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Oh boy, where to begin with this. Its not very often a property like this comes up for sale, so when we spotted it, we were naturally very interested. The property is a Victorian villa, although it used to be a cottage "Ivy Cottage" to be precise. At some time around the 1850's it was extended, upwards. It's not unheard of but a little rare to do this, so you'd need to be pretty wealthy too do this. In fact our home owner back then was a carpenter, who it seems had a good friend who was, you've guessed it, was a builder. So the front looks like this currently, overgrown and unloved, Pink and White entrance with mustard enhancements, sweet eh.  Hidden under all that foliage on the RHS is another entrance, with its own vestibule, nothing fancy as it used to be a Doctors Surgery.  Finally the driveway, big gate for keeping the riff-raff out, or indeed keeping the hounds in. What you cant see is the monstrous pile of wood and other crap that our previous hoarder, sorry owner, has left behind. There is an equally monstrous dumpster being delivered tomorrow to take care of that and the garage, which unsurprisingly is also full of "stuff". There are a few goodies that have been left behind, photos of these will follow later.  Tomorrows jobs are getting the heating working properly, cutting back all of that plant matter and cleaning some of that green stuff of the stonework and pathways. I got a new power washer today for this very reason so hopefully I can speed through these jobs. Oh and a ton more photos. Wish me luck
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Dec 18, 2012 19:24
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This is very cool. Where is this place? Did you score a good deal due to the mountains of crap?
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Dec 18, 2012 20:08
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The property is just outside Edinburgh. There is so much junk around the place that it will take a while to get through it all, hence the dumpster. Having had a look round today, there are a few gems hidden in the outbuildings, period furniture, tables, bedroom furniture etc. One of the rooms has an awesome 30's bar cabinet, will post pics tomorrow. All in we got it for a good price. It was advertised for £320k, then £280k but the market in the UK is pretty shot, we put in an offer of £250k. People must have been put off by the mountains of crap lying around. Cheers
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Dec 18, 2012 22:49
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I'd love to see some pictures of the inside. It looks like you have quite a bit of work ahead of you, but man that is an awesome building. Since it was a doctor's place, do you have any creepy/cool rooms going on?
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Dec 19, 2012 11:36
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Is it a listed historical building ? A friend renovated a similar house but luckily the listing only applied the exterior which made things much simpler.
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Dec 19, 2012 12:08
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Scathach, I'll put up some photos tomorrow night, it seriously needs a lot of going over but it's mostly cosmetic. Unfortunately all of the things in the surgery have long gone as it was used as a house from 2002, its a pity because its such a cool building. Also the previous owner was a professor in agricultural something or other so there are hundreds of books on chemistry, physics and agriculture. Baconroll, it's not listed, but again it just needs a good clear out first. Today I spent the morning clearing most of the bushes away at the front and got the 16 yard dumpster delivered, it's the biggest that we can get domestically, it is now full. Most of the huge pile of wood is gone and another dumpster will be getting delivered to take care of the rest. I can see the back wall of the house so it has been a really productive day. I Did a little exploring and so far have found an awesome art deco jug and glass set, a silver tankard and an antique riding crop dated 1933. Pics of these tomorrow. Now the reason for not posting pics tonight....I've locked myself out, there is an inner door with a snib lock which I forgotten about, as soon as the door closed I knew I had screwed up. So first thing tomorrow we'll get a locksmith to open up. Cheers
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Dec 19, 2012 18:27
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Whoa, awesome looking place, how big is it sq foot / sq meter? Since many of the homes in the UK are much older than these parts, what kind of challenges are there updating and maintaining the homes? Most likely now I'm assuming previous owners would have brought you most of the modern luxuries, I'm just curious about upkeep and maintenance of very old structures!
