the loft and installed a new boiler system to accommodate the size of the house. “For everything else we just tried to use natural materials so we weren’t imprinting too much,” she explains. “And with the woodburners you don’t really need the rest of the heating – I’m just a very cold person!”
BUMPS IN THE ROAD Naturally, it being a renovation of an existing property, unforeseen hurdles were thrown into the mix. They found the joists supporting the
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bathroom on the first floor of the cottage didn’t comply with today’s regulations, being neither wide enough nor fitted correctly. “If we’d filled the bath with water it would have gone straight through!” There were also other areas where “we just had to flex, we couldn’t get exactly what we wanted,” Athena says. They had planned to add a downstairs toilet in the boot room but connecting it to a drain would have proved complicated and costly. They also couldn’t move a wall as originally planned, but, says Athena, their architect Paul would “come down, talk with the builders and redesign it. You’ve got to be able to not panic.” The project also took slightly longer than they anticipated due to a couple of delays. They started in April 2016 and the bulk of the work was finished in August 2018, although “you never really finish!” Athena jokes. The project came to a complete halt while they were waiting on the custom-made windows. “We were told it would be six weeks, but it took five and a half months,” she explains. “My dad actually went down and worked with the carpenter to try and speed it up!”
A couple of minor errors were made, such as the water draining the wrong way in one of the wetrooms, away from the drain, meaning the floor had to be redone. They also changed builders at multiple points throughout the project – “they kept getting stumped and
ATHENA’S ADVICE
Choose your architect carefully – make sure they are on your wavelength, are listening to you, and that what they do is aligned with what you like.
Don’t be afraid to set a budget and make sure your architect sticks to it. It’s easy to go over budget, so remind yourself what’s important
Spend money in the right places – don’t cut corners on things like windows and doors
Think carefully about how you will live in the house and how you want it to work
If you’re not experienced, get someone else to project manage!
july/august 2019
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