May! June! July?

My blogging schedule seems to have gone out the window this last couple of months! Oh well its not the end of the world and I haven't had too much to report anyway. This will also be my last blog for The Maple Barn Company...

We've been working über hard on the garden, planting like mad into a newly dug flower bed! It's really been a case of chucking it all in (a technical gardening term I think you'll find) The funny thing is I've had very lovely plants in pots for years and years & not wanted to plant them in the ground as I always felt I'd move house again, but here, I've gone for it! 

Some early shots of the newly planted bed..

I  suppose that must indicate that I feel more settled here than I have for years?

We do still think this isn't our last house though & hope to "retire" (whatever that is?) to the coast one day... Perhaps another self build?!!!! Never say never... 

Richard has been building our porch walls and we are laying the Indian sandstone flags to create the level access needed (disabled regs) for sign off (it all makes me slightly uncomfortable that we have to build a house to accommodate a wheelchair?)

Our electrics are almost done and certificate pending - this means we get to start the lengthy process of claiming our VAT back, which as you can imagine is a considerable sum.

We will then spend the majority of this on the landscaping which we'll have to do ourselves to keep the cost down.

Flags before grouting and cobbles...

We have also started working on the terracing - it's important we retain all the soil before the autumn & winter. I don't think I'll be planting until next spring apart from some bulbs perhaps? I've got my eye on the White Garden at Sissinghurst... Well I can dream can't I?

We had quite a hairy moment when hubby tried to get the excavator into the garden; the gap was 1010mm wide and the digger 1000mm - some of the fence got a little scraped and the bricks unfortunately were chipped but hopefully we won't need to do that again?!

Will he or won't he?....

The terracing taking great shape..

I had a conversation with a lovely neighbour recently - she commented on how much we'd achieved in two years and said she'd always worked to a 5 year plan; I must say this made me step back and review our achievement and I feel much happier with that time frame and more relaxed about the works needed. Amazing how a passing comment can affect you! 

I've definitely been feeling very wound up about this last frustrating part of the build and trying to work the finances to fit so it's nice to sit back and be more philosophical.

Our village continues to impress - we've had NGS open gardens which were fabulous and an American BBQ (no idea why it's called this?) The judging for Pebworth in Bloom took place on 9th July & the support of the village was incredible! We've never lived anywhere where people are so proud of their environment, help their community & generaly like a good'do'!!!

On another note I will be changing my blog very soon - I will no longer be known as The Maple Barn Company and will change to 'Maple Barn Studio'. I think it's time to stop blogging about the house (which honestly is almost finished except for the hard landscaping outside) and start blogging about my  Studio where lots of lovely sewing & printing will take place with workshops available from cushion making, bag making, quilting, screen printing and lots more!

I'm sure some of my followers will change but hope most of you will stay here and watch the studios progress? And I will of course drop in the odd house and garden update from time to time.

Thank you for all your support and lovely comments and emails over the last two years

Wendi x

April!

Happy Easter! 

How nice is it that with the clocks going forward the evenings are lighter? I can't tell you how much this lifts my mood, along with the daffodils and spring blossom and the promise of the hedge rows breaking into green any day - where we live there seems to be miles of brown/grey hedges that are a bit dreary and depressing but it'll only be a matter of weeks now before they are lush & green, that is if the weather warms up a bit?

The House progress continues with even more painting, floor grouting, installing the air source heat pump and general finishing jobs...I still write lists and then rewrite them, hoping that they will reduce!

The garden landscaping is still dormant and I drool over pictures on Pinterest and the like on an almost daily basis. My daffodils are flowering beautifully and despite the poor quality soil and rubble, plants are pushing through and appear to be thriving.

I planted an Almond tree in the Autumn and the blossom has been stunning. We also received a flowering cherry as a gift and this too is just about to break into blossom.

We are busy clearing the front drive way of bricks and bags of logs, sand etc ready for the digger to level the ground. The area around the rainwater harvesting tank has been filled with pea gravel and the next thing is to order lots of MOT Type 1 (hardcore to you and I!) for the drive way and surrounding area, then levelling with a wacker plate or roller to compact it. 