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Dec 19, 2012 19:28
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Thanks Dreesemonkey, in terms of size its roughly 2000 sq foot which is big enough. There are 10 rooms although one of them is rather small. The house itself is in great shape, there are a few immediate repairs to make but they are mostly cosmetic. All the walls are stone, brick and then plaster lath over the top, repairs will be done using the same techniques. In terms of modern amenities, it has a functioning kitchen from the 80's and a rudimentary bathroom which is from the 60's. There is an open fire in one room and an awful gas fire in the dining room/pantry. Thats about it. There are no luxuries. As a side note and for interest, I found out today that the house belonged to a Dr Kennedy who ran the surgery, he brought up his children in the house in the late 50's/early 60's. Those children were Gordon Kennedy the actor and his brother Euan, Scottish international ruby player, a nice wee bit of history to add to the place. Cheers
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Dec 19, 2012 20:12
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Warning this post is picture heavy. Today started with an embarrassing call to locksmith, who after relieving me of £50, wiggled a piece of stiff card in the door jamb and hey presto we were in. Not even ten seconds work for £50, I'm going to learn that trade. Here is the door in question. Nasty woodstain will be removed, the glass is etched rather than it being a transfer.  Beside that is this little gem, not sure if I'll keep this, but there is a useable cupboard underneath.  To the rear of the hallway, there is this little cloakroom which doubled as a phone both, very odd indeed.  Yesterday the dumpster arrived, and by the time it got dark at 4pm it was full, another one will be delivered tomorrow, i suspect we will need another two at least, just to clear the debris and stored wood from around the property. Here's a photo for size reference.  All of that wood etc came from the small area on the driveway, here is the view from front.  And to the side of the sunroom building. We've cleared all this away now so the building can breathe a little and the water can now drain away. Note awesome garden gate and big keys to lock it.  So... not having much dumpster space I decided to clear the front door and pathway, there was at least half an inch of moss covering the concrete path, out came my new pressure washer and an hour later this. It still needs another going over but that the worst of it gone. Also discovered the boot scraper on the left wooo!  Its been raining all day too so I decided to dry off and take a few indoor shots for you all to marvel in the splendour. First the morning room. Nicotine stained and god awful wallpaper, It does retail rather nice elegant coving.  It also has this fabulous rectangular bay window and shutters, which have been deactivated, not for long though. I did lift the cover on the sofa, wish I hadn't, ancient and filthy.  Onto the drawing room, I've always wanted one but this one is a little too 80's for me. Main features for here are the alcove.  The fireplace, not my cup of tea, but it will be updated or should that be backdated to something more appropriate. Also, that mirror, WTF.  The cornice work is awesome, the way it's been painted, not so awesome.  Oh and these, what on gods earth were they thinking.  And my favorite room, the dining room. Check out the wallpaper.The original bay window decoration and the engrained dirt and cobwebs.  Trendy built in cupboards and more of that wallpaper.  Those doors look wrong though, so we'll pull of the ply that covers them and is if by magic, original doors wooo!  And the big semi hexagonal bay window and its wood paneling. Incidently the coving in this room is completely intact and is still in place behind those cupboards. A pile of books on the swish 60's sideboard, and the cupboards are full too.  Ok, so onto todays finds. Two beautiful taps and drain set for a sink, I reckon they are about £100 all together. Found still in their packaging, sorry no photo. The bimbo annual from 1983, never heard of this one before.  I love these, but at the same time these make me cringe. There is a set of about 6 or so, the whole thing is plastic, the frame the painting, these are so tacky they are cool.  Lots of brand new tools, still in packaging. Drill bits, screwdrivers, chisels, etc. These will come in very handy. This fab chair, might get it reupholstered, I've not looked under the cover.  And find of the day. I have no idea where these came from, it wasn't this house.  Actually find of the day might also have been this. There was a box in the garage still sealed with package tape etc, i thought it was probably empty, but it was buried under piles of stuff, awful smelly yucky stuff, oh and spiders too. Anyhoo it was only a brand new Whirlpool Refridgerator, still sealed. Wooo, one less thing to buy and saving about £150, I can put that towards another dumpster.  Since its nearly Christmas, this is quite fitting  Thanks for letting me rabbit on, this whole thing is quite an adventure.
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Dec 20, 2012 19:26
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Woah, looks like you found the mother-lode of kitschy paintings, those are awesome. But that mirror above the fireplace- did it come out of a Barbie dream house? It's, um, interesting. How is the upstairs? Are there fireplaces up there too? I'm really looking forward to seeing what you do with this place, from what you've shown it's a wonderful shell.
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Dec 20, 2012 20:09
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Ooh, another fixer-upper house thread. I love those tacky paintings. :< I'll be watching, please continue posting pictures! 
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Dec 20, 2012 20:25
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madlilnerd posted:Woah, looks like you found the mother-lode of kitschy paintings, those are awesome. But that mirror above the fireplace- did it come out of a Barbie dream house? It's, um, interesting. Not found any fireplaces upstairs yet, the trend was to cover them over with plywood. I have a feeling that there is one in the Morning Room downstairs, but I know two have been removed, one in the Dining Room and one from the old surgery. This place is so extreme you just never know.
