Cent Kennedy includes a happy knack of summoning up magic when she needs it, in a manner that rarely transpires with others. When she what food was in a crossroads in her own existence and faced many difficult decisions, a buddy known as to state she’d found the right cottage on her to purchase.
Continue reading to learn how Cent transformed numerous obstacles to purchase and restore the beautiful three-bed room Victorian cottage within the Scottish Highlands.
‘I was unwilling to visit it for a lot of reasons,’ states Cent. ‘I only agreed to be going to put my company and residential available on the market, that we understood would make time to sell. The cottage already were built with a closing date and that i didn’t have money to purchase anything until I’d offered.’
After much persuasion Cent went to check out the cottage. ‘The instant I drove in the lane to the course and saw the cottage high in hillside in front of me, I felt so strongly this was home,’ states Cent. ‘It was the right size, within the perfect location, facing south having a lovely garden. Within it was sweet, well looked after, filled with character coupled with immense charm.’
Cent was conscious that she couldn’t enhance the money through the usual channels so made the decision to set up the best bargain she could with the hope that her business could be offered over time. It had been a lengthy shot but worth a go.
In the final moment, your day the offers were due in, a buddy emailed her to state he felt the cottage needed to be hers, he would lend her the cash and she or he could pay him when her business was offered. ‘It would be a gesture of supreme kindness, generosity and trust,’ states Cent. ‘And it altered my existence completely when i could make a deal around the cottage also it was recognized.’
Five days later Cent got the keys and began to maneuver in her own favourite pieces piece by piece. Although happy to exist, she wasn’t inside a hurry to begin any renovations. ‘I did, however, need somewhere to create and paint,’ she states.
Despite getting cut lower 14 trees along with a huge hedge throughout the house, Cent didn’t have sufficient garden to place a studio. ‘I contacted the neighborhood club and requested basically could purchase a small strip of land near the cottage,’ she states. The club agreed and Cent commissioned architect Colin Cruz, from CASA, to attract in the plans for any studio.
‘We also came up intends to take away the water tank in the attic room within the cottage to produce a sitting area as well as an upstairs bathroom,’ she adds. ‘The only bathroom as much as that time was downstairs at the rear of the home. And That I needed additional space for storage within the attic room.’
Another essential feature around the plans would be a new west-facing window within the family room. ‘This was to benefit from the vista lower the glen and produce light right into a rather dark sitting area,’ explains Cent. ‘Finally we came up intends to turn the garage right into a self-catering studio-cum-spare bed room by having an en-suite bathroom to see relatives, buddies and having to pay visitors, which over time I possibly could use as needed.’
After nearly annually of just living within the cottage, Cent began the renovations. The very first job ended up being to convert the garage to ensure that she’d somewhere to reside while all of those other house had been renovated.
The 2nd ended up being to connect the home towards the mains water. ‘I was fed up with the appalling supply of water which was given from the hill behind the home – it required each day to operate a shower,’ explains Cent. Next all of the radiators were replaced, and also the water tank, cylinder and boiler were removed. A brand new combi boiler was installed outdoors to release space.