Who: Michelle Riddock, 53, a care home manager and her husband Willie, 58, a skilled waste operative.
What: A former church hall which has been converted to a gorgeous ground floor apartment.
Where: Arbeadie Hall, Arbeadie Terrace, Banchory
Here Michelle shares their renovation journey…
“We had been living in a new build detached house in Inverbervie but we decided to move to Banchory as our entire family worked in that area.
As well as that, we were also keen to downsize so we started looking for properties in the area.
By accident, we had just finished viewing other properties, when we drove down the wrong street.
Our daughter noticed the for sale sign and the rest is history.
When we viewed the apartment, it was in a terrible condition.
It had been empty for years so it was cold, damp and unloved.
‘We enjoyed giving our home some TLC’
But we fell in love with the views, the room sizes and the challenge of giving the property some tender loving care.
So we purchased and moved into the home in April 2019 and it has been an ongoing renovation since then.
The property was once a church hall before it was converted into a ground floor apartment with three bedrooms including one with an ensuite, a lounge, sunroom, a dining kitchen, bathroom and utility room.
After moving in, we got stuck into the renovation.
Michelle and Willie rolled up their sleeves…
The property was granite and didn’t have any insulation so it was freezing.
Also, the shower/bath didn’t work and the electric consumer board needed to be updated as it was condemned as unsafe to use.
Outside, the patio was hidden by trees and we didn’t know about the path round the house until we removed the trees.
Over the years we’ve also replaced the kitchen, increased size of main bathroom and fitted a new bathroom.
‘We wanted the property to keep its character’
We also insulated the property, replaced the windows and doors plus we replaced the ensuite.
All this work was carried out while trying to keep some original features of the house.
In terms of interiors, we wanted something practical, yet modern and stylish.
To achieve this look, we visited many furniture stores, and home improvement stores for ideas.
We wanted the property to keep its character and we feel we have achieved that.
I love wallpaper so I used Graham & Brown as they have some great styles and colours.
For our furnishings and accessories, we used Cox & Cox, Garden Trading and Duncan’s of Banchory.
What was your greatest challenge?
On reflection our greatest renovation challenge was sourcing and staining all the internal doors.
We wanted to fit traditional doors but stain them personally but the cost was quite high, as was delivery as many companies don’t deliver to Banchory.
Also, we needed space to store, stain and seal the doors and the coldness of the house didn’t help the drying process either.
Covid also hit soon after we started this project, which hindered our progress immensely.
But in the end, our renovation project went mostly as planned despite the challenges posed by Covid.
‘Our advice would be to work together’
Our home is just beautiful and we love how we’ve included our own ideas, colours and space.
We get so much pleasure from sitting in the living room with glass of wine looking over Scolty Hill or we can watch the fireworks on a cold November night – we love it.
Our advice to anyone else who is undertaking a home renovation would be to work together.
It can be stressful but just focus on your idea.
There’s always going to be setbacks, bumps in the road, but they show you that it really was worthwhile.
We say that now as we’ve completed this journey.”
1 Arbeadie Hall, Arbeadie Terrace, Banchory, is on the market for offers over £299,000.
To arrange a viewing contact 01330 824646 or check out the website aspc.co.uk
Conversation