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Dec 20, 2012 20:36
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Do you want to keep those paintings? I'm around Edinburgh and could do with something tacky yet awesome.
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Dec 21, 2012 00:13
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I'll dig out the ones we have, ping me your details and i'll try and get them to you. Cheers
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Dec 21, 2012 00:25
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Wow that place looks amazing. I mean, it has amazing potential. Did the owner die and not have any family willing to clear the place out? It's a shame you have to go through all that stuff, but it will be well worth it in the end. Who is "we?" Are you living in the house while you renovate or are you staying somewhere else? Good luck with your fixing up, it will be beautiful when you're done. Can't wait to see more pictures!
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Dec 21, 2012 03:54
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Is it bad to say I kinda like that red damask wallpaper? I'm excited to see how it progresses! A gorgeous place.
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Dec 21, 2012 05:30
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Koivunen posted:Wow that place looks amazing. I mean, it has amazing potential. My wife and I deliberately put the reduced offer on the house to include the clearance of all the crap. Otherwise the owner would have added about £8k that they were quoted for the clearance, this would have increased the Stamp duty to around £6k . So we thought it best to clear it ourselves over a week, we are only two days into it so far so getting on great so far. We still have the old house for another 3 weeks too there is somewhere to retreat to at the end of the day. Cheers
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Dec 21, 2012 08:58
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I like that red damask wallpaper too... some of the pink paint and decor kills me though. Those built-in cabinets weird me out a little. Thanks for all the pictures, it really looks like you have a beautiful place with some very interesting architecture. I'm going to follow the hell out of this thread.
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Dec 21, 2012 12:49
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Great, another renovation thread to bookmark, there's a lot of work her but it will definitely pay off. Some awesome treasures here too!
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Dec 22, 2012 12:21
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This looks like so much fun, I cannot wait to see what it looks like when the 80s have been cleared away. Keep at it! Edit: Also, you should keep that phone booth. If only for superman use.
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Dec 23, 2012 01:07
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The last two days We've been concentrating on getting rid off all the wood that piled up around the house. Unfortunately I forgot to take pics, but I'll get round to doing some tomorrow. The second dumpster is now full and the area at the garage and driveway was clear, I saw was because work on clearing the garage has started, I need it empty for my motorcycles, plus I need it to lock, the current one is broken. The result is that the driveway is covered in stuff again, but I have jet washed the paving so at least its not as muddy. We've removed at least 6 full room size carpets from the garage, including the old underlay, why on earth would anyone keep these. Also at least three of these Valor Paraffin heaters, although not in this condition. Two calor gas heaters and their gas bottles have been removed and will probably go to a charity.  Three wheelie bins have been filled with the rubbish that has gathered and I've moved my attention to the other piles of wood below.   I hope I get all this cleared becasue there is a patio with a dry stone wall under all that, there are a few nests too. So far only one mouse skeleton and a huge spider have freaked me out, so its not to bad. Surprise find from yesterday was a brand new Samsung P150 digital camera complete with mini sd card, just what I was needing too. So lots done, lots still to do.
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Dec 23, 2012 19:30
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Thread is awesome. All the little buried treasures are tripping me out.
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Dec 23, 2012 20:45
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You and me both, That big table in the drawing room, is a Victorian leaf table, which has a wind out mechanism. I'm flabbergasted by the prices these fetch, see the link below. http://www.sellingantiques.co.uk/antiquedetail.asp?autonumber=175443
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Dec 23, 2012 21:22
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Today's jobs, the wood pile and a general moving about of junk. The woodpile at the back of the house was huge, I've moved at least two tonnes of wood on my own, just so I can clear the patio area. Freaking huge spiders and hundreds of other bugs were in attendance. So far I've done this.   And this.  I grossly underestimated the number of carpets that were in the garage, here's a photo to show the pile. Note the Valor paraffin heater.  Heres a small selection of what came out of the garage that the carpets were piled on. Also other paraffin heater.  Another good bash at it, although I did slip on the slippery wood and ended up on my arse, no damage done though. So to todays gems, This was under the pile of carpets at the back of the garage, with a little care it might be nice again.  A string picture thing from way back in the 70's, my mum had one of these always thought it looked like a fancy musical instrument.  This rocks, its an original Jungle Book lamp shade. Where on earth did this come from.  And from the other day, the art deco glasses and jug set. Thats 24ct gold plated around the glass. I really love this set, whether or not it has value, its very pretty.  No work to do tomorrow, I need a rest day.
