12 midnight. 12 MIDNIGHT! He'd been zedding for two hours by the time I finished sorting my poor broken corbel, but I definitely went to bed a happy stripper. Whilst we were taking apart Moregeous Mansions ready to be rebuilt again, one of the hallway corbels, a gorgeous original plaster wall feature, had literally dropped... Continue Reading →
Do Up Diary #72 Vaulted Ceiling Anyone?!
Flat ceilings are all very well and good but there's something magical about an exposed roof line where the steep pitched sides meet at a high internal peak to create extra volume to the space and a feeling of light and airiness. Think barn conversion, soaring church roof interior, think..... cathedral. If we're going to be... Continue Reading →
Do Up Diary #67: Taking It From The Top….
Where would you lay your head? At the very top of Moregeous Mansions sits the daddy dormer, looking out onto the new half of the house we've just re-built, i.e. from the window you can see in the picture above on the left. Our view in above is from the hallway door entrance. It's a... Continue Reading →
Do Up Diary #63 How to expose old brickwork for that bare brick effect
So you saw our exposed brick where and why last week and now I can show you some of the hows too! We're well underway creating the bare brick feature walls in the hallway and landings at Moregeous Mansions and it's been a very dusty, dirty couple of weeks. Not only did we need to remove three... Continue Reading →
Do Up Diary #59 How to rescue original wallpaper from old, blown plaster
We're lucky to have lots of original period features here at Moregeous Mansions because the house, unlike many in this area of Manchester, hasn't been butchered by an HMO landlord. Coving and cornice, picture rail, fireplaces and corbels have all survived the decades as has the first floor and landing hallway wallpaper in the main... Continue Reading →
Do Up Diary #49 Yep, it’s snowing. In the house!
OMG it's freezing in here!!! Yep, we have the only house in Manchester where it's actually snowing inside. It's whipping up a storm in the windowless Daddy Dormer with an endless battle against the wind tearing off the temporary membrane. But yes, it does look pretty out there. You can tell from Builder Cat's wide... Continue Reading →
Do Up Diary #46 : A January 2015 catch up of our Manchester renovation & build
It's been a very long few months since we demolished half our home in August 2014. The old 'West Wing' section, once stables with living quarters above, and built to the side of the main house, was falling down, structurally unsound, damp and cold. Coupled with the main house becoming virtually uninhabitable - no heating,... Continue Reading →