I'm going to start with this one, because I had a lovely email from the couple who took on the gorgeous Mount Pleasant (above), in the Cotswold village of Painswick, after seeing it on 'Wreck' three years ago ("Many thanks for leading us to what has been a magical place to live", wrote Alice).
Here's my original post.
I wrote at the time about how this pretty two-bed cottage had bobbed in and out of estate agent's lists, despite its lovely location and views.
Alice and John-Paul who took Mount Pleasant on, did a LOT of work and pretty much all of it themselves. Stripping out three-inch thick concrete plaster from the living room and replacing it with massively superior lime; exposing an original fireplace found behind stud walls; installing an upstairs bathroom and raising ceilings to expose beams and create light and height, and generally opening up the space. Lovely job.
Here's the before and after of the reconfigured layout:
And outside, that drab garden with potential is starting to really make the most of those lovely views, as the picture at the top of this post and the before and after below show.
However, Mount Pleasant is now back on the market, as Alice explained:
We renovated it expecting to live here for a long time but having just had our second baby (our first was born just a few months after we moved in) we realise we need more space and do not have the energy left to extend.
As someone who is also gearing up to sell a house we've been renovating and living in for the past six years, I appreciate that whole running out of steam thing. Sometimes the joy is in doing the work and seeing the house reveal itself in all its hidden gorgeousness, as other 'Wreck' renovators have said, but life moves you on.
And if your hard work delivers a decent renovation profit, that's a plus too ; )
I also want to give a shout-out to some Wreck readers who are blogging about their own renovations, some renovating properties I've featured, but all with really interesting renovation stories to tell.
Caroline in the Scottish Highlands is a serial renovator (and frequently sends me other gorgeous crofts she comes across). She has three renovations - her own home, Ethel's House (now a holiday let) and Tor Aluinn - and is now helping on the revamp of the local village hall. Phew!
Ethel's House was one of a bunch of Scottish crofts I featured back in 2015 - this three-bed at Armadale:
Caroline has done an AMAZING job on it:
And the detailing of the work on Ethel's House is really inspiring, with lots of useful information for anyone taking on a similar Scottish project (also, I love her paint choices!). Her blog is The House Hoarder and well worth spending an afternoon browsing and making notes if you're thinking of going down the renovate to holiday let route.
Finally, Robin's blog 2bedroomterraced is also packed with tips and ideas for anyone who, like him, may be looking to buy and renovate multiple properties to sell. It's a great behind-the-scenes look from someone starting out on the renovate-develop journey and the sort of problems you're likely to tackle along the way.