Dee and Steph Maunders moved from North London to the historic Suffolk town of Clare three years ago. Their new home, dating back to 1580, has stunning views across the Suffolk countryside and backs onto the Chiltern Stream.
Renovation Work
The house looked quite different when Dee and Steph first moved in, however, and it needed a massive amount of work.
Dee is a qualified builder, having years of experience running his own brickwork and building company. He undertook the structural work that needed doing, including the replacement of decaying beams which had previously been filled with concrete. The exterior walls were given a new sheeps wool render and lime wash.
Now the new beams are gradually silvering in tone with the remaining original beams.
Period Features
Inside the property, there has been less structural work needed. Rooms have been decorated, adding sympathetic period details in keeping with the house.
There are so many surprises in the house - interesting original features with historical stories.
The sitting room has a stunning fire place, originally an embattled carved bressumer, dating back to the 13th century and most likely originally from Clare Priory - the medieval monastic house of the Augustinian order which is located nearby.
When pulling up the floor in the sitting room, Dee found this well preserved brick floor, which he cleaned and re-laid.
These crenellations on the beamwork are fabulous.
The left hand side of the corridor, shown below, was the original entrance to the house. This side of the house now faces a separate neighbouring property, built in later years.
Upon close investigation, stud and architraving holes can be found in the old beams - showing where doors and windows were previously hung.
The rustic arched door to the sitting room still has its original ring latch.
Rustic Kitchen
In the kitchen, Dee has replaced all of the cupboards with rustic ledge and brace doors. He used old, full-sized pine ledge and brace doors, cutting them down to size.
The planks from these doors were also used to make shelving with internally fitted spot lights. Dee used our vintage inspired cast iron GNER Shelf Brackets - perfect rustic style.
The cupboards were finished off with our Pewter Arrow End T Hinges and Pewter Beaten Cabinet Knobs.
It has taken almost three years to complete the renovations, with more work planned for the garden - just in time for hopefully another hot summer!
Thanks for showing us around your gorgeous home, Dee & Steph.
