2020 so far
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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!
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.
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.
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!
