When interior CHARM COTTAGE. Case study. SelFBuild

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1 COTTAGE SelFBuild & design Case study CHARM A 400-year-old cottage set in five acres of lush countryside may sound idyllic but it took Ian Buckingham and Nicholas Morgan two years of hard toil to return the cottage to its photogenic best. STORY AND PICTURES: ALEXANDRA PRATT When interior designers Ian Buckingham and Nicholas Morgan moved to Cornwall from London, they were looking for their dream country retreat. They found a cottage situated on the rugged Lizard Peninsula that certainly seemed to fit the bill: six bedrooms, a self-contained flat, a huge garden and a pretty setting. It was also perfectly habitable and, on the surface at least, not in bad shape if you didn t mind it feeling like a pub dark interiors, with beams to match. The cottage was hundreds of years old, but at some point in the mid 20th century it had been abandoned, as it was roofless and derelict by the 1970s. It had been saved by previous owners, who had also converted the attached barn into living accommodation. Yet there was much more that could be Click here for more Case Studies from SelFBuild & design

2 caption done to improve it and Ian and Nicholas saw the property s potential immediately. Planning permission was not required for the couple s plans to revamp the cottage, which included a major overhaul of the living space significantly changing the room configuration as well as insulating, re-wiring, re-plumbing and tackling essential repairs. The first jobs were all about securing the fabric of the cottage, both inside and out. The ancient lintels were stripped and repainted, the ridge tiles on the roof replaced, and new aluminium guttering installed to ensure there was no rainwater run-off onto the walls, which could potentially create damp. The latter was a matter of urgency, as the original parts of the cottage are built in cob, a mixture of clay, sand, straw and water that has been used mainly in the West Country and parts of Wales for centuries. There has been a resurgence in popularity of the material in the past 20 years, thanks to its eco credentials low impact (particularly if taken from the surrounding land), largely fireproof, and excellent thermal properties. Cob keeps a home cosy in winter and cool in NOVEMBER 2013 SELFBUILD & DESIGN 79

3 summer. It is also extremely durable, as Nicholas and Ian s cottage shows, but it does need to be maintained correctly, which means keeping water away from it. In Cornwall, however, as anyone familiar with the county will know only too well, the rain is frequently horizontal. With this in mind, Ian and Nicholas chose a microporous paint for the exterior walls, as it keeps the water out but allows the building to breathe. Attention to the cob structure did not finish there. The chimney pot needed re-pointing; a simple enough job, but over the years, water had seeped down the interior of the cob wall in what is now the kitchen, which had led to a big crack and some bulging. At first it was feared that the problem may be structural. Fortunately, when the lime render was stripped away, Ian and Nicholas found the moisture had simply found its way between The lounge, formerly the kitchen, has retained its original slate flooring. New carpentry throughout the cottage includes panelling, which houses the electrics. the two materials and blown the lime. This was stripped off, and the old cob wall re-rendered, again in lime. The cottage has been enlarged over the years, with a Victorian extension creating what is now the kitchen, and, at the other end, a link to the barn. It was here that Ian and Nicholas tackled the first of the two major internal reworkings. A self-contained flat had already been created on the upper storey of the barn but Ian and Nicholas were tip "Be patient. The thing about renovating old properties is that lime render and pointing take longer than modern methods. You have to go with it. Be sensitive to the fabric of the building." 80 SELFBUILD & DESIGN NOVEMBER 2013

4 not happy with the quality of the work, so they started by tearing down the ceiling which had been fitted in the 1980s. Exposing the beams was very exciting, says Ian. With the barn s original A-frame now exposed and giving a much greater sense of space, a new stud wall was installed along with foil-backed insulation boards wherever they could be accommodated. This included 100mm on the exterior walls, 100mm in the roof and 80mm in the new internal stud wall. Battens were attached to the interiors of the exposed walls, and plasterboard added at the upper level, with wainscoting below. The original solid cob walls of the property required no additional insulation. This place is warm, without any heat, says Ian. This remains the case despite the fact that the Aga was removed when the kitchen and sitting rooms were swapped. The kitchen is now in the small, but lighter Victorian extension, which opens onto the terrace, whilst the larger sitting room, with its low beamed ceiling, lends itself to a more formal and intimate environment. The switch required extensive plumbing and electrical works which were carried out as part of the re-wiring and re-plumbing of the entire property. The heating now runs NOVEMBER 2013 SELFBUILD & DESIGN 81

5 on a two boiler system, with an oil-fired boiler providing hot water and central heating for the barn section (which includes the flat and bedroom, and studio below), and new electric immersion heating providing water for the main cottage. The log burner is fuelled from timber grown on the couple s own land, and the pair constantly talk about installing other energy saving appliances. The initial cost is an issue and we need to find the most suitable alternative, says Ian. We do have LED lighting throughout now, which costs virtually nothing to run. The other part of the interior building works involved remodelling the ground floor of the barn from a twobedroom and shower room layout to a spacious studio for Ian. This space needed to be light and airy, so the couple replaced the existing windows in both this room and the remaining adjoining ground-floor guest bedroom with more contemporary timber-framed glazed doors, which now flood the rooms with light. This is where Ian works when he isn t lecturing, and the studio is his favourite part of the property. I love the space and the contrast, he says. The cottage has small windows, but the office has big doors onto the garden, Above: The couple chose walnut and green marble worktops for an understated look in the kitchen. We don t like bling they say. Left: The new contemporary three-pane windows transform the studio. Right: Fuelled from their own land, the wood burner is the main source of heating for the oldest part of the cottage. 82 SELFBUILD & DESIGN NOVEMBER 2013

6 The b Above: Mixing old and new has created a timeless style. Right: There is now a natural flow from the old cottage into the former barn. Left: Both wood and labour for the new shutters and window seats were locally sourced. which feels very different. The remainder of the cottage has been refurbished throughout, with a new cloakroom and some excellent bespoke joinery, including new window shutters and sills by local carpenter Richard Hurst. Ian upcycled an attractive piece of tulip wood as a window seat and all the materials were sourced locally. The property is now cosy and welcoming, with more convenient and rational four-bedroom accommodation, plus the studio and the flat. With two professional designers running the project, you might assume it was planned and run as meticulously as it would be for a client. In reality however, and partly as they lived in the cottage during all the works (even when there were large holes in walls and the rain was lashing down), the restoration was done in stages. We didn t do it in the most efficient manner, admits Ian, but we did share a vision. That vision has been realised in a high quality finish with cleverly introduced contemporary elements, such as the forest green marble and walnut Above: This guest room has the same style of glazed door as the studio. Right: The main bathroom is fitted with period sanitaryware NOVEMBER 2013 SELFBUILD & DESIGN 83

7 worktops in the kitchen, a single large glass panel on the staircase and the new ground floor WC. Farrow and Ball s Bone is a stylish and understated colour for the main living areas, while the dark blue/grey in the kitchen makes lighter elements really jump out. Nicholas and Ian s approach to restoring the cottage is organic and sympathetic, rather than prescriptive. We didn t want to live in a museum explains Ian. We are conserving, rather than preserving, and extending the cottage s life. While the job of restoring the cottage is now largely complete, Nicholas and Ian s future plans include a contemporary cedar-clad extension which is in the design stage. In the meantime, they are very much enjoying their Cornish country idyll after two years of hard work. Home truths What was your biggest challenge? Living in it during the renovation. It s a subliminal challenge, coping with dust and holes in the wall when it rains. What was the high point? Knocking though the wall into the barn. You could see through the different levels and it felt like part of the house already. Your most extravagant purchase? The extractor fan in the kitchen! It s flush and invisible and doesn t impact on the space. And your best buy? The marble work surface on the kitchen island, which came from GMC on the Lizard Peninsula. Above: Extensive landscaping has reduced the impact of the rising land level and brought more light into the rear of the cottage, which is now fit for another 400 years. Contacts PROJECT Builder (demolition, plaster work and lime render) Paul Bishop, Helston: Lime and cob products Cornish Lime Company Bodmin: , cornishlime.co.uk FIXTURES AND FITTINGS Joiner Richard Hurst, Helston: Electrical Contact Electrical, Leedstown: Plumbing Mark Beech, Plumbrite, Helston: , plumbrite.org Paint (external walls) Beeckosil Mineral Silicate paint: beeck.com Marble Granite Marble Co Ltd, Helston: Click here for more Case Studies from SelFBuild & design