During one of his daily walks up the “Cobble,” a man from Scotland came across an abandoned small stone cottage in the area where he grew up. He made the decision to buy and renovate it. According to George Dunnett, there are three abandoned or unused structures in the Cobbles. The first is a small stone cottage, but its previous occupants and contents are unknown.
A small cottage next to it has yet to be abandoned but is unoccupied and now serves as a museum honoring the 1700s poet Michael Bruce.Then there’s the two-story stone cottage that was formerly used as storage. After being abandoned for 50 years, the stone cottage appeared tired and worn. He decided that converting it into a proper home would be fantastic because he passes it frequently. He made the decision to purchase the dilapidated structure and renovate it into his dream home.
The previous owner stripped away everything, leaving only the rough walls, broken floors, a large sliding door that couldn’t be used, and a stair that had to be removed. “There was a lot of structural work that had to be done before I got to the stage of picking out my curtains,” he explained. They began by using brick and cement to lay out the walls and restore the original fireplaces.
The bedroom window frame received a new brick stack, and the second story received the same treatment. They also raised the ceiling to create more room.George said he immediately noticed a difference in the building’s coziness after repairing the ground and mud floor downstairs with concrete and installing insulation.”It was actually nice to come in here during the cold January weather and have it be kind of semi-warm,” he said.
Meanwhile, the builder discovered that the roof was in poor condition after an inspection, forcing him to spend more money on scaffolding and repairs. The stonework on the roof needed to be repointed, which gave the structure new life. After that, things began to take shape on the inside. Since they finished installing the insulation, the stone cottage has begun to resemble a natural home, according to George.
Plasterboard gave the stone cottage’s interior a more finished look, allowing him to visualize the rooms’ future functions, but before installing the sashing window casing, the bedroom felt like a prison cell. George and his mother painted the house together, and he chose white for the walls and trim because he wanted it to be “light and cheery,” but he added some blue-gray accent walls in the bathroom and bedroom to make it more interesting.
Meanwhile, the addition of the oak flooring significantly improved the aesthetic appeal of his home. A local blacksmith installed a metal stair railing as the final piece of work done inside. Meanwhile, George’s father finished the exterior by laying the final cobblestones in front of the stone house.It was his father’s first time laying cobblestones, and George thought he did an excellent job. Furthermore, the nearly year-long effort was well worth it.
Inside, framed photos of the stone cottage hang by his bedroom door. George chose a low-profile bed, which gives his bedroom a minimalist but elegant appearance. He also used the space beneath the windows for a small closet and some cabinets. Despite its minimalist design, the bathroom is spacious. It has a full shower, toilet, basin, mirror, and frosted window.
George also chose oak for the staircase to match the hardwood flooring and installed a Velux roof window above it to let in more natural light. Going up, there is a small bookshelf near the stairwell, but George stated that he had not yet read any of the books on the shelf. His workstation is hidden in a nook next to the railings, facing the living room.Here’s how George Dunnett transformed an old, dilapidated stone cottage into his first tiny home: