'This place has so much potential' – how our old cottage is finally becoming the home we saw in our heads the first time we walked through its crooked old doorway
This is when the house begins to come together as a home
Committed home renovators David and Andrew Harrison-Colley (better known on Instagram as The Home Boys) are part of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing their thoughts on making a home together and living through the tricky parts. See the rest of their articles here.
The beginning of the year always feels like a fresh start, but this year that feeling is literally built into our walls. After months focused on the extension - finishing the living spaces, building the new bedrooms, and getting the kitchen functioning - we’re finally turning our attention to the oldest part of the cottage.
This isn’t just another phase of the renovation. This is the chapter where the house begins to come together as one home - the new and the old woven into a single story.
Why the old layout had to go
Like many period cottages, the original layout of our home had its quirks. A tiny kitchen squeezed awkwardly into a corner. A bathroom that felt out of proportion for the two smaller bedrooms - like an afterthought. The smallest bedroom never quite found its purpose.
Living here through the renovation has made us realise how much the flow of a home shapes the way you feel in it. The old layout simply didn’t support the life we live now - or the home we’re trying to create.
So, this phase begins with bold decisions:
- Removing the old kitchen
- Removing the old bathroom
- Creating a new hallway to open the space and improve the circulation
- Reworking the old bedroom and part of the bathroom footprint to build a new main bedroom with ensuite
It feels like both an undoing and a rebuilding - clearing out the compromises to make room for something that finally makes sense.
Designing a bedroom that feels like an exhale
We’ve always imagined the main bedroom as the calmest part of the house - somewhere grounded, quiet, familiar. Not a showpiece, but a room that makes you breathe differently when you walk into it.
The vision so far:
- Warm neutrals with soft variation
- A simple, slightly rustic feel without going full cottagecore
- Natural textures woven through furniture and textiles
- Subtle vintage touches - a worn wood bedside, a mirror with patina
- Gentle lighting, nothing harsh
- A layout that centres rest rather than storage overflow
The ensuite will echo the tones of the upstairs bathroom in the extension, but with its own identity - maybe warmer, maybe more traditional, definitely timeless.
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Lessons we’re bringing into this phase
The extension taught us a lot, and this time we’re paying attention to what worked - and what we’d do differently.
- Lighting early, not late: planning it now instead of wrestling with it once the plaster’s up
- Storage that respects the room, not storage for storage’s sake
- Choosing finishes slowly instead of in a hurry because we have one free weekend to tile starting tomorrow
- Mixing vintage with new intentionally, not just because we found a great piece and want it somewhere
- Being realistic about timelines - the last 10% takes the longest, but also makes the biggest difference
- Finishing ceilings before doing anything else. We’ve learned this lesson more than once
Every phase has its frustrations, but each one also sharpens your taste, your confidence, your clarity.
Why phased renovation actually works
It’s easy to feel impatient when your home is evolving room by room, season by season. But there’s a quiet power in renovation that unfolds slowly.
When you live in a space as you build it, you learn what it actually needs.
You notice where light falls.
Where you naturally walk.
Where clutter gathers.
What feels calm.
What doesn’t.
If we’d designed this phase at the beginning, before living in the extension, we would have made completely different decisions - and not necessarily better ones.
Phased renovation gives you the gift of hindsight before you need it.
2026: The year the house comes together
This year feels different - not because everything will suddenly be finished, but because the pieces are finally connecting. The extension is no longer a stand-alone project. The old cottage is no longer a problem to solve.
Together, they’re becoming the home we saw in our heads the first time we walked through that crooked old doorway and thought, “This has so much potential.”
There’s a long road ahead - floors to lay, walls to paint, beams to finish, decisions to make - but this is the phase that feels the most exciting. This is the moment the house stops being separate chapters and becomes one whole story.
And we can’t wait to tell it.
