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
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 andATHENA’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!70www.sbhonline.co.uk july/august 2019