Time to get renovating – Meet Project Weavers Cottage

It’s been a while since I posted on this blog and set it up. Many things have happened to our renovation project that I want to report. However, I realised that I haven’t actually formally introduced our first project to the blog so this post is dedicated to the before pictures. Having mentioned in my last post about the process in finding this house, I wanted to describe to you a few of the reasons why we purchased it and decided to make “Project Weavers Cottage”, as it will be formally known on here, our first DIY adventure together.

Let’s just say this house has character, and it was in desperate need of love and attention. Having remained empty for some time there was clear evidence of damp and wood rot that needed addressing. So much so, that our wonderful building society decided to retain funds until certain works were taken out. But that’s for another post. It was cold, eerie and small, but we did see the potential. If I’m honest, my husband saw the potential. I felt completely overwhelmed by it all, but I guess that is because I’m not a very visual person. I struggle with imagining the end result, or at least seeing it in my mind. To me, it required work. And a lot of it! But as I explained in an earlier post we decided we wanted to take on a challenge and this was going to be the first one.

So without further ado, meet Project Weaver Cottage…

Through the front door you come straight into the kitchen. It’s rather small with very limited space, so we are planning to re-design this. Replacing the kitchen and knocking out a wall to make the room feel bigger. There is a tiny door with access to a small cellar. It isn’t a space that you could turn into a living area but it certainly would come in handy as a storage area if we made it a little more accessible.

Through the kitchen you get straight into a living area, with an added extension vestibule to the rear. The lounge area also has the staircase and a lot of stonework features like the fireplace and on the walls. There is more beam work in here as well, which definitely adds character to the place. The vestibule at the back has the access to the rear garden and main window letting light into the room. It seems a small space that doesn’t provide much functionality at the moment, so we are currently in talks with the local planning office to see what our options are on this. As it is Grade II listed we may be limited, but we are hoping that we can extend out in some way. Watch this space.

The staircase is small and very much to the original weavers cottage features. They are a real feature to this property as some of the others in this row have replaced them with more modern looking versions, but I think with a little work they add real character to the place.

On the first floor we have the main bathroom and one bedroom. The bathroom has original doors but is in need of being replaced. The bedroom is large and also has its fair share of original features.

Continuing up the small staircase you will find two further bedrooms and access to the loft space. One amazing advantage of this property is the views of the rolling hills it provides over the countryside and village. The location is simply perfect and I guarantee, will be one of the selling points of this property.

So there you have it, our first project in full picture form. Of course, right now it looks nothing like that, in fact it is merely a shell. Which I will be honest made me cry as I was completely overwhelmed after our first few weekends of demo. We have had a few ups and downs along the way since we got our keys on the 4th November, but this house is going to turn into a real gem in 2017.

What do you think? Did we take on a huge challenge for our first project together?