The Old Vicarage B&B, Little Ouse

The sitting room/front parlour is situated at the front of the house and has French windows to the patio that faces the church. This is still the main receiving room of the house. The room was taken down to bare brick as per the rest of the house. One of the last jobs to do was the installation of a suitable light fitting for the room. An antique chandelier was sourced from France and rewired.

Before Renovation

The photograph below was taken before work started. on the right hand side of the photograph, you can just about see the slate fireplace. It had been painted white with a grey 1960s tiled insert. Similarly the French doors are half missing behind the shutters. If you look closely to the top right of the window, you can see a surface mounted electric cable. All of the electric in this room was spurred from that!

Restoration

Renovation

In the following shots the room has been stripped and the repairs to the wood has been mostly completed. the doors were beyond economic repair and a new set of double glazed ones with a raised and fielded bottom panel were made. The wood used is sapele, which is harder than the oak ones they replaced.

The fireplace

You’ll notice that in the first photo, the new multi-fuel stove is missing its doors. These were sent to a foundry, to have iron glazing bars made and fitted. The second picture shows the bespoked doors.

One item to note.  The slate hearth is new and compliments the original slate fire surround. Originally, we believe the house, had two inch tiles on the hearths in each of the downstairs rooms. In the sitting room a 1960s open fireplace had been fitted and modern tiles added. This was removed to accommodate the multi-fuel stove.

Interior design