It will be so nice to get straight in the porch area in particular - to have a proper base!

We've had a friend on crutches visit and pushchairs struggling - it's quite an obstacle! I guess we are so used to it that we've lost perspective on just how awful it actually is?

Inside choosing lighting is proving tricky - hugely important but a minefield and I LOVE designer lighting but we simply don't have the budget. 

It's the champagne ideas and lemonade money thing again!!

So in our bedroom we have this amazing vaulted ceiling space and we've looked at finding just the right thing - not a crystal chandelier - too blingy, too tacky! No - it has to be uber stylish, cool, contempory with a twist.. Well there's only one light that will do and it's a 60cm FLOS Skygarden by Marcel Wanders - problem: it's £2000 plus!!!! So here's the dilemma, I can get a copy for £200! BUT is that right?

Is it a moral thing to do? Thing is I really really want it and will never be able to afford the real thing but I do hate the "rip off"world we live in... Well here are some photos of both. You'll just have to 'Wander' what we decide on.......

We are having a nice weekend away over Easter in Torquay. We will avoid crowds if we can and find some quiet corners to take photos and plan to visit Cockington Court!
http://www.cockingtoncourt.org/craft-studios

Hopefully with next months blog we will be able to show work in progress of the driveway, fingers crossed. 

In the meantime have a fantastic bank holiday weekend and a Happy Easter

X

March

I can't believe it's only the beginning of March and I'm blogging on time, albeit a short blog..

Well February has been a strange month, mild weather followed by Siberian style winds & and a prediction for a warm sunny Easter? We'll see!?

We are still working on finishing the house, I have been advised that this could take up to 20 years?!  Perhaps accepting that it will be a lifetime's work may help ... I'm not sure. 

In every room there is something, some job that needs finishing. All the rooms function and this in itself is perhaps a problem as we are less inclined to do those tedious finishing off jobs.

I think perhaps a snagging list for each room is in order?

I find that this is a frustrating time of year.  On a beautiful sunny day we work outside with much enthusiasm, tackling hedgerows, lawns, tidying up generally - trying to make Spring actually happen and then the weather changes and we find ourselves grounded indoors for days & days on end.

A gloomy feeling descends and it feels as though Spring will never return, however if we look around us carefully the birds are nesting and the daffodils are out in sheltered places along with snowdrops and crocuses and other loveliness! I can't wait to get out & create in the garden this year!!

Plans for our external works i.e. patios, retaining walls, driveway etc fences are in hand but we can't start this work until the weather improves. 

So we are spending time getting to know our area:  We have been out and about recently & visited local Artisan Bakers Jane & Craig at 'Knead it' in Stratford upon Avon. They open twice a week and create the most stunning array of breads - look on the website www.kneadit.co.uk

They also do baking days - I am currently trying to organise one for a group of friends in the spring.

Overall, we couldn’t be happier with the house. It’s been even lower maintenance than we had hoped, and there really aren’t any significant aspects of it we’d change. When building a house, you are always extremely worried that anything which isn’t perfect is going to end up bugging you for years. Counterintuitively, I would say that the opposite has been true for us so far. We tried to get as many things perfect as possible during the build process, but there are always going to be little things and possibly something we'd do differently as time goes on.

Our advice would be: Try to get everything as right as you can, but realise that nothing is ever going to be perfect and that the enjoyment of living in your house will make you forget anything that isn’t.

Now for a textiles update; I'm continuing to make - I'm currently working on bags and cushions (and trying to make clothes inbetween!) here is a tote bag with leather straps in block printed fabric mixed with commercial fabric and had dyed lining 

I'm still at the planning stage with workshop but have lots of interest. We also need to be able to access the studio safely and at the moment this isn't possible with the current landscaping!

I'm working on a range of printed and stitched cushions. All will be one off designs but I am going to offer this printed, stitched cushion as a workshop:

I'll be back soon with more progress and news so please continue to enjoy and share with friends!

Wendi x

January/February

Happy New Year! A bit late I know but January came and went at such a speed I hardly had chance to breathe! So we are into Feb and work on Maple Barn continues at a slow weekend only pace...

Each room is now complete to a degree, there's always something that needs finishing though & we are ticking things off the list at quite a rate.

The dining room finally got it's floor tiles over the Christmas/New Year holiday & the piano came out of storage - it was a lovely moment seeing Richard finally able to sit and play. 

The rest of the room will take some planning as we need to add storage and somewhere to sit.  

It does also have to double as an office/study at one end - I'm looking for a 9ft table to use as a desk so we can work along side each other!

The grand unveiling!

The first play....

How about this for cool storage - I hope we can achieve something like this...

Our heating system has proved its worth over the last few chilly months; we have a constantly comfortable temperature which feels warm under foot. 

There is no heating as such upstairs apart from heated towel rails in the bathrooms. We took advice on this and were told that it wouldn't be necessary due to the excellent insulation properties of the building, however we are finding it cold upstairs - it's probably healthier and once we're tucked up in bed it's fine!!

I'm still unpacking boxes; now though its ornaments and pictures - what's amazing is how odd some of our old stuff looks in this environment? So I've only hung 3 pictures so far! Gradually putting our 'things' out and around is making it feel like a home and not a house. 

I collected two very large mirrors recently with the help of my friend David. They measure 1.75m x 1.25m. One is now in the hall and one in the bedroom - they are much too heavy to hang on our stud walls so they are in permanent leaning mode

I've been busying myself in the studio this last month. I'm trying to work to a deadline which will be to open my studio in late spring. 

It does depend on getting the outside finished & we have a lot of work to do out there but we hope to start very soon. 

It will be such a relief as we constantly have muddy floors brought in regularly by visitors and the dog Sooty!!

Here's a selection of work I'm currently working on. Hand printed fabric made into cushions: 

I'm planning to do workshops, teaching printing, dyeing, embroidered cushions, bags or even creating your own piece of fabric to make into whatever you desire! Contact me for more details: themaplebarncompany@gmail.com 

Our 3 chickens are settled in nicely. They love being out in the garden & hate being cooped up! 

Daisy Belle, left (so called as that's her breed) has laid virtually since we've had her at 18-20 weeks. We also have a Buff Orpington (at the back) and a Copper Maran. The Buff is not yet named but has laid her first egg this week (the smallest and palest in the photo) The Copper Maran who is called 'Claudia Winklechicken' will lay a very dark brown egg like in the photo but this ones from Tesco!!! Hopefully she will lay very soon.

We have spent this last weekend working hard in the garden - I wish I'd taken more before photos but here's today's pic. We are attacking brambles that are so thick they have rings like tree trunks and have grown up into the trees and hang back down to the ground where they root again! Nightmare!!

But the hard work is paying off as the view is opened up and as you can see we have a stunning outlook especially from our bedroom...

The photo shows a white arrow which is what it looked like before clearing the brambles and the red arrow shows what it looks like now! Very hard work but what a difference?!

I also bought a couple of bird boxes and painted them! Now to see if any of the garden birds fancy a new des res!!

Anyway, I will sign off now and get to work and I will endeavour to be back on track with my blog in March...

Wendi x

December!

Well December crept upon us and Christmas is finally here!

... what a year it has been for Richard and I and the house build project! although we're still not complete we feel we have built ourselves a wonderful home and we are finally loving living here.

- Lots of work still to do but it seems only like detail at the moment!!

We have the outside landscaping & driveway to concentrate on but can't do that until the spring so for now we're  sitting back relaxing more, enjoying the lovely spaces we have created.

Richard has a week off now and wants to concentrate on his study/music room - I think this is important for him as he needs a space to go and relax.

Playing the piano etc is what he needs to do..

We finally managed to put our stags  head up in the hall:

I've owned him for years and years and bought from a neighbour along time ago. We have never had a space suitable!  Finally we found the appropriate space to hang him - my little nieces Leah & Millie came to visit & he was lying on the table (getting a bit of a make over!!) and on seeing him Milly said "Sven! Sven!"(for those of you who don't know - he's the reindeer in the the Disney film Frozen!)  so of course he is now called Sven & is hanging above the stairs in pride of place. He has been festively adorned this year with very large baubles!!

The IKEA dishwasher hinge saga continues - as I had said in the previous blog: our friends Georg & Milo ordered a hinge from IKEA in Munich. Milo sent it, I thought I'd received it, but this week they received in Munich?!? in the meantime IKEA had sent me one as well? (Like buses I know..!!)  honestly I have no idea where it came from?! 

(I have to report though it's not yet installed & it's still in the box!!)

Our Rainwater Harvesting tank is now fully working and we are flushing toilets with Greywater (rainwater) this feels good & is one of the eco designs we wanted.

We continue to enjoy Pebworth and village life, and have become very involved in lots of activities!

We recently wassailed around the village singing carols to raise money for the church, we seemed to be very well received and we raised over £250!

We are looking forward to New Year's Eve as there is a bit of a do in the Village Hall with food & bring your own drink,  entertainment & party games etc.

It will be nice and that one of us doesn't have to drive!

We think we have finally sorted the electrics -  as we have had a month of electrics tripping - trying to find the source was difficult but with a process of elimination we think we had a faulty breaker! so it's nice now that TV programmes actually record all the way through and we aren't plunged into darkness on a regular basis!! I was most concerned that the oven would go off during the turkey cooking 😳

I have been busy working in my studio fulfilling orders for Christmas stockings!

I intend to spend the winter months building up stock to sell, developing some workshops, all hopefully with an aim to have an Open Day in the spring so people can come along and see what I make & create etc!

....So all my family are arriving today to spend Christmas here for the first time.

I get to enjoy my wonderful kitchen and have been preparing food now for a couple of days I'm so looking forward to eating some of it !!

The Christmas tree is up & a few decorations here and there I'm sure next year will be even more lavish!!

Unfortunately my son Alex cannot join us this year; it will be the first Christmas in 25 years that I have not had him here.

And so we would like to wish all our friends and family a Very Happy Christmas and a Joyous New Year and extend thanks again to all those people who have supported us and helped us in all sorts of ways this year we will be eternally grateful!

Merry Christmas! X

November

November finds us working on the interior of the house finishing what is a very long list of jobs as you can see from the picture!!!

We have had the Rainwater harvesting  tank delivered - it took a while to get it down off the lorry but we managed it eventually. However the hole wasn't big enough!!! so poor Richard spent two days trying to dig a bigger hole and looked as though he had come in from the Somme! Nightmare! We are yet to solve this problem & definitely need machinery - so watch this space

Harry & Richard trying to put a round peg in a square hole!!

I finally got my downstairs toilet and chose to paint the wall a very dark grey called 'bowler hat' by Dulux; it was a risky move but think it sets my picture off superbly:

Richard commented that my previous blogs contain a lot of photographs of what I want the house to look like and not what it does look like - so I have taken more photos for this blog of the interior!

Many of the rooms are not finished but I hope you can start to get a feel of our living style? 

The study slowly becoming a study... 

The hall floor is well under way ...

Family bathroom

Guest ensuite bathroom...

Guest bedroom...

Master bedroom ...

Master bedroom ensuite yet to be fitted...

My cheeky drinks cabinet! Still can't find the key...

The kitchen 

The lounge ...

Still no dishwasher hinge...***

Well I hope that gives a little more flavour of our home, I'm now concentrating on getting ready for Christmas ....

...... see you in December

Wendi x 

*** dishwasher hinge update: would you believe it but my Great friend Milo from Munich has bought one for me in Germany!!  She is sending it to me in the post! How ridiculous that IKEA in the UK won't have any until February 2015??!! Amazing 😊