars. If I am right they have completely removed one of the original cob walls from the hall house.

The recent owners have certainly raised the floor in the bedroom above as there used to be two or three steps down into the room and the floor is now level. So I suspect the ceiling in the dining room is a complete replacement.

Difficultto work out exactly what has gone on as all the windows were replaced with the same at some point, probably 19th century?

Ahh, I see. .

Ok, listed buildings were very protective over ceilings, but then told us we could replace bedroom one, which we have never asked to do, it's the only really 'rustic' one, on all the others the lathe has held and plaster is good. Ours might be older or gone longer since repair.

But they quibbled not at wall removal or opening ( which amazed us too) . No rhyme or reason sometimes.