We encountered a big problem with scaffolding that needed a small solution. The full saga is detailed on this post about our scaffolding license woes.  We eventual convinced “the man” from the council to let us errect a skinny scaffold or 2 board scaffold.  It’s the only sensible way we could get the access and saftey […]

See the “ONE Year On” progress report video here. We’ve had lots of interest in our little cottage project, both on here and people physically walking past the cottage and being given a tour. So, one year on , here’s an update on our progress so far.  We’re hopeful to have a further video of […]

That’s one big job for the Whitby Cottage restoration done. The new timber beam and column to support the bathroom is now installed.  As usual I didn’t go for the easy option.  I felled the tree, hand hewed it to a beam and a column, and now it’s fitted ready for me to start rebuilding the floors above. […]

The last room of the Whitby Cottage to get stripped back is the Kitchen. Being up there on my own means the kitchen is virtually redundant.  As long as I’ve got running water somewhere, kettle and microwave, I’m OK.  It was time for the last few discoveries. Unlike an onion, the room gets bigger as […]

A bit of background:  The Whitby Cottage renovation /restoration needs a new beam to support the bathroom floor, (read Whitby Cottage Floor in Need of Support), how it’s lasted as long as it has with a cast iron bath in up there I don’t know.  The plan to make new, additional beam with a column in […]

Oh the joys of dealing with bureaucracy! Roofer booked, Scaffolder booked new roof in the beginning of October. So we were foolish enough to think until the Local Authority steps in. Our street is very narrow, the cottage is not very tall. The LA want a height clearance of five metres if the scaffold is […]

(All the details for for the chimney rebuilding are here on the main iDoDtuff site) The second of the top floor double bedrooms will be cosy. We are erecting a stud wall to form a passage to the master bedroom. It will easily fit a double bed but we want to make it as large […]

Back to the drawing board!!!!! I have accepted defeat. Our bathroom cannot accommodate the bathroom I had envisaged when the Stuff Doer said we could fit in a seperate shower. In fairness, he had thought of a way to fit one in, we could even keep the old bath! On paper it looked great and […]

We have recently returned from the first part of our summer “holiday”. Obviously, getting my priorities in order, the first outing with the youngest two was a visit to the local auction rooms (it was the last few hours of viewing before the sale!)  Among the things of interest was a pair of books entitled […]

I really don’t know where all the time goes. The six week holidays have flown by in a whirling dervish of full family Whitby visits, kid’s birthday parties, kids’ flying visits to Congleton (thanks B&G) and Stuff Doer’s lone weekends at the cottage making it safe for us to visit. There have also been numerous […]