Wednesday, 23 May 2007

House Renovations

We moved to Wales two years ago now, can't believe how time flies! We started major renovations last July. We had to completely gut the inside of the house and rebuild it. All I can say is thank god for our builders who were brilliant. While all the renovations were going on we lived in a static caravan, not something I would recommend with kids. We finally moved back in the house upstairs at the end of October. I can't tell you what a relief it was to be able to get into a nice new bedroom and bed. When we brought the house it had two kitchens!!! One had originally been an out building that had previously been used for a B&B, so it also had a shower room built in it. That's all been ripped out and replastered. Just waiting for the plaster to dry out to get the plumber back to fit the new radiators, then all the new units can be fitted. The other kichen is now going to be the utility room, but it needs a new roof first..
The outside of the house when we brought it was painted white and on the survey they said that it was holding in the damp and would need to come off. Boy what a job that was the whole house had to be sandblasted, I've never seen so much dust in all my life, but the fantastic surprise was the house is built from slate and is beautiful, why it was ever painted I don't know. So my job last summer was to repoint the whole house. ( I'm very good at DIY). The only thing that worried me was having to get up on the scaffolding, I hate heights. But even the builders said I did a brilliant job. There is still quite a bit to do, but I'll get there eventually..
I've tried to keep as many original features in the house or replace them and I'm really pleased with the results. My boys have there own sitting room/tv room and we found the original victorian tiles under the carpet, and a massive fireplace under the old plaster, so we've opened it up and fitted a wood burner in there, cleaned the floor with a special cleaner and it looks lovely in there now. We also brought a sofa bed, so it can be used as a guest room.

2 comments:

  1. Would really love to see some photos of the house Debs

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sarah would love to show you pics but having a problem loading them on. Need expert assistance!!

    ReplyDelete