The Renovation
This was it... The building was purchased as part of our house building site, and it seemed the perfect opportunity to realise our dream. Over two years we transformed this dilapidated house ourselves into a building with a quirky but traditional exterior (keeping a red roof of course!) and a fantastic contemporary interior with exciting features such as its cathedral ceiling and recessed display boxes. This page follows the build, from the shell to completion, and all the stages along the way!
HISTORY OF THE BLACKHOUSE
Old Scottish croft (leased smallholding) houses are known as blackhouses. The name dates back to a time when families burnt peat without a chimney. The peat-blackened smoke would have gone out of a hole in the roof, colouring the walls and the inhabitants on the way! The crofters also tended to keep their animals, particularly cattle, inside to help provide additional warmth during the winter. Our blackhouse was apparently on the first Ordnance Survey map (created to help control the Jacobites after the 1745 rebellion) so may be at least 250 years old. Its age is also evident from the rounded corners (since covered up) which are now a rarity. It has been lived in within living memory by relatives of a local crofter but has since been used solely as a cattle byre, gradually falling into ruin and disrepair.
(Click on pictures for larger images)