Our Little Durham Restoration Project...

[paulrockliffe]

As I promised a while ago, now that the house is finished......

... I say finished, but I've made the mistake of not snagging as I go along. So I've got a list of little jobs to do that's longer than the original list I was working off that I need to do before we're really finished. All the big stuff is done and there's very little on the snagging list that normal people would notice, so I'm calling it finished. Two years and 6 weeks to get to this point.

Anyway, I promised some before and after pictures, so I've had the camera out this morning to try to replicate the first pictures I took, before the destruction began:

Kitchen:

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[paulrockliffe]

Pantry:

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[paulrockliffe]

Dining Room:

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[paulrockliffe]

Hallway:

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[paulrockliffe]

Living Room:

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[paulrockliffe]

Landing:

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[paulrockliffe]

Bedroom 1:

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[paulrockliffe]

Bedroom 2:

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[paulrockliffe]

Bedroom 3:

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[paulrockliffe]

Bedroom 4:

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Baby No.1 is due in 10 days time - Which is why I'm frantically making sure the project is done in time!

[paulrockliffe]

Bathroom:

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[paulrockliffe]

Outside:

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[Craikeybaby]

That's a great transformation!

Congratulations on the imminent arrival too!

[jrinns]

looks great, how many sq meters did you turf in the end.

Did you get someone in?

[paulrockliffe]

I seeded it last summer, there's some pictures of my Dad enjoying himself with an 8hp rotorvator and me dragging the ground level with a ladder and some ridge tiles if you go back through the thread!

Apart from the electrics, plaster, woodburner and some roof work, the only people I've had in have been my poor parents.

Lawn looks better than it is, still needs some work. The stuff under black plastic had no organic matter in it, so it's not growing brilliantly. I've got a speedwell infestation that I'm slowly getting on top of and it's settled with a few dips. Job for layer in the summer I think.

[craigthecoupe]

you should be very proud of yourself. thats a great home you've made.

[btcc123]

craigthecoupe said:

you should be very proud of yourself. thats a great home you've made.

+1

[5potTurbo]

All very impressive! *doffs cap*

[dxg]

How did you get rid of the dark stain from the woodwork and the doors? Lots of sanding or new timber?

[paulrockliffe]

Thanks chaps, appreciate the kind words.

It's all new timber, things escalated quite quickly once we decided to replaster and rewire, made sense to get the horrible woodwork sorted at the same time. There's an incredible woodyard over in Penrith that have sorted out some lovely oak for everything.

Wasn't cheap and annoyingly I didn't think to check prices for other wood; ash is two thirds of the price and would have saved me probably £3k. The wardrobes I've just finished were in ash and it's absolutely stunning, not that the oak isn't very nice too, but the ash seems to have more detail.