Barn 2 progress

A while has passed since my last post. We sold barn 1 and moved into 2 and now have lovely neighbours. Moving house was in some respects very easy as it was only next door, but the big downside is that it’s a smaller house so a challenge as to where to put everything. Also, we moved from having a nice patio and lawn to a building site garden so it very much felt like a step backwards. Since then, the garden has been transformed. It’s quite small but now has a patio and lawn, walls and fencing, railings and gates to finish it off.

Did I mention the hot tub? We have gone to town on our future holiday cottage and installed the hot tub early so that we can get used to the chemical testing and maintenance. No other reason of course - needless to say it’s been used nearly every day by family members……and me! It’s soooooo relaxing but a bit of a faff with all the testing that needs to be done for renting regulations. So far it’s worth it for the sheer luxury and novelty value.

Below are a few interior pictures from Christmas. It was so lovely to be able to have Christmas dinner with some of our family. The barn looked lovely even though it is our temporary home and so much smaller than barn 1.

Tree Blocking Lane

It looks like we are taking isolation to the limit as this tree prevents anyone getting to or from the barns by car. It was all a bit of a surprise as it it wasn’t at all windy when it came down so can only put it down to being very wet. With the snow and rain of the last few days, there is still water draining off the fields and down the lane. Richard contemplated having a go at taking the tree down (the thrill of the challenge), but decided to leave it to the professionals as he has plenty of painting to do in barn 2. Talking of barn 2, it is getting so close to completion, in fact we just need the electrician to connect the heating and solar panels and finish off the lights and switches. Then it will be ready for connecting up the heating and getting it warmed up.

Barn Second Fix

We never thought that so much would be achieved this year under the circumstances of lockdown, but barn 2 is getting very close to completion. The joiners are in now banging and sawing and singing (!). The tiling is complete, the kitchen is in, the bathrooms are nearly finished. The major plumbing of underfloor heating and water tank is next, as is the mvhr unit, but we really can’t complain at all. Unfortunately, the mvhr unit won’t be available until the end of August and we had the option of a bigger one that we could have immediately, but the space is tight in the tank cupboard so opted to wait.

Second Fix - Barn 2

We have had some unexpectedly good progress the last few weeks. First fix completed, plastering done, and tiling currently underway. It’s great to see things moving. The coronavirus lockdown situation and working from home has meant that I’ve been able to keep a close eye on all the happenings as my work desk looks out onto the courtyard. The kitchen was delivered yesterday and the fitters have almost finished, which is great news. Timing was absolutely perfect as Kitchen World reopened just when we needed it too. We had to make a few changes as the original kitchen appliances have all been replaced by newer models. We even had to change the cupboards doors and work surfaces so that required a bit of redesign and a couple of visits to the newly re-opened showroom. Now I’ve seen in situ I’m happy with the new choice…….phew!

When the plastering was finished it only took a couple of days to dry so Richard dashed in to do the mist coat and then the ceilings before the tilers arrived. The tiling purchase was another frantic fun time. We had bought slate flooring but on balance decided to change it for porcelain tiles so that it is easier to keep clean. Fortunately, Quorn Stone came up trumps with quickly sent samples and new flooring for downstairs was quickly chosen plus the tiles for the bathroom. It was surprisingly easy to say that we couldn’t go to any showrooms to check anything out. They were great prices too, which is always good for the budget. BTW the original barn 2 slate tiling will be used in barn 3 in the utility and toilet. We were concerned that the floor size in barn 3 is actually bigger than we bought for so that will certainly make a difference.

Wall paint and fabric for roman blinds was the next rush job. Again, we were so lucky that the fabric shop had just reopened. I was looking at fabric on the internet but you really need to see it in the flesh to make sure it is the right colour and fabric weight. I found a wonderful shop near Newark;‘Frank Thomas Interiors’. The fabric is beautiful. Lots of cotton and linen with just the right sort of look for the style I’m trying to achieve in barn 2. I’m hoping for a ‘chic french country’ look with coordinating fabrics and walls - colourful but not gaudy. I hope I’ve hit the mark with my choices. I’ve just started making the blinds. We are supposed to be on holiday in Scotland but this year we are holidaying in costa del back garden. so instead I’m making roman blinds in my holidays. I’m having some nervous moments about the paint colour choices. The bathroom paint is on the walls and I’m not sure I like it. I’m also pondering whether the living room colour will be too dark. I’ve lived in magnolia world for such a long time now that I’m thoroughly out of practice with colour.

The next internet interior design rush job was for hearth tiles. We had decided to use reclaimed quarry tiles as per barn 1 but at the last minute decided that they would be too rough and rustic in a small lounge. Instead we have gone for quarry tiles……..well, new quarry tiles with rounded edges and then a coordinating patterned tile for the stair risers. Once we open the colour floodgates we really let it in. I just hope we are not making some costly interior design faux pas.

2020 so far

beautiful view of the Moon over the barns in March from the back door

Wow I can’t believe that I haven’t blogged about the barn conversions this year! Nope, we haven’t finished yet so there is still plenty to talk about.

Let’s start with barn 2. We have had some good progress this year with 1st fix almost complete and now plaster boards are being fitted. It all started with a bit of mad scramble to organise the bathrooms. Lot’s of time spent on Sketchup trying out slightly different layouts and bathroom sizes. Not by me I hasten to add. I spend all my working day on a computer and the last thing I need to do is spend hours learning new software and poring over designs. It’s a collaborative effort; he does the work and I come up with suggestions!

Kitchen

Utility Room

Downstairs loo

Living room

Landing

Bedroom 1

Bedroom 1 En-suite bathroom

Bedroom 2 en-suite shower room (1)

Bedroom 2 en-suite shower room (2)

Once the layouts and bathroom selections were made, the lads started work. In barn 2 we have an en-suite bathroom in one bedroom and an en-suite shower room in the other. The biggest dilemma was to work around a pillar in the en-suite shower room which seemed to be in exactly the wrong place, although essential in it’s need to hold up the roof. We didn’t want to make the bedrooms too small or the bathrooms too small. I think we needed a tardis. The end designs are going to work well, we think (and hope). I even scored a triumphant ‘YES’ when persuading the joiners to leave a ‘niche’ in the upstairs hallway where we had some unavoidable dead space being blocked in where the en-suite shower room can’t work around said pillar - see the landing photo above. We want to be able to have a zip and link superking bed that can be separated into two full size single beds in one bedroom and a king size bed in the other room. Since the plan is for barn 2 to be a holiday cottage we want it to be as flexible as possible. This also means that the bedrooms need to be a decent size - I hate holidays where you have to squeeze around the bed just to go to sleep.

View from barn 1

Refitting the solar panels after installing new windows

We decided to change the roof windows in the bedrooms to be electrically operated since they work so well in barn 1. The best bit about them is that they shut by themselves when it rains so you never end up with a puddle on the floor (or the bed). Again, since this is going to be a holiday cottage we thought it was a good idea…..pity we didn’t think that was the case when we had the standard ones fitted in the first place. It became a bit of big job as scaffolding had to be put up and the solar panels removed…….eeek. What was worse, or a good job depending on perspective, but a roof tile had been broken by the pressure of the solar panel pressing down when we had the awful storms earlier this year. Good that it was seen and changed before any leaks occurred, but bad that it happened in the first place. Anyway, it’s all done now and I was treated to a coca cola advert moment yesterday when 4 fine muscle-y lads with shirts off in the warm weather dismantled the scaffolding. Oh the joy’s of working from home! I’m going to get the coronavirus thing out of the way and then forget about it in this blog, but working from home is due to the current ‘lockdown’ situation. We are making the best of it and being grateful for any progress on the barns.

New pleaching framework for barn 1

Barn 1 pleaching framework complete

Barn 3 pleaching

Barn 3 pleaching across the courtyard

The pleached hornbeams providing privacy screens in the courtyard are coming on well. The original bamboo frames and supports have been replaced and it all looks very tidy. The leaves are coming out now and when it spreads out to join up each tree it will be perfect.

The storm porches are the next job on the list and also to make the most of the currently marvellous weather. All the porches were finished off when the roofers came to change the roof windows. The barn 3 porch has now been painted and now barn 1 porch has been started.

Barn 1 is joyful place to live and we are just so glad we are no longer living in the dreadful flat. Richard has finished the painting everywhere except the pantry and is working through a program of improvements like shelves in cupboards. Oh and we have moved upstairs to the master bedroom after it being decorated and the carpet fitted. We even bought new furniture, which was a bit of a necessity since we didn’t have much in the way of bedroom furniture. It’s great. It’s all slow steady progress, but each is a triumph. I’ve even finished making the blinds and purchased some bright curtains for the downstairs study/bedroom. It’s coming on! Below is the tank cupboard being lagged as a lot of heat was escaping into the downstairs study/bedroom. There is not a lot of room in there as you can see. I love being able to finish off the washing with a good ‘airing’ in the airing cupboard. I’m in washing heaven as we have a washing line as well. These are the things you take for granted until you don’t have them anymore. Living in the awful flat for so long has certainly made us appreciate all the ordinary things in life!

