Phoebe's Welsh Cottage Project

phoebe1989seb

Hi all,

Back in Feb, when the forum acquired its new guise I recall speculating with a couple of MSE regulars (Doozer, I'm looking at you, lol!) on the subject of posting ongoing *before and after* pics of our renovation journeys, made easier by the fact we could now directly embed pics into our posts.

Well, here we are eight months on and I still haven't got round to it! But last month I finally did start keeping a record of our progress on instagram. It's actually more of a montage of everything we're doing - not just breathing life into a previously unloved repossessed property on a fairly tight budget (you wouldn't believe how little we plan spending on our proposed extension!), but creating a cottage garden where there was none and completing a variety of *arty* projects, plus general stuff we love.

Here's a taster of what we're DIYing at the cottage -

Creating a new bathroom with window. Demolition of stud wall with inappropriate glass blocks.....Repositioning wall - so it no longer bisects the chimney breast 🙄 - and creating faux panelling.....New floor tiles....arrived this week! Obviously the floor needs boarding first...I just had to lay them out to get an idea!

DH and I are both reasonably creative types, both having design backgrounds. We are staunch maximalists, collectors and are not afraid of colour - be it bold, bright or dark 😉 Our style certainly wouldn't be to everyone's taste, lol! 

This is the 8th home we've renovated/restored/extended together, mostly DIY, only using trades where absolutely necessary. All have been projects (aka wrecks) of varying degrees and none newer than Victorian.

Along the way we've picked up loads of useful skills - practical and otherwise - although personally speaking, the greatest of these is patience....tbh, I'm still grappling with that one 🤣

A friend once rolled her eyes when she saw the state of the sprawling 3500 sq ft house we'd just bought, insisting she'd have to move into a hotel till renovations were complete. We couldn't afford that luxury so, along with DS, we camped out in a couple of rooms, gradually expanding our living space as we finished stuff. The first Christmas we ate dinner in the hall 😉
In all that project took us 10 years. Then we sold it!

Our current cottage is considerably smaller, but no less a project - inside and out.

We've been here 2 years 8 months now and have so far completed the following -

Had a borehole drilled as there was no water supply onsite, rewired, new oil boiler & cast iron rads downstairs, new roof on existing extension, had two wood burning stoves fitted, removed several structural & non-structural walls, removed one chimney breast, installed several steels, re-boarded ceilings, re-plastered where necessary, relocated & fitted the kitchen, constructed two areas of internal panelling, reconfigured the upstairs layout, relocated the (almost finished!) bathroom, decorated several rooms, built several external gates from scratch, created a kitchen garden in an existing walled courtyard, laid out flowerbeds & gravel paths in 0.5 acre garden, planted loads including 50+ roses, installed stock/other fencing, built massive log store.....phew!

Future plans include building that budget friendly extension which will comprise a South facing living room and downstairs cloakroom, plus creating an under stairs laundry cupboard (my washing machine has been in a leaky outbuilding for 2 years, lol!) and repointing the exterior stone in lime. 

Here's what we've done with the old kitchen -
After.....

Before..... If you've made it this far, thanks for reading and if you'd like to follow our progress/see more pics go to https://www.instagram.com/welsh_cottage_reinvented/

DD265

I love threads like this! That's a lot of work in two years, have you got before and after floorplans? I'm always interested to see how people change the space in a property.

ChasingtheWelshdream

Ooh I love it! I can't tell from the living room picture - did you keep or cover the quarry tiles? We're pondering something with ours as they're not great condition.

phoebe1989seb

ChasingtheWelshdream said:

Ooh I love it! I can't tell from the living room picture - did you keep or cover the quarry tiles? We're pondering something with ours as they're not great condition.

We did keep them, yes. Actually we intended laying engineered wood flooring but never got round to it 

twopenny

Love the tiles, and love that you are putting colour and pattern in. Individual and creative.

So many people just take whatever a company picture dictates with no personality of the owner.

ChasingtheWelshdream

phoebe1989seb said:

ChasingtheWelshdream said:

Ooh I love it! I can't tell from the living room picture - did you keep or cover the quarry tiles? We're pondering something with ours as they're not great condition.

