Before Photos

Time for the "before" photos of our house!

It doesn't look like this now, but this is it the day after we bought it. We didn't actually move in right away for reasons that will become evident further down this post, so it is all still empty in these photos and its a little bit dark as it was early in the morning but I wanted to get working right away so had to get these photos in quickly!

The front door didn't work at the time which was a lovely surprise on getting the keys (its been replaced now along with all the windows) but if it had then we would have entered into this good size porch area.

The old front door here hiding its face in shame.

Then through into a small hall, on the right is the door to the living room. This is a pretty dark stairwell so we plan to take up the dark carpet and replace it with a lighter one and paint the walls a light colour. Also it was quite cold in the porch with the old door and a single pane window next to it, so hopefully with the new door and window we can leave the door between the porch and the hall open more often to allow light in.

Into the living room, any rips in any of the wallpaper were us testing how easy it was to remove it was all intact (and very plentiful, its even on the ceiling) when we moved in. The living room is a good size for us, and we may try to keep the gas fire once it has had a service and testing and just refinish or replace the surround.

Through into the "kitchen". This is the view into a funny little hallway area from the living room,

When you walk in the kitchen/dining room is then immediately on your right. 

This was the main area of the house that needed work. Obviously there is no kitchen actually in here is the first issue! The sink was installed so we could get a mortgage on the house, but until just before we bought it that wasn't even there. Our plan was to remove the archway and some of the wall near the entrance to the living room (where it juts out into the room) to open it up. We wanted to keep the downstairs loo which is under the stairs but obviously didn't want it opening straight into the kitchen, so we planned to put a door from the kitchen out to the loo and utility. The patio doors are pretty new so they stayed, but basically everything else had to be gutted. This room is a bit hard to photograph as its all walls and angles, but the first picture is from the door into the room shown above.

This is then looking back into the room

 And from the patio doors

This is inside the archway (beautiful I know), yes that is a live mains electricity cable just hanging in a disused window.

Out from the kitchen is the downstairs toilet on the left in the photo below (under the stairs) and the utility room, with a door to the driveway.

The utility is an addition, its quite small and there is little light so its hard to photograph properly. The window had been boarded up in here (for some time by the looks of it as it was all warped and damp) but has since been bricked up. We considered putting in another window but considered that A. its in a right state out there and we will likely knock it down or do some major work out there at some point B. We will not spend a lot of time out there anyway and C. We just needed it secure before we moved our stuff in as it faces straight out onto the field so we couldn't really wait for a window to be ordered with the rest of them. Its a funny little flat roofed extension and is a little bit damp and rough so it will need some attention down the line.

Back to the front of the house and up the stairs (which go round to the right) is a nice window on the landing looking out over the park and the trees.

And this monstrosity blocking up the whole hallway. Its a permanent ladder up to the loft conversion but it blocks off the second bedroom unless you can shimmy around it. It was going as soon as we got our stuff into the loft, otherwise we wouldn't be able to get furniture into the spare room. They had also stolen space from the second bedroom to build it and we wanted to rectify that as it would have been a large double originally.

On the right is the main bedroom. Its a decent size bedroom and has a built in wardrobe which we are planning to get the most out of!

My camera had issues with the lighting in here, but it was a green colour on the walls.

The bathroom is opposite, it was originally the third bedroom and the bathroom would have been downstairs n what is now the "kitchen". Its a wet room which we had hoped to be able to use as it was for a few months/a year and then redo later on. Apparently these wet room conversions are notorious for issues with leakage so they are not ideal, but it looked usable for now and there were no water stains on the ceilings downstairs. 

The second bedroom is still a decent size, a large single or a small double, even with the partition having been put up to fit in the ladder. We plan to leave this room as it is really until we move the wall as no point decorating or getting carpets replaced until then.

There is an airing cupboard set up at the end of the hall under the ladder which will go, we planned to get the radiator removed in with some other gas works in the first couple of weeks and then scavenge the wood shelving in here to use elsewhere.

Up the ladder we go now into the loft. This will be our "bonus space" for Tom's guitars and maybe a film room set up as its not done to regulations so we aren't going to actually sleep up here or anything. Its hard to photograph as its all funny angles and beams but its a decent size footprint, and there is access into the actual loft space through the green cupboard door (and another hatch in the hallway ceiling) which is great for storage. We plan to put a hatch back in with a fold down ladder. 

It does have a window and a radiator up here though at least!

Look at that for a ceiling shape, and yes that is wallpaper on the beam.

Outside we have parking for both our cars (maybe even squeeze a third on at the front if we tried) and a paved front garden area which all needs a bit of a wash and a tidy up and some plants. We are also at the end of the road so there is a bit of on street parking around for visitors and there isn't a lot of passing traffic.

The garden is a good size, being on the end of the terrace we have a nice side access too. These photos are actually from the sale listing because the garden is now full of rubble and old carpets waiting to be disposed of!

For now we plan just to tidy this up and get the lawn in a nicer condition but it will likely be next spring before we get chance to do much else with it!

Stay tuned for progress photos and how the kitchen demo and installation went!