[MacReady]

We are starting to move from our rented five year old, four bedroom detached house this week...into something that, myself and my girlfriend think, is something much much better

We are buying a two hundred year church school dormatory that was converted some Years ago into two cottages and then back into one some Years after that. It was then allowed to become derelict before someone bought it along with the Grade II listed property to the side of it and the land in front and adjoining the church grounds.

The owner then built a new property on the ground next to the cottage, demolished the structurally unsafe Grade II building with the intention to rebuild it using all the materials salvaged and started the renovation of the cottages.

He has let us buy the cottages in a state of about 85% completion so that we can finish it off over the next Year or so.

Anyway, I thought I would start this thread as I intend to do quite a bit with regards the AV,lighting,networking etc in the place as the work goes on and thought it may be of interest to some.

Here are some pics to start with and afew thoughts about what I have in mind.


This is the outside. You can see the edge of the new building just to the right hand side and also the chimney (which is all that is left standing) of the Grade II property to the left.

This is the living room leading in from the dining room. I am going to rip off all the skirting over the next couple of weeks, get all the speaker and network cables chanelled in behind and also fit new plates for everything as well as new lighting and finishing off the fireplace with a nice piece of timber for the mantle.

The one issue I have in this room is that when the property was re-wired they fitted the new fuse box in place of the old one....and it's on a main wall in the living room. Looking at the option of moving or possibly buying a floating wall storage unit that could be hung around it so it cant be seen.

We are also going to replace the carpet in the living room and dining room with some dark wood flooring as well as remove the doors between the rooms to make it one large through space.

The main area's of the house that need the big money spending are the kitchen and the bathroom but we also have big plans for them too

So, sorry for the long post, just very very excited about this place and getting started on it. I will post some more pics of the other rooms later as we also want to get a nice AV set up in the master bedroom as well as my two kids have more integrated AV/PC and gaming systems in their room.

Will keep this thread updated as we get each stage done (the living/dining area is going to be the first so the AV stuff should be all done within the next few months Any comments or suggestions are more than welcome

[andybailey1972]

Another thread that I am going to keep an eye on. Good luck and hope that everything goes according to plan.

[JuzzyD]

That looks a nice place - good luck with the work.

[MacReady]

We finally got everything moved over into cottage....so almost every room is now pilled up with boxes and furniture.

Got started on chasing the walls in the living room yesterday. It's not going to be easy going as it is plaster over solid stone so I have only managed to get the ones from where the TV will be mounted down to the skirting done so far. Not looking forward to chasing all around the bottom of the room and I am still not sure what to do about getting the cable for the rear speakers to them when I get to the fireplace. The hearth is bonded straight to the concrete floor so I cant move it to run cable round it and I don't want to go all around the double door and single door to go the other way and that would be a LOT more chasing out to be done

I think that, for now, the cable may just run out from behind the skirting and under the carpet at that point and then back into the skirting when past the fire....then when the wood flooring is fitted it can be carefully laid under that around there....but if anyone has any other ideas or suggestions then fire away

Want to start ripping off the skirting board in the living room tonight and get all the new wall plates ordered (going to fit some new power points in the living room as well as fitting speaker plates, Sky connection plates, co-ax for the sub and network all in the new skirting board behind the av units). Also got permission from the guy who owns the grade II site to look through all the beams he rescued from that building to pick one we can have re-sized to go on top of the fireplace and he says we can have it for nothing

The Missus has picked the wallpaper she wants for in there and we are ordereing the sofa this week so hopefully shouldn't be long before that room is pretty much done.

Will post some pics of the progress when there is more to show this weekend.

Also decided to have a basic HC system in my oldest lads room. His bedroom is much larger than his last one and with his current furniture there was a lot of dead space in the middle of the room so we are going to divide into into two areas with one half being the sleeping area with bed and wardrobe etc and the other with a nice sofa bed, 5.1 set up, TV on the wall....hopefully it will be a good starter set up for him.

[gareth_alien]

This looks like one of the best 'blank canvas' starts I've seen. What a glorious building, good luck with the work.

[alz2605]

All the best with the work and I'm sure, judging by your previous efforts, it'll turn out to be a fantastic place!

[Smurfin]

Originally Posted by MacReady

We finally got everything moved over into cottage....so almost every room is now pilled up with boxes and furniture.

Got started on chasing the walls in the living room yesterday. It's not going to be easy going as it is plaster over solid stone so I have only managed to get the ones from where the TV will be mounted down to the skirting done so far. Not looking forward to chasing all around the bottom of the room and I am still not sure what to do about getting the cable for the rear speakers to them when I get to the fireplace. The hearth is bonded straight to the concrete floor so I cant move it to run cable round it and I don't want to go all around the double door and single door to go the other way and that would be a LOT more chasing out to be done

I think that, for now, the cable may just run out from behind the skirting and under the carpet at that point and then back into the skirting when past the fire....then when the wood flooring is fitted it can be carefully laid under that around there....but if anyone has any other ideas or suggestions then fire away

Want to start ripping off the skirting board in the living room tonight and get all the new wall plates ordered (going to fit some new power points in the living room as well as fitting speaker plates, Sky connection plates, co-ax for the sub and network all in the new skirting board behind the av units). Also got permission from the guy who owns the grade II site to look through all the beams he rescued from that building to pick one we can have re-sized to go on top of the fireplace and he says we can have it for nothing

The Missus has picked the wallpaper she wants for in there and we are ordereing the sofa this week so hopefully shouldn't be long before that room is pretty much done.

Will post some pics of the progress when there is more to show this weekend.

Also decided to have a basic HC system in my oldest lads room. His bedroom is much larger than his last one and with his current furniture there was a lot of dead space in the middle of the room so we are going to divide into into two areas with one half being the sleeping area with bed and wardrobe etc and the other with a nice sofa bed, 5.1 set up, TV on the wall....hopefully it will be a good starter set up for him.

re: the chasing. Why not just run the cable up the walls and across the ceilings? All you need to do is lift the floorboards on the floor above, much easier than chasing all round the room

[MacReady]

Originally Posted by Smurfin

re: the chasing. Why not just run the cable up the walls and across the ceilings? All you need to do is lift the floorboards on the floor above, much easier than chasing all round the room

I had thought of that, but the room above has a hoooooooge built in wardrobe filling all of one wall. It's going eventually but, at the moment, it's something that definitly wont move

[MacReady]

All the skirting boards in the living room are now off and all the channeling has been done for the cables. Going to get the cables trunked in tomorrow and try and plaster over the ones for the TV and also get the TV mount on the wall.

Got a 5 port Netgear switch today to run from the router for the living room to run the 360, PS3 and, in the future, a media centre pc.

Also finally worked out all the wall plates I need today so going to order those tomorrow.

[Smurfin]

Originally Posted by MacReady

I had thought of that, but the room above has a hoooooooge built in wardrobe filling all of one wall. It's going eventually but, at the moment, it's something that definitly wont move

Do you have access into the floor from inside the wardrobe though? I have a built in wardrobe in my old house, from where I robbed floorboards to patch the damaged ones in the main room

[MacReady]

A few of the rooms have come on quite a bit since I started this thread. The house is not exactly as we would have wanted it though as we have had to spend a lot of money sorting out bodged work by previous people in the place

Some of the things we wanted to get done in time for Xmas has not been finished or even started in some cases because of this We have got a few main rooms livable in the last week though so will post ome pics this weekend of how everything is coming along

[Pgmabley]

Originally Posted by MacReady

A few of the rooms have come on quite a bit since I started this thread. The house is not exactly as we would have wanted it though as we have had to spend a lot of money sorting out bodged work by previous people in the place

Some of the things we wanted to get done in time for Xmas has not been finished or even started in some cases because of this We have got a few main rooms livable in the last week though so will post ome pics this weekend of how everything is coming along

Feel for you, it's the same story in our cottage we bought in June!

[Smurfin]

Originally Posted by MacReady

A few of the rooms have come on quite a bit since I started this thread. The house is not exactly as we would have wanted it though as we have had to spend a lot of money sorting out bodged work by previous people in the place

Some of the things we wanted to get done in time for Xmas has not been finished or even started in some cases because of this We have got a few main rooms livable in the last week though so will post ome pics this weekend of how everything is coming along

Our 6 week project turned into 3 months if thats any consolation

Any pics?

[MacReady]

Here are some updated pics. As I mentioned above, most of the rooms are not complete and are at a kind of temporary stage so that we at least had a livable house for the Christmas period.

A lot of what is seen below will be taken apart in the next few weeks so we can finally start finishing rooms.

This was the living room..

..and this is the stage it is at now.

I still have some wiring to do as well as the painting and fitting of most of the skirting board. We have also had some problems with the lighter wallpaper shrinking back too much so the three walls are going to be re done in a lighter colour and then coving fitted (should be interesting considering how untrue all the walls and ceilings are ). Also got new blinds to be fitted throughout and the dark wood flooring that will go the full way through the living and dining area.......oh, and a bigger TV

This is was the dining room..

...and now.

Not much to do in this room other than the coving and the flooring now.

The reception room..

...and now.

This has literally had a coat of paint to tidy it up. It has been used as a staorage area for everything up till Xmas and will probably be used for that again after the New Year...but we do want to make it quite a plush area to walk into eventually. We are planning on a new staircase to start with.

Youngest Son's room...

..and now.

Oldest son's room..

...and now.

Not a lot to do in these rooms now. Bit of a tidy up and some painting to finish but the kids are happy with them as they are

Anyway, that's the stage it is at now. The biggest rooms are going to be the kitchen and bathroom as they are going to be ripped out completely and the kitchen is also going to be home to some of the networking in the house. We have also not even started on our bedroom yet but have planbs for that too

So, as you can see, it's not finished or even that special at the moment ( and it still wont be when it's finished compared to lots of builds on here) but it is getting there and we are liking how it is turning out.

[Stoatman]

NIce , nice beams and nice set-up. I take it the door in the lounge is not the main door in then ??

[gazzaputt]

Wish my son's room was as tidy as yours!

Looks lovely.

[MacReady]

Originally Posted by Stoatman

NIce , nice beams and nice set-up. I take it the door in the lounge is not the main door in then ??

No the main door is in the reception room. The property usd to be two cottages that was converted some Years ago into one but they left both front doors.

We have thought about getting the one in the living room removed and stoned up but I am tempted to keep it as it is a bit quirky having two front doors

[MacReady]

Originally Posted by Pgmabley

Feel for you, it's the same story in our cottage we bought in June!

It's so disheartening when you start on a job and find that you have to fix other people's mess first isn't it...seems to have happened with everything we have done in this place

We are also going to be getting a few people in the New Year to look at some aspects of the building we are not happy with in respect to quotes for sorting it all.....more expense

Originally Posted by Smurfin

Our 6 week project turned into 3 months if thats any consolation

I can see this place turning into a two/three Year project (we were hoping to get it all done in about a Year at the most). Just keep telling myself it will all be worth it in the end though.

[andybailey1972]

This is looking absolutely brilliant at the moment. Have just shown my 13 yr old son the tidyness of your sons room - he replied that it would be boring if we were all neat freaks!!

[Pgmabley]

Originally Posted by MacReady

It's so disheartening when you start on a job and find that you have to fix other people's mess first isn't it...seems to have happened with everything we have done in this place

Definately.

I sometimes just step back and take a good look at what's been achieved in such a short time, makes you feel better! We, like you got things to a nice liveable state for Christmas and took 2 weeks total break from it and work to spend time with the kids as they (probably like yours also) have been suffering attention deficit!

You are doing a very nice job by the look of it, keep it up and plod on.

Might have to put some pics up of mine too!

[Kenny Glasgow]

Very nice indeed

[blueboy1971]

Whole house looks lovelly.

[MacReady]

Well, now Xmas and the New Year are out of the way we can get started again. First thing is to finish all the painting throughout the house and then, whilst my Missus is working her magic on our bedroom (leaving that one to her ), I am going to get the living room ripped apart and sorted. Cant stand the wallpaper on the three walls so that is coming off and I am getting someone in to re cover it in a lighter and thicker colour.

Also going to get the wood flooring and start on the lighting in there...got some ideas what I want to do but need to have a play around first.

Getting all enthusiastic again after having a break...also cant wait to go TV shopping to decide on which model to get to fill that wall a bit more :D