A Bit on the Side

Before.

 The door and window came out very easily. And so did most of the plaster.

 removing the bad old brickwork. The new window is deeper so they had to take out 2 courses of brick

The cat got VERY confused when the door disappeared

I love the way the old and new bricks intersect.

The new window is the one they took out of the Rayburn room.

And here it is. The builder is coming back to finish off, and then the plasterer will come to sort out the inside of the room.

More spinning on my spindles.

I have finished the skein of yarn I was spinning earlier this month

And have embarked on the next lot.

I have also finished another pair of socks for Winter.

Getting Plastered - Part 1

These guys are SKILLED!!!! It was well over 30 degrees in there.

two plasterers, working at opposite ends of the garden room.

Ceiling done. Impressive or what ! ?

Before. Remember how manky that outside wall was?

After. Richard has made a lovely Oak frame for the kitchen window. Now, when I am washing up, I can see right through the gable end, and see the hills in the distance.

The Hole In The Wall Gang - Part 2

the front room window from the inside. You can see the porch through the window.

the front room window from the porch side, with the first layer of bricks removed. I am looking through the front door. 

Partially broken through……

 and there is was……………GONE!!!

DOORS!!!! and now you can all see where my front door is and how i will get to it through the Rayburn room. The new staircase is also going into that room, so it will become a hallway in the Summer and, with the doors closed, a cosy fireside room in the Winter.

More progress:

Outside the garden room

Inside the garden room.................

The Hole in the Wall Gang - Part 1

The kitchen wall before the break through

Breaking through into the Summer Room. You know when you say "this kitchen looks like a bomb has hit it"??????????

chipping away the bricks for the step.

Doors going in

Phew!!! One doorway done, one to go.

Upstairs Toilet is Go!!!

The upstairs cloakroom is now stripped, re-joisted, re-floored and DH has patched up the plaster. Let the plumbing commence!!!

Spinning and Sanity (or not)

While all the building madness has been going on, I have attempted to cling on to the remains of my sanity by spinning. This purple spinning is some merino Chromatops from Nunoco. DH made me the top spindle, from some Oak left over from the new floor he has made for our bedroom.

I have washed some Wensleydale fleece, but it is proving a bit of a bugger to comb. Maybe my technique needs altering? At the moment I am losing more than I am saving.

And this green fibre is Biffle, dyed by a friend of mine.

Progress is slow

The roof tiles are going on. The windows and doors are all in.

Roofs:

Work has started on the porch roof

Cladding the inside of the conservatory

the gable end lets in loads of light

Farewell to the smelly old toilet................

The upstairs toilet always smelt, regardless of how often I cleaned it. And it didnt flush properly And the sink was cracked. And the wooden floor was wiffy too. And the floor sloped 1/2" from side to side........ so............

As the toilet soil pipe had to be removed to make way for the conservatory roof, it seemed a good idea to get the plumber, while he was there,  to rip out the old toilet so we can start anew. The new soil pipe will go straight out of the wall into the soil stack.

First we had to negotiate the minefield of "handle v push-button flush" and "closed coupled or not" and what type of tap and sink to buy. Pan height had to be considered. Single or double taps. Decisions, decisions...........

However, the loo is now gone, the sink is now gone, and the floor is going. It will be replaced properly, by DH, without the 1/2" slope it had before.

Then the plumber will return to put the new loo in, and DH will do the rest.

More Framework Up

Starting to put the roof supports up at the back.The other team of builders have finished for now, and we have a new team to do this part.

We are getting more of an idea of the sheer size of it. It looks much bigger now the roof and wall framework is going up

its coming along nicely : )

In the Chicken House

site cleared and ready for action

and here it is…………the old new chicken house. It is 30 years old and used to be where the sheepdogs slept at the farm. We stored it and have just been able to put it up. I think FIL would have approved.

You've Been Framed:

The framework arrived while we were out for the day yesterday, and the builders got busy. This is what we came home to.............

Its all a lot bigger than I expected somehow.