A new home and a new renovation project: plans for our 19th-century stone cottage

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I haven’t posted anything for the past couple of weeks because something big has been happening behind the scenes: we’ve moved house! And not only that, we’ve relocated from Bristol to the beautiful market town of Bradford on Avon, set just outside Bath on the edge of the Cotswolds.

Chris and I had lived in quirky, creative Bristol for 30 and 24 years respectively, and we will always have a soft spot for it. But for a while we’d found ourselves craving somewhere quieter and more rural, and when we realised we were spending most weekends trying to escape the city rather than making the most of it, we knew it was time for a change. 

Bradford on Avon suits us perfectly. It’s where my parents have lived since 2020, but we’d been drawn towards it long before they arrived. It’s picture-postcard pretty, with a cluster of higgledy-piggledy Bath-stone cottages and elegant Georgian townhouses rising up a hillside from the banks of the River Avon. It’s brimming with history (there’s a Roman villa, a 7^th-century Saxon church, an ancient tithe barn and plenty of cosy pubs), but it’s also full of life. It has an array of cafes, bars and restaurants, and when we need a city fix Bath is only 10 minutes away by train. What’s more, Chris can commute back to his job in Bristol in just over half an hour. 

Our new home

Home is now a 19^th-century Bath-stone cottage, and we’re already relishing living away from the city. When we look out of the windows we see trees and other cottages rather than neon-lit takeaways, we have open countryside at the end of our street, and I spot birds of prey circling above our garden most days. Once darkness falls the stars overhead are spectacular, and the soundtrack to our nights is the gentle hooting of owls rather than the constant hum of traffic. 

The house itself is a renovation project and in desperate need of some TLC after more than a year standing empty and decades as a rental before that, but we could see its potential as soon as we visited. It has great flow, lots of interesting nooks, wonderfully deep windowsills and beautiful soft light throughout – in fact the stonework seems to glow when the sun shines. It’s smaller than our previous Victorian terrace in Bristol, but we took the decision to downsize to a cheaper place and use the difference in price to do it up how we want, rather than buying somewhere the same size or larger and not having the funds to make it our own. 

It took a twist of fate for us to find this particular house, however. It had already been on the market for quite a while when we started our property search back in spring, and although we liked the look of it from the outside, we discounted it because it was overpriced for its size. We then fell in love with a listed 17^th-century cottage a little further up the same street, but that turned out to have major problems with the roof and we pulled out of negotiations when the owner refused to budge on price. That same week this place was reduced by £25k, so we arranged a viewing, made an offer and, after a painful six-month conveyancing process with numerous delays beneath us in the chain, we finally moved in last week. They say things happen for a reason, and I have no doubt that we’ve ended up in the home that was always supposed to be ours.

Our renovation plans

The upside of being stuck in such a drawn-out chain was having plenty of time to plan what we want to do with the house. Structurally it’s in good condition, but décor-wise it’s bland, scruffy and unloved. There are scuffed magnolia and apricot-coloured walls, horrible grey carpets, and thick layers of yellowing gloss paint covering every centimetre of woodwork. The kitchen and bathroom are also very dated, with broken units, limescale-clogged taps and ripped lino underfoot. In fact, the whole place looks more like a 1980s student flat than an 1880s cottage inside!

Our aim is to breathe some life and soul back into the place, reveal its period character, and create a calm sanctuary that combines our soft minimalist style with nods to the building’s setting and history. We’re not planning to extend or change the layout, however, as it suits us just the way it is. We much prefer broken-plan living to open-plan living, and that’s exactly what this house offers. Downstairs it has a separate living room, dining room and kitchen, but each flows straight off the other, creating the perfect balance between cosiness and connection. Upstairs, there’s a bathroom and three bedrooms, the smallest of which will become a home office. 

The décor will be neutral and uncluttered, but a little more rustic and textural than in our previous home. For the colour and material palette we’re drawing inspiration from the Bath stone of the exterior walls, reflecting its honeyed tones in beiges and off-whites with a gentle underlying warmth. There will be lots of linen, oak and stone, and we’re planning to break up the paler hues with a few dark brown accents and patinated bronze fixtures and fittings. The clean-lined Scandinavian design and contemporary abstract art that I so love will be ever present, but there will be a sprinkling of antique pieces, too. 

Central to the scheme is the flooring, and that’s going to form one of the biggest changes. We want to use the same flooring throughout the house to enhance the sense of flow between the various rooms, so we were delighted to come across Quick-Step’s hardwood ‘Cascada’ range. It’s fully waterproof, meaning it’s suitable for the kitchen and even the bathroom, and it comes in elegant wide planks that will give the illusion of more space than we actually have.  What’s more, we used Quick-Step hardwood flooring in our previous home and know from experience that it’s easy to fit – another big plus, as we’ll be installing it ourselves to keep costs down. 

Thanks to a kind estate agent who arranged for us to have access to the house several times before we officially owned it, we had plenty of opportunity to test out Quick-Step ‘Cascada’ samples in situ. We eventually opted for the ‘Wintry Forest Oak’ colourway, whose pale white tones interact beautifully with the light in every room. It’s extra-matt, which creates a soft, organic look and a wonderful textural feel underfoot, and it has visible knots and variations in keeping with the rustic-minimalist aesthetic we’re aiming for. 

Another major change will be the windows. The house currently has UPVC windows, which aren’t technically allowed as it’s a conservation area with strict guidelines on external finishes. We’re not sure how the previous owner got away with them, but we want to do the house and the street justice by replacing them with timber sash windows similar to what would have been here originally. They’re not cheap and it will carve a huge chunk out of our budget, but it will make a big difference both inside and out. 

I’ll be sharing our renovation progress here and over on Instagram, so do follow along if you want to see what we do. I’m hoping to provide plenty of helpful advice and inspiration along the way, whether you’re embarking on a similar project yourself or simply looking for some decor ideas.

All photography by Abi Dare

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