Monday 8 December 2014

The Hall Floor

I have spent many, many hours scraping black glue remnants off the hall floor, and Martin has repaired the channel that had been dug across the hall for pipework and then concreted over.  

So it has changed from this:


 To this:



Tomorrow I have a 'Tile Doctor' coming to hopefully restore them back to their former glory. Watch this space!



Dining Room

This has been the workroom/carpentry room for so long, but finally it has been emptied, painted, and I have spent some hours (days?) cleaning, sanding and varnishing the floor, so I'm pretty happy with it now, I might even get it furnished and all the crockery and glassware unpacked in time for Christmas.

  

The Study Window

The stained glass window for my study is now in. It was inspired by the beautiful fragment windows in so many of our cathedrals (wrecked in the Reformation or the Civil War and put back together as mosaics), and created by Rachael Aldridge, who made the door panels for me. See her website at: http://aldridgeglass.co.uk/  I love that she was able to let me have some left over fragments from church windows she had restored in Northampton, I found some bits for sale on ebay, and there is a little Cheshire Cat, hand painted by Rachael in the window as well.  It makes me very happy when the sun shines through it.




Thursday 20 November 2014

The kitchen (finally)

But here is the kitchen - maybe a little more touching up of paintwork to be done here and there, but otherwise pretty much finished, so maybe it's time for some 'before' and 'after' shots.  (From every corner of the room!)









Update

There's still so much decorating and sorting out to do that I've not taken many more photos yet.  The building work is pretty much finished, and so it's all down to me for the rest of it.  Martin and Ray are still around though, doing some hard landscaping in the backyard/garden as weather and other work permit.  I shall miss them when they've gone. 

Thursday 23 October 2014

Moved in!

Sorry, I'm very behind with this blog, I moved in a couple of weeks ago and have had other things to do.  I shall take some new photos very soon.

The Study

This hasn't featured much in my posts, so to keep you up to date:

Rubble is removed, floor is levelled:


Walls are plastered and a flue put in place for a wood-burning stove:



The Utility Room

I've not posted much about the changes in the utility room, this is some of the work in progress:

The window was opened up and a new sash put in.


A new floor has been laid, new units installed, and a cupboard is being built at the end where the boiler is.



Derek the Dragon

I've been meaning to post this for a while, but have been busy moving in.  


Derek the Dragon in place on the porch





Friday 26 September 2014

The New Porch

And now the new porch goes up...






And it's just waiting for Derek the Dragon, all the way from Battlesbridge, for the finishing touch.




Thursday 25 September 2014

Been busy painting...

It's been a while since I posted because I'm spending all my free time at the house, painting. In the family tradition, everything is white, so it's not very interesting at the moment - it'll just be a backdrop for my things when they arrive.  Some 'before and after of the bedrooms show that Vicki & I have made a bit of difference though.


Bedroom 1




Bedroom 2 



Bedroom 3




Tuesday 26 August 2014

The old kitchen goes

We're getting to mostly decorating and finishing touches in the house now, so finally the old kitchen extension has come down, to be replaced by a porch and a bigger garden.

Graham strips out the old kitchen 


It's half gone


And it's down





Kitchen lights

I was quite excited by the kitchen lights - the copper shades give a lovely warm glow to the light.
Credit to Graham Oldfield http://bespokecopperlighting.co.uk/ for the shades.



The cooker splashback is copper too, to complement them.


In the hall

I have a brand new front door with beautiful stained glass panels made to match the original fanlight by the very clever Rachael Aldridge.  (The photo doesn't really do them justice - I'll try for a better one when the decorating's all been done.)

Her website is here, if you'd like to see more of her work: http://aldridgeglass.co.uk/


The bathroom...

... is close to being finished.




Monday 4 August 2014

Windows and chimneypots

Things are changing on the outside as well - the other week I arrived at the house to find men hanging out of the windows:


and now I have (nearly) a full set of new sash windows.
 

All the chimneys have been repointed, and the pots have been reset.  I haven't actually seen this, but Martin initialed and dated his work, and took the photo to show me.


You've probably worked it out, but the initials are mine, Ray's and Martin's.