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Dec 24, 2012 18:06
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Tiglath III posted:My wife and I deliberately put the reduced offer on the house to include the clearance of all the crap. Otherwise the owner would have added about £8k that they were quoted for the clearance, this would have increased the Stamp duty to around £6k . So we thought it best to clear it ourselves over a week, we are only two days into it so far so getting on great so far. We still have the old house for another 3 weeks too there is somewhere to retreat to at the end of the day. Wow, that's a lot of money for clearance. It's good to know that you are actually going through things, versus having some company come and clear everything without even giving it a second thought. The treasures that you are finding are really wonderful. Especially this: When my boyfriend and I bought our fixer upper, we lived in an apartment for a few months while we tore out everything. When we moved in, we had the master bedroom and the guest bedroom finished (paneling and drop ceilings torn out, plaster cracks repaired and sanded, water damage fixed, the room primed and painted) so that we had two rooms that were usable. One was for sleep and the other was for everything else like TV, computer, eating, hanging out, etc. We lived out of boxes for a while until we fixed up more rooms, but as someone who has moved into an incomplete house, it was a great relief to have at least one room that was totally finished before moving in. If there is any small bit of advice I can offer, it is to have one room that is completely finished before you move in so you have a place to breathe at the end of a long day. Also, we worked on the house daily for about seven months, then we reached a point where we said "We need a break!" Right now, since the house is livable, we are taking a break before we start up with repairs again. When we bought the house we had every intention of working on it constantly, but now that we have officially owned the house for nine months, we realize it's impossible to do work every single day. Don't feel bad if you eventually reach a point where you need to stop for your own sanity. Fixing up a house is hard work, even more so if you're working a job as well. Can't wait for more updates, the work you've done so far is amazing! 
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Dec 28, 2012 14:10
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Clean that damask wallpaper and leave it on an accent wall (maybe around the bay window?) and paint the others a neutral color. It's the "in" thing to do these days and it'll look fantastic. (Not damask, but similar concept.) Dolphin fucked around with this message at 14:37 on Dec 28, 2012 |
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Dec 28, 2012 14:29
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I love these threads, and I love your new home! I'm also terribly jealous of your finds. We just bought a 1930s house in the Netherlands which is in great condition but we have no chance of any lucky finds. I'll have to scour the antique shops to find lovely things to put in it. I'll be watching this thread with interest, I can't wait to see what you do with it!
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Dec 28, 2012 20:31
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Thanks for the kind words folks. Its been a pretty tense few days. No internet connection and the telephone companywill not be fixing the line until 23rd January. I've managed to get onto a wi-fi signal though so I can smile again. Still doing a signifiant amount of cleaning and clearing and have come across a few odd wiring issues. Those will be sorted ASAP. Koivunen posted:Can't wait for more updates, the work you've done so far is amazing! I hear you on the Issue of having a room finished, unfortunately we have to be out of the old hose soon, so getting in to this was the biggest prority. We've moved all our stuff inand are going room by room sorting first. I've almost filled dumpster number 3 with all the wood and can see the back wall of the house hurrah !!! More pics to follow.
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Jan 1, 2013 19:49
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 That house is beautiful and neat and has a ton of potential. So much cool stuff you could do! That 60s sideboard is da bomb too.
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Jan 5, 2013 04:37
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Yesss, I love threads like this. You guys are doing fantastic work so far, it's insane that you've already filled up two huge dumpsters by yourself! Please keep the pics coming.
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Jan 5, 2013 09:12
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I will be watching this thread. I bet if you took the time to do it you could make quite a bit of cash off of all the rugs and poo poo you've got clogging up that place.
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Jan 5, 2013 16:31
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There are quite a few things we'd be up for selling it just the transportation of the items might be an issue. As we are still going through all of the gathered stuff, here's a few more of the treasures found in the last couple of days, its mostly books. BBC Micro game Tetris-Russian city version. has a price of 250.00 on it, surely not pounds.  A pile of Childrens books, star of the show here is Jonny Morris - Baby Animals, aawwww.  This is the pile of books for charity, some good books in there mostly sciencey stuff.  I love the Illustrations in this book.  The World of Wonders in Science and nature, not worth much but really interesting view on the early part of the 20th century.  Cassell's Popular natural history, Birds Volume. Another interesting book.  Last one and I'm a bit disappointed because there are only two of the six volumes, and the condition is poor. but I still think they are fabulous to have. A set of six in tatty condition will still sell for a few grand, these editions are from the 1848.  On the house side of things, much more junk removal and a lot of gardening has taken place, I'll get photos in the daylight. Onwards and upwards, and gain thanks for following my ramblings. :-)
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Jan 6, 2013 21:38
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Would you be interested in starting an ebay account to sel, of some of that poo poo? I'd love to take some of it off your hands. I'm a great fan of old books and I'm interested in those stained glass window thingies you showed in earlier pics if you don't have plans for them because they would suit my 1930s house. I also have a friend who shunts back and forwards from the Netherlands to Scotland with a car every so often so I could send stuff to her folks house to save us both on postage.
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Jan 7, 2013 02:26
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Bookmarking this so hard because I'm jealous of your awesome old house. The outside doesn't really appeal but oh! Is that a walled garden? And the treasures inside! I can't wait to see how you fix the place up! Also old. Because I live in a country where "old" houses were built in the 1900s. I think mine's "old" and it's not even 100 yet. How much fun is it living in a house that's survived so much history?
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Jan 9, 2013 03:23
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Tiglath III posted:There are quite a few things we'd be up for selling it just the transportation of the items might be an issue. Why don't you craigslist all the treasures you find? They you wouldn't have to worry about transporting or shipping.
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Jan 9, 2013 04:02
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fork bomb posted:Why don't you craigslist all the treasures you find? They you wouldn't have to worry about transporting or shipping. Craig's list isn't really a thing over here. Gumtree is pretty good though. How's the house looking now? Please post more photos!
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Jan 12, 2013 21:05
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This is awesome. I think I'd be keeping most of those books and making myself a little library that covers every branch of science and history at least in part. But I guess I'm kind of a weirdo. Keep up the good work and get rid of that awful wallpaper, jesus christ.
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Jan 13, 2013 08:14
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Been a while since I posted anything, the weather in the UK has been a little wet, windy and damp cold. The kind that goes right into your bones. Hence the only work had been inside and continuing to filter through all of the left over stuff, whilst trying to find homes for our own stuff. Suffice to say that when it is light outside currently between 8am and 5pm, we're at work and can't do very much until weekends. So a little update on where we are so far. 1)Wiring. Since half of the house is lit, the other not, we decided to go ahead and have the whole thing rewired, including the outbuildings and front, back and sides of the house for a little extra security. The only thing is cost, it's not cheap but is necessary and will be a huge boost. (Target completion 1st week in March) 2)Windows. I'll get some shots of them but the windows are rotten beyond repair. We thought about getting replacement sash and case windows but at the moment I think we will go for something modern which looks the same style. In the future we may choose to go back to the original style, but are aware of the huge cost of double glazed sash and case windows.(Target completion middle of March) 3)Heating. The boiler as you can see is relatively new, the radiators are not, we will be getting these changed soon after the windows are done as we will be able to gauge where the new ones should be fitted. I would love to go for period cast iron, but at £300 each its pricey. I really want a modern look so we will need to find something suitable that bridges both styles. So onto some photos. First up th Bathroom, it's a bit small but next door there is a WC, thinking of extending into that for extra space. Those tiles are splash effect from the eighties. However, when the tiling was done, they ran out. Two tiles have been coloured in with marker pen(sharpies) to make them look the same. They don't :-)  Fancy curtains, it's eighties hell.   The WC next to the Bathroom.  The doors into both rooms.  The modern boiler, in a big cupboard  The view looking downstairs.  Now for the bedrooms, front bedroom number 1, sorry for the poor stitch.  Front bedroom 2, thats a queen size bed btw.  I love the wardrobes in here, although the wallpapered doors are bad.  Look inside.  I have a funny feeling the original carpenter who owned the place built these, sliding shoe drawers.  Thats all for the moment, I have to take some photos in daylight, as the amount of stuff has decreased in a huge way. Of course this takes its toll on the emotions, I have been in varying states of happy, sad, angry, and general malaise over how much work there is still to do and how seemingly unending the piles of stored crap are. But today I had my spirits lifted by something unexpected and so amazingly cute that I have to share it.  This little guy popped out to say hello, it's so cute, I love the little stripe across its nose. I think it's a woodmouse, which would make sense as he appears to live in the woodshed attached to the house. Cheers guys. More to come tomorrow.
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Feb 9, 2013 22:38
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Tiglath III posted:
That mousey is super cute. Hopefully he and his live strictly outside of the house. I really like the window you have in your stair landing.
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Feb 9, 2013 23:09
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A few shots of the amount of clearance carried out so far.   
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Feb 10, 2013 21:38
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