Dwellings of Malcolm Archbald SMITH
[Ref. S.1]
| Biography |  |
Purchase | |
Refurbishment | |
Garden |
Decoration and furnishing
Having returned from honeymoon in November 1967, Malcolm and Brenda had to continue with the decoration as best time would allow. Malcolm was working at Southampton but Brenda managed to find a job in a hairdressers very close to home. It was their intention to keep the cottage in traditional style so they often had to search for appropriate materials and furnishings. The living room and their bedroom were already usable as were the kitchen and bathroom so work continued from there.
The walls and ceilings had cow hair and lime plaster which, on the ground floor walls, had come off in patches due to the damp. Malcolm had to patch these areas which proved difficult as the new plaster did not bond easily, so he had to fix wire netting to the walls in places to hold the plaster. In the parlour and dining-room, Malcolm stuck a layer of metal foil to the walls, lapping over the polythene layer that came up from under the floor. The purpose of this was both to prevent the damp coming through but also to deter warmth inside the building drawing moisture up. The foil was then masked with timber dado panelling.
The other bedrooms were got into shape. In the middle room Malcolm constructed a built-in cupboard in the irregular shaped alcove next to the chimney breast. The back bedroom had a large open crack in the wall which had to be filled and plastered over. The back bedroom was over the dining-room and that part of the building was an extension to the original cottage but had most likely been built before the turn of the century.
Where wallpaper existed, it was carefully stripped off. An interesting discovery was made in the parlour when the remnants of old posters advertising soap and tea was found under the wallpaper. In the early 1900's, the cottage had been the first Post Office in the village and presumably sold goods also. The black and white enamel sign for the Post Office was dug up in the garden some years later.
The couple had been living on bare concrete floors downstairs so they needed attention. Malcolm laid 12" square unglazed quarry tiles in the parlour, replacing the small tiles that had been there originally. In the living room he put down interlocking oak parquet flooring set on bitumen sheets with cork granules stuck to the underside to take up the uneveness of the concrete and forn some insulation. The dining room floor was left bare to have a carpet put down.
The cottage had never had any central heating and Malcolm did not consider it practical to install and due to the nature of the construction of the cottage. He was also concerned about moisture being drawn into the building by hot pipes. Heating was provided by night storage heaters which was not totally satisfactory but did help.
Malcolm took out the uninteresting original fireplace and build one out of Portland stone. The style of this fireplace was modern therefore rather against the principal of keeping the cottage in traditional style. Consequently, Malcolm later replaced the stonework with a reclaimed cast iron grate with Edwardian overmantle surround.
There was little storage space in the cottage so Malcolm constructed a range of built-in cupboards in the living room. The kitchen was pretty basic so a new cooker was purchased and Malcolm constructed new cupboards, making all the parts from scratch as standard sized units would not fit in. In the parlour, Malcolm put a low level cupboard into the alcove by the fireplace then installed wine racks above for his home-made country wines. At the peak of production, Malcolm had 100 bottles of wine on the racks with another 20 gallons in ferment.
In keeping with the cottagy look, Malcolm installed an old cast iron range into the parlour fireplace. The range had been obtained from a colleague who was renovating a house in Downton. The idea was that if there were power cuts during the winter, then the range could be used for cooking. In practice, it never worked well as there was a steady downdraught from the chimney. Also, the living room fire was used daily during winter and that contributed to the air being pulled down the parlour chimney. The parlour chimney was as wide as the fireplace and gradually narrowed down as it ascended so malcolm lined it with an asbestos pipe. He fitted this by installing angleiron bars across the inside of the chimney the resting each section of the pipe on it's flange onto the bars. He accessed the work up a ladder inside the chimney as there was plenty of space. Even after that work the fire still never drew well but one advantage was that a temporary bung could be put into the bottom of the flue to stop the loss of heat from the house which had been a problem before.
In 1971 a telephone was installed, four years after the couple had moved into the cottage.
Malcolm worked his way around the house decorating, papering the walls differently in each room. The living room was completed early on as it was somewhere to sit by the fire in the evening. A problem did crop up as moisture continued to find it's way in so Malcolm had to make repairs. The parlour comprised very uneven walls which Malcolm kept as they were as it emphasised the character of the cottage. The dining room proved a challenge as he had chosen a regency stripe pattern but one wall had a large bulge and dressmaking principals had to be applied to tailor the stripes to fit. The dining room window looked as if it had once been a door, possible access for the Post Office and shop. Whilst redecorating, a bricked up window was discovered which had been blocked up when the extension was built at the back. The window was still in place but was in poor condition so it was removed and the space used to make a serving hatch.
Upstairs, Malcolm had latterly painted each room with a bold colour of emulsion which, in fact, took away the cottagy look that previously existed whren the walls were papered. The main bedroom had been furnished first and was originally decorated with a pink candy stripe pattern wallpaper with rose motives on it. It was later painted with pink emulsion. The middle bedroom had the disadvantage of being the route of access into the back bedroom, however, it was where James slept. The original decoration was a neutral colour but was repainted in a lavender emulsion. The back bedroom also had originally been painted in a light colour but was later redone in blue emulsion. It was first used as a guest room but later became William's bedroom. It was not a warm room.
To add to the character of the cottage, Malcolm put up some false beams even though the ceilings were quite low already. The beam over the bottom of the staircase was rounded to ease any bump on the head. The front door was only 5'9" high so that was also a hazard to Malcolm and Brenda who were both taller than that. A problem that arose was the condition of some of the windows to which the answer was to replace them. Malcolm was aware of keeping the replacements to the same appearance to the existing so he drew up some plans to get quotations from a manufacturer. The prices were way above his budget so he set about making them himself which he did on the living room floor. It was a slow process but it all went well until the last stage when he was painting them. He accidentally put his foot onto one of the panes then, losing his balance, brought his other foot onto the other pane, knocking both out.
The temporary plastic door furniture were replaced by china knobs and plates with flower patterns. Brass rim locks for the new doors that Malcolm had made were found after a long search. The original doors to the dining room and back bedroom were reused as they were quirky and interesting. More old fashioned furniture and fittings were gradually found and installed. A nice brass bed was found for the back bedroom. China wash bowls and jugs were put out.
Attention turned back to the kitchen and utility room which were small and lacked storage space. Brenda had given up her job at the hairdressers and was working at home and used the utility room for this purpose. The kitchen has been installed as an extension off the back of the cottage and the original wass sloped back making it difficult to furnish. Consequently, Malcolm decided to make his own cupboards to fit. The bricks at the top of the two chimneys appeared to be coming loose so it decided to relay them in stronger mortar. Malcolm had the assistance initially from his colleague Dave Johnson, then his sister's boyfriend Peter. For the parlour chimney, Malcolm lashed three ladders together in order to get the required length. With Dave holding the ladder, Malcolm got to the top and as he grasped the bricks to steady himself, one came off in each hand, leaving him swirling his arms round like a windmill to keep upright. He did not fall and was able to throw down all the loose bricks which were cleaned up then taken back and replaced. The job on the living room chimney went better with Peter holding the ladder set on the roof of the extension.
The original principal of living in the cottage for life came up for consideration once the children were born. The cottage was cramped and not suitably laid out for a family. One solution was to extend the property and Malcolm drew up some tentative plans. One major drawback was that the new extension would have to be much higher than the cottage in order to meet building regulations. The likely expense was also out of reach for them so it was decided to move house.
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