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THE
FARMHOUSE - Living Room
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Initially
the living room had been seperated into two rooms, the
rear one being a bedroom. As you can see from the photo's
below, they were in pretty dire condition. The rear
of the house had no doorway - just a window which was
just above the outside ground level. In the main room
you can still see the outline of the grandfather clock
- sadly that had long gone. The stove, however, had
been too heavy to move and was repositioned in the new
kitchen.
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The
photo below left is the front of the room, with the
doorway leading through to the kitchen. The below right
photo was taken after removing the wall to make the
entire living area into one space. The old granite sink
has been retained. The whole room had, once again, been
plastered at some stage - we knew this room was going
to generate a lot of rubble!
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Fireplace
and timberwork cleaned and the hearth wall replastered.
The chimney had been relined with stainless steel flue
liner - no small feat in itself. I used 1 metre fixed
sections, not something that I would attempt again.
Flexible liner is cheaper, more manageable and easier
to mount - also less dangerous in a chimney that is
over 12 metres high. I had used rigid sections in the
second cottage and nearly lost a finger when one came
adrift and plummeted 8 metres down the chimney - I didn't
move my hand quickly enough! The exterior of the rear
of the house was also excavated to remove the damp problems
from the rear wall and to allow for a rear doorway onto
a small patio area.
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The
rear of the room finished and flooring laid. The staircase
is still the original one, sanded and repaired with
some additional finishing strips of timber to clean
up the edges which had deteriored. The addtional oak
uprights were added to take the stair rail which would
be fitted later. At the front of the room was a small
doorway leading to the first barn. This is eventually
going to be the music room, so the doorway height had
to be raised, new oak lintels put in place and the gap
between the lintels plastered (common practice in properties
from this era).
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new doorway to what will be the music room. |
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The
doorway to the kitchen with new oak door. The size was
not standard and because of the layout of the stone
lintel it had to be mounted with the hinges already
in place on the stonework, before the door could actually
be attached to them. I made the door with new solid
oak boards from a woodyard in the Vienne region. Total
cost - around £25 including the hinges! On the
right is the almost finished room - just awaiting the
furniture and a new oak shelf for the fireplace.
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