Replacing the Windows

After some of the storms recently, we've had a few of the top windows of the house flapping open on their own, despite being locked! After heavy rain, they have also been leaking and with the seal going a couple of them too we thought it would be prudent to replace them before causing anymore damage. 

So, having been impressed with the job that Clearview did on our main bathroom, master ensuite, teachers bedroom and on the cider barn windows, we employed them again to replace the top 4 bedroom windows. We had opted for the Victorian Slider range and altered the arrangement of the astragal bars, so as to allow more light into the rooms and ultimately more of a view.

The house looked really peculiar once they had removed the old windows:

But once the new ones were in, we were really pleased with how it complimented the rest of the frontage:

Around the back of the house, we spent a bit more time getting the windows right for the kitchen, where we opted for wooden ones to compliment the exposed beams in the roof. 

 We used the same joinery who had made the replica cider barn door, and after measuring up the openings, the new windows arrived in iroko ready for oiling:

And, after a few days fitting, we were really impressed with the end result:

Woodburners

Now that the fireplace had been opened up in the lounge and the floor in the kitchen/diner has almost cured, it's time to book in the installation of the woodburners...

We had a chimney sweep visit to clear the chimney in the lounge - I don't think it had been done for years, but they were in and out in no time at all. We had sourced some reclaimed quarry tiles to fit in the hearth and secured these ready for the burner:

A day of installing and the first burner was in:

For the dining room, we had been advised that we could continue the reclaimed timber wall the full length, so I reconfigured the timbers:

and made it good to fit the back wall:

We then laid a reclaimed flagstone (from the old kitchen floor):

And after a couple of days installing this was burner number 2:

There were a few more technicalities with this one, as their was no chimney and the flue needed boxing in the room above (the bathroom). But they both work great and we are very happy with the colour Welsh Slate Blue. It works brilliantly with the reclaimed tiles in the lounge and the picks of blue in the reclaimed timbers - it's like they were made for the space!

Finders Keepers

In a few weeks, we will be having the underfloor heating installed in the kitchen/diner. Before this happens though, we needed to make some decisions about the wall of the dining room... Now that the space is starting to come together across the two rooms, we can begin to get a greater sense of how it works being open plan. We are becoming mindful of the need to create two distinct and separate areas across this vast space, and have talked at length about using a differing palette of materials for each area, in which to achieve this.

And, as we had been clearing lots of material out of the house and the barns, I have been stock piling various pieces of wood in the old chicken shed:

  

This has started to look like it was getting a bit out of hand of late and that before long we would need another space to start housing it all!? So, interested in the idea of reclaimed timber cladding, we decided that this would be a good feature for the dining room wall...

After the wall had been stripped of it's cupboards in the initial stages of the kitchen remodelling - the paper that was left behind revealed a very 60s feel:

We stripped back the paper (and saved it of course!),

then chipped away at the plaster to get the wall back to a stone finish:

Mike then erected a series of batons as a framework,

to which the collected timbers were then applied:

It was a really fun process, like constructing a huge collage. Each piece of timber was selected and cut to fit across the batons. These were then sanded and assembled in such a way that a balance of colour and patina was present across the whole wall:

And when it was finished and the light shone in - WOW!

It's going to be a really cosy dining space when it's all finished 

- but even at this stage we're ever so pleased with it :)

Studwork

Mike has been hard at work putting up the stud walls for the en-suites:

We bought a few more tools that have made things a bit easier:

Meaning we can get the lengths up super quick:

measure and level:

drill:

drill:

drill:

Now we're ready for the plasterboard and insulation then it's another job (almost) done!

Purlin, Felt, Batton, repeat

Mike braved the elements today to get the roof structure back on the pumphouse:

Replacing the previous timbers with newer ones, that were worm free 

and offered a more robust framework:

It got too wet to go any further so it was time to take a well deserved break:

 The next day it was on with the felt:

starting to look like a proper room now:

Last nail in the for the day:

And here's a very happy Mike admiring his work

Clearing out the Cider Barn

We were in the cider barn today, on a clearing mission. There is so much character in this room, so lots of it to save! Soon we will be taking out the old cider press, to reinstate in the new kitchen as a island. We'll worry about quite 'how' another day, but for now it's a case of taking the old apple shelves down and clearing out space for the hopper...

 

I really liked the look of the panelling on the partition:

So after some testing, Mike agreed that it should remain, 

rather than take it down to essentially build the same thing again!

The space looked great when we'd finished:

The chicken shed looks nice a full now too!

It will be nice to have this hatch in operation again:

and with a bit more room it was also a good excuse to try out the press: