Watching Pheasants

We have created this blog so our friends and family can follow mine and Sarah’s journey as we renovate our first house. We’ll be posting pictures along the way and keep you all informed of what we’re up to. Except for the times when we take a well deserved tea break where we spend most of our time watching pheasants.

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The majority of recent work carried out on the house has felt a bit like we've been going backwards, with many rooms taken back to their bare bones. In some cases, we've had to go farther than that! Anyone who owns a home built in the early 20th century will no doubt be familiar with the lath and plaster style walls, and this is what we've encountered throughout out house.

In many of the rooms, the plaster was loose and starting to come off the walls. Since the house needs rewiring anyway, we made the decision to remove all the plaster and slats and basically build brand new walls using plasterboard. As you can see on the images above, we really are having to go backwards to go forwards! 

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It was an exciting day at Pheasant HQ recently as the double glazing was installed. We opted for french doors at the back to create more light, and to also enable us to open both sets of doors so we can sit and admire the views over the summer months.

In the bathroom we opted for clear glass which, in case you were wondering, is perfectly legal. This now means we can also admire the view from this room too after previously being unable to see out.

As with any job, make sure you shop around and get various quotes, and go with the company you are the most comfortable with, not always the company who are the cheapest. We were treated appallingly by some of the better known companies, with some never even bothering to send out a quote. In the end we went for West Yorkshire based Coral Windows, who were not only the friendliest, but also did a superb job in fitting the windows at a very reasonable price. 

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Considering this blog is called Watching Pheasants, we thought it only right that we actually include pictures of some pheasants. These were taken on a recent trip to Sandsend, which is just north of Whitby in Yorkshire. The first photo was captured as we took a drive along through the North York Moors, whilst the following photos were all taken on the grounds of the hotel in which we stayed: The Woodlands, Sandsend. For those of you who've never been to that part of the world we can highly recommend a trip up there, and I'd definitely recommend staying at The Woodlands.

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The master bedroom was one of the rooms that needs the least work doing to it. A lot of the changes are mainly going to be aesthetic, although today we revealed that there was an original fireplace in the corner of the bedroom! The next stage therefore will be to remove the plaster and see if it can be made into a feature. The floorboards which we'd originally dismissed are also in very good condition and could potentially be used given a sand and a varnish.  

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One of the main reasons, if not the main reason, we fell in love with the house was it's stunning views. Anyone who knows the area will know how beautiful Flockton and the surrounding areas are, and we're lucky enough to look out onto these views. A lot of the work we're doing to the house is to maximise these views, so we can be looking out onto them as much as possible. Those with a keen eye will spot Emley Moor mast, and you may even be able to spot a Pheasant or two!

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The cellar was previously only accessible by taking the outside steps and entering through the ground external door. The original stairs had been covered up with floorboards to create a cover that had been used to house the fridge-freezer. As Sarah and I want to use the cellar as living space though, having to constantly go outside obviously wasn't feesible, so we decided to open up the exisiting stairs.

We did this using a crow bar and a sledgehammer. It was hard work, but really was worth it! As this was the first step we have taken to really mould the house into the image we have, this was probably the first time it started to feel like our home. 

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We're now up and running on Twitter too so you'll never miss a blog post. Follow us @pheasantwatcher

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This shows the house in it's original state. As you can see, it was stuck in a 1960's timewarp, with lots of dated floral wallpapers and an avocado bathroom suite. A lot of the original features had also been covered up: from the wood panelled doors to the fireplace in the kitchen. As we move from room to room we'll show you in more detail the transformation it has gone under.

[watchingpheasants]

We have created this blog so our friends and family can follow mine and Sarah's journey as we renovate our first house.

We'll be posting pictures along the way and keep you all informed of what we're up to. Except for the times when we take a well deserved tea break where we spend most of our time watching pheasants.