Tips On Renovating An Older Property

Right after I’d been to look at this property for the first time, an old friend stopped me in the street outside and asked, “You’re not really considering selling your gorgeous home for this house, are you? I could understand what she meant because the cottage was rather unappealing. Early on, I chose to


create two adjoining


houses, one for the bous and the other for me to live


in. We can spend time together when we want, but have our own separate


space too. I may sell their house when the boys have homes of their own


but for now it’s an arrangement that works well for us. I started to


redesign the floorplan of the existing layout and set about reshaping


it. I wanted to make it open-plan with an airy feel. Everything was


stripped out and the structure taken back to the timber frame. The


ceilings were removed and insulation added between the exposed beams


with plasterboard cut to fit between them. Every floor came up and


screeds were laid, wiring and plumbing were replaced, and all  the beams


were blasted clean before being finished with an oil-based varnish. And


the windows had to be remade, apart from the leaded ones. By August I’d


bought the property and we moved into the front of the house.

I started to redesign the floorplan of the existing layout and set about


reshaping it. I wanted to make it open-plan with an airy feel. Everything was


stripped out and the structure taken back to the timber frame. The ceilings


were removed and insulation added between the exposed beams with plasterboard


cut to fit between them. Every floor came up and screeds were laid, wiring and


plumbing were replaced, and all  the beams


were blasted clean before being finished with an oil-based varnish. And the


windows had to be remade, apart from the leaded ones. By August I’d bought the


property and we moved into the front of the house. We had a temporary kitchen


and living room and a makeshift bathroom. The plan was to work on the


unoccupied two-thirds of the building and then move into the renovated part


while the rest was completed. Last December we were still finishing the house,


so this will be our first proper Christmas since the work was completed. I’ve


used bright berries to decorate the shelves and sprigs of holly with clusters


of tiny red candles on the windowsills. I used the mantelpiece to display


decorations and candles in a creative way.,














I had a visión of how it could look, attractively embellished with scented candles by manufacturers such as yankee candles and true grace candles, as well as a plethora of other accessories. It had started off as six, one-up, one-down workers” cottages that had been transformed into a single property and general store. The plaster and render were hanging off the outside wall and only a little portion of the interior was in use. The rest of the place had been nearly unchanged for many years. I wanted to produce a contemporary look and felt positive I could handle it by myself since I’d decorated a number of flats and houses of my own, and I’d also done home design tasks for other people.










The author owns the Scented Candle Store specialising in scented candles by companies like true grace candles as well as other home fragrance items like the reed diffuser