A bit more of the 'Before and After'!

Part One
When I actually decided to take on the challenge of this house it was late March, blo*dy cold and I'd been house hunting for some time. I paid the 'holding deposit' on the 28th March and prepared to leave for my journey back to the UK to get packed up. My house there had sold in SIX days so the only problem was the packing. That's when 'Sod's Law' took over andthe night before I should have left for my drive back to Calais the old ticker said "No way Jose" and I didn't get back to the UK for NINE months!

But the thought of 'the house' and what - in my mind's eye I could see - stopped me giving up during those dark days in hospital.... Everyone told me I was 'nuts' to take on such a project and a house that verged on being a ruin. Well they didn't have the crystal ball that I have - that was obvious.

Here are some photo's that were taken on the day I put down the deposit (Before) and the result when the work inside was completed (After).

Let's start with the ground floor cellar - this had a door off the hall and steps leading down to the floor about 5ft deep....it was FULL to floor level with broken bottles and the walls were like this.



This is how it is now....(soory about the 'dark' photo...)



Then of course there was the shallow, but high fireplace in the living room.... It was nothing more ore that a 'down draught' chimney that actually allowed snow and rain into the room! And there was no way I could live with an open fire again - I'd been there and done that in my younger days - but no more!


But with the new fire and fireplace I bought over from the UK and the other 'odds and sods' it's now like this...





The stairs going up to the roof were - to say the least - dreadful. This was the lower part and above it was just a broken down ladder leading to the under roof. The girl is my neice Daniela:



And now those stairs are like this:


I reckon that's enough for now...I've taken up enough of your time (you can wake up now). I'll finish the 'sort of tour' another day! So if you would like to see more - just watch this space!

posted by Carole B @ 5:17 PM