Barn Progress

Another few weeks have gone by and not a great deal has changed, not big things anyway. The little things have all been about tidying up and finishing off and just getting on with life. No doubt we will have some action in barn 2 soon, but for the moment we are pottering along. The main changes inside are that we have a carpet and bedroom furniture in the master bedroom……..just need to make a blind and fit a shelf and rail in the fitted wardrobe and we can move in. Our rather quirky furniture is from a local firm ‘Ebiniste’ who are so busy with word of mouth business and ebay that they don’t need to advertise!

When we move into the master bedroom the downstairs bedrooms can be decorated. It never seems to end! The coat cupboard is almost finished, but at least we have coats hanging up now instead of just hanging around.

When the weather turned cold we realised that the small loft space above the utility room and downstairs wet room hadn’t been insulated - this became apparent when the MVHR unit, which is housed in the loft, stopped working until it warmed up a bit. Richard now spends a few hours here and there fitting celotex between the joists. It’s a messy job in a tight space so he will be glad when it’s finished. The loft can then be finished off and used for a bit of storage. More tidying up, hooray!

During the summer we switched off the boiler as it was only running to heat our hot water since the other barns are not in use. Instead, we were able to fill the hot water tank from the solar iboost unit which heats the hot water when there is spare electricity and is also an immersion heater. That all went well and when the weather became a bit autumnal we switched the boiler back on for the underfloor heating. Again, it all went well and we were full of relieved smugness. At least, that is until the solar iboost stopped working and then the new supply of pellets upset the temporary auger (feeding the boiler from hopper) and the boiler stopped working, both at the same time. The result……no hot water at all. Such a pain. Fortunately we can get the boiler going again but until it’s all fixed it means tripping backwards and forwards to the garage to check it all. Oh, and that’s another little irritation - we haven’t yet been able to connect the boiler to the internet due to various problems with hardware and software so we can’t watch the boiler from the sofa! Again, that will get fixed but in the mean time it has whiled away a huge amount of time to get nowhere fast.

Boiler update - the engineer has been out and the auger has been lowered slightly and the hopper moved away a bit to see if a different angle will help. The boiler is running happily for the moment but may need a shorter auger as the new pellets are not holding together as well as the last lot and the long auger seems to be breaking them down too much……sigh

Barn Conversion - Settling In

It feels like not much has happened over the summer and yet we have been really busy. The landscaping has really moved on with lawns and trees planted. The courtyard garden for the first barn now has a patio, a lawn and pleached hornbeam hedging. The hornbeams are to provide privacy from the farmhouse next door without being too overpowering. Ultimately they will look like a hedge on stilts so that we can peep through to the drive and the fence and make the garden look bigger.

It has been such a pleasure to have somewhere to sit outside in the summer, although it can be a bit of a sun trap - I found myself chasing the shade around the patio. There is still work to be done as the neighbour’s oil tank is yet to be moved away from the house and fence panels and stone caps to finish the brick wall. One day we will have new garden furniture as well, instead of our cast off plastic chairs………although they have been useful as both indoor and outdoor furniture over the past 4 years!

The front landscaping has also been underway through the summer and is almost finished. The track now has kerb edgings to delineate the track and parking areas and we have sandstone paths to the doors. Grass has been sown and at the front of the barns is almost complete with the last lot of seed being set last week. It is all a matter of watching the weather for rain before sowing the grass seed. It has been done in the rain a couple of times to make sure that the ground is wet when the seeds go down as the first lawn was bit of a bird feed fest until it rained. Dratted pigeons.

Landscaping at the front of the barns

The canopy’s over the front doors appeared whilst we were on holiday. They aren’t quite finished yet as the tiling is yet to be done. The painting has been started but so far just undercoat ready for the final painting to match the doors and windows. The ‘unfinished’ theme continues, but sometimes you just have to take a step back and see how far we have come.

Inside we are still decorating. In an attempt at keeping the costs down, Richard elected to do the painting and he is doing a fantastic job and it’s coming on. Just the downstairs bedrooms and utility to do now. We still have stuff in boxes and storage so that we can keep the furniture to a minimum. It does make for a certain frisson of anxiety when we can’t find anything, but hey, there are worse things to worry about. I have been beavering away making roman blinds. Now we have blinds in the bedroom, utility and living/dining room. It’s beginning to look homely!

The main living area of kitchen/dining/living room isn’t looking like a show home and probably never will, but here is a sneak peak of our progress so far.

And finally, just to say that it’s been a long journey to get here and there are still some challenges to face, but we love it here!