We did keep them, yes. Actually we intended laying engineered wood flooring but never got round to it 

See we want to cover ours up but have read many horror stories of damp creeping up the walls and rotting whatever flooring is on top. Our floor has no DPM and is designed to breathe. Digging it all up is not an option but they really, really don't look good. I've tried rugs but as its the kitchen it's not practical

Davesnave

Well done phoebe for being brave enough to post your latest journey, illustrating some of the choices you've made.

As you know, we've also lived-in whilst renovating, but we really couldn't face another! Probably age and infirmity has something to do with it, as it seems such a waste to learn so much and not apply that knowledge elsewhere.

I'd guess in most cases the first big project will not go entirely right. We're picking up some bits from major errors next week, and in the months to come there will be a few more alterations. It's only money!

I think you're lucky having similar tastes, especially as you're much bolder than we are. For the sake of harmony, I've let my OH lead in the choices. In the one place where we had equal input, things didn't work out. 

Anyway, to pinch someone else's user name, good to see the dream being chased and actually captured.

stuart45

Davesnave said:

 For the sake of harmony, I've let my OH lead in the choices. 

I do the same in our old cottage, but if it looks wrong it's still my fault for going along with it.

FreeBear

ChasingtheWelshdream said: See we want to cover our [tiles] up

Digging it all up is not an option but they really, really don't look good. I've tried rugs but as its the kitchen it's not practical

Thick cork tiles may be an option - They are often used for insulating solid brick/stone walls and should help to keep your kitchen floor warm without trapping damp.

The other option would be to lift the tiles, dig down a couple of inches and then put a thick layer of limecrete in - Use NHL5 lime, and it will be hard wearing once fully cured. If you could dig out the whole floor to a reasonable depth, a well compacted layer of foamed glass could be put in - This would stop damp coming up through the ground without pushing it in to the walls. The walls may even end up being drier for it. Not cheap work, and highly disruptive...

ChasingtheWelshdream

I've not heard about cork tiles so will have a look, thanks. As much as I would like to install a limecrete sub-floor, this is just not an option at the moment. The kitchen was installed over the existing floor before we discovered the quarry tiles and would be a massive undertaking to sort. We since stripped and renovated the tiles as much as we can but they are still in very poor condition. They were originally covered in some kind of screed under lino and were soaking, which made them sweat. Removing them is a much bigger job for another time.  

phoebe1989seb

Davesnave said:

Well done phoebe for being brave enough to post your latest journey, illustrating some of the choices you've made.

As you know, we've also lived-in whilst renovating, but we really couldn't face another! Probably age and infirmity has something to do with it, as it seems such a waste to learn so much and not apply that knowledge elsewhere.

I'd guess in most cases the first big project will not go entirely right. We're picking up some bits from major errors next week, and in the months to come there will be a few more alterations. It's only money!

I think you're lucky having similar tastes, especially as you're much bolder than we are. For the sake of harmony, I've let my OH lead in the choices. In the one place where we had equal input, things didn't work out. 

Anyway, to pinch someone else's user name, good to see the dream being chased and actually captured.

Thanks everyone! 

Yes Dave, I think this will be our last one too......in an ideal world we'd have loved to do a self-build project like Doozer, but I doubt we'll ever get round to it now   

In answer to an earlier post, I don't have previous or current floorplans I'm afraid. When the cottage was listed for sale as a repo back in 2017 the EA details were of the most basic variety as you might expect. If I get a chance over the next few weeks I'll try to sketch them out and post them here....but no promises!

We just completed the first fix plumbing for the new bathroom....yay! The fact that we're not just replacing the current suite or even rejigging the existing space, but moving the bathroom into an entirely different room obviously complicates things 🙄 We never do things by halves, lol!

Anyway, the end is in sight and sometime within the next couple of weeks I might be able to take a bath for the first time in 2 years 9 months that doesn't involve filling multiple buckets with water!!!

The replacement *vanity* (a vintage demi-lune table with Clearwater basin and Utopia Regent tap) is going to be about a gazillion times better than the hideously cheap one removed from the old bathroom......
It won't be in that position in front of the window, btw, I just couldn't resist taking a quick pic!