Positivity and Restoration..

....Hello

I promised last time to write a more positive blog and well - here it is!!

We've had a breakthrough and have some excellent news - For a while we have been really concerned we would not be able to finish the house due to finances - we were caught between the building society wanting us to finish it before giving us any more money and us not being able to finish it because we'd run out of money!! 

The joys of the self build mortgage :-/

So after spending a month wondering and worrying what to do, we decided to write to the building society and ask for an advance: (One of my mother's proverbs is "if you don't ask you don't get") - So we asked and after much debate by the powers that do - they agreed!!!!???!!@£$%^*****

So armed with hopefully enough money now to get us to sign off, we have to decided very carefully where to spend it. 

It's still just Richard and I working on finishing the house and boy there's still a lot to do! It's also quite difficult watching Richard who is incredibly skilled and able but only has weekends and evenings - there are just simply not enough hours! 

I really appreciate him being able to do these jobs; frankly where would we be without it? 

And so we are making progress in the utility room - it is nearly finished; the cabinets are in with worktop and we are really close to having hot water as the thermal store is finally installed.

I am still building kitchen units and the massive Ikea box pile does not seem to be diminishing - there is certainly a lot of kitchen!


Last bank holiday weekend I restored a table - long story but I acquired the table some years ago left it in the garden for a few years, finally brought it into our barn with glass roof where the sun then proceeded to bake it for a few more years!  then it was in my sister-in-law's garage now for 18 months:I don't know why but we decided to bring it with us


I decided to have a go at restoring it as we can't afford a new table - quite honestly I'm thrilled with how it's turned out!
It might only be a pine table but it does look a lot a lot like some of the tables I'm seeing in very nice interiors magazines!
It will do for us for a while and is certainly the right size for the living space, we have a mismatch of chairs but I think it'll look ok?

I used Annie Sloan clear wax to seal it after sanding - I liked the 'greyed' look as it was being sanded back and certainly didn't want a yellow pine, the wax is really nice as it seals it and leaves a gorgeous satin finish.

I also used the Annie Sloan chalk paint and dark wax on a mirror. I hated the mirror and was about to put it out for the charity shop when I thought I'd have go at this effect: as you can see from the before and after photographs it is a nice process and has certainly felt good to be doing some of the finishing touches!

And so the next few days and coming week are very exciting - This weekend we have some very kind volunteers (you know who you are and we LOVE you!!!) who are going to come over and help us push towards our finish - this will involve more kitchen building, (there are a lot of drawers!) a lot of painting: skirting, architrave and doors, as well as the wall behind our bed: we have chosen 'Down Pipe' by Farrow & Ball - I must say it's getting a mixed reaction but i'm hoping the finished result will be worth the risk? here's the 'sample' I've painted on the wall...
 


There are shower doors to fit, and the front door is hopefully going to go in too.. The electricians are coming tomorrow and are doing the 2nd fix so hopefully we'll be able to have hot water...that lovely bath is calling me ;-)

Appliances have been ordered and are being delivered next week from Porcelanosa in Solihull a lovely shop which most people will think of as a tile shop - it's a very inspirational place; their kitchens and bathrooms are amazing and they are very competitive with their prices and will price match - so it was a no-brainer to go there. The service is excellent!
We are having Neff and Siemens appliances and I must say I'm really excited about this delivery!!

We have also got Granite Planet coming next week to template for worktops and they are coming back to fit them the following week! We are having Quartz : this is one of the most eco-friendly worktops you can have and it looks very similar to Granite - we are going to have 12 mm thick worktop in a grey ish stone colour - EXCITING!


And so finally the best news I have is that we plan to actually MOVE IN next weekend!!! - its my Dad's 70th birthday & we do have a party to organise, cook for and attend but thats just a minor detail!!.. 

....Fingers crossed it all goes well this weekend?!!

I'll be back soon to let you know

Wendi x

Easter approaches

So here I am again - I don't want to write a negative blog I really want to write a positive blog and I promise I'm trying...
Of course there are a plethora of reasons to be cheerful; weekends away, spring lambs, tree blossom: the list is endless and I do love this time of year as its full of promise! 
Talking of promise though my hubby did promise me we'd be in our house for Christmas, then end of Jan, then end of Feb.. Looks like Easters going pass us by too! "Sigh...."






And so to the house update:

The internal doors are slowly being fitted and look really good, the thermal store which is a bit of a beast as you can see from the photographs is slowly being installed - this is quite complicated and no mean feat! It will use power generated from solar panels or the air source heat pump or the wood burner we can't really move in until we have actual heating and hot water so this has become a priority. We laid the floor tiles in the utility room first so that the boiler could be placed on it. Here's Richard laying the 1st tile - It may take a while only 85 square metres to go...





















We got all our stuff out of storage as we had the garage floor concreted and couldn't justify the monthly storage cost when we have this enormous empty space. It was so nice to get all my 'stuff of life' back - I still keep having a peek in boxes almost daily and still it makes me smile when I see my pots and pans, photos etc

The storage unit final day!

Paul has completed the cladding but there are some finishing bits to be done around windows etc- I think you'll agree it looks stunning - I love the almost mirror reflection in the glass.  Paul has now finished & left site :-( - there are jobs we still need him to do but we have genuinely run out of money. Now day by day the site is deserted and it is a bit eery without him ...

We are finding it difficult to find the funds to pay for the finishing. This is very frustrating as the finish is the culmination of all our ideas; all my research on mood boards and all our dreams of how the finish should look is now compromised due to our finances - very sad but I'm sure in the future we will be able to implement some of those ideas we had - fingers crossed 

In the meantime we are trying to do the rest of the work ourselves but with Richard working a 0630 to 19:30 everyday we only really have weekends.

I'm limited myself physically with doing some of the things but have built kitchen units and attached skirting boards etc. My next big task will be painting the doors, skirtings and architraves

I've also got an old table that I need to sand - this will be our main dining table for now but it spent quite a lot of its life outside in the garden & isn't in the best condition but it is quite an attractive table

We are going to spend this coming Easter weekend working hard on the house but first we will spend half a day preparing our caravan for sale as this will give us some much needed revenue and will help go towards our finish and an added bonus it will add to clearing the site as at the front we have a huge mountain of mud, roof tiles (I moved these today!) wood, pallets, piles of spent floor screed (I also moved this today!) amongst other stuff
I can imagine one day it being a normal drive - it will be so nice in the future when we can drive up and actually turn around in front of the house - luxury!!

So I've realise another milestone of the year goes by that is Easter and still we haven't moved in! Honestly we are very comfortable in the studio but perhaps a little too comfortable? Maybe if we were actually still in the caravan things would be going at a faster pace? who knows?

I suppose I can't complain although I feel I want to and yes we will be in one day and we will look back and laugh ...

I/we have had two consecutive weekends away one in Munich spending three days with our lovely friends Georg and Milo for their 50th birthday celebrations and last weekend I was in London with my daughters celebrating Chloe's 21st birthday!

It is lovely to come back to the house and see with fresh eyes as I don't have this privilege often I think that as I'm here all day long and look at a ghost site and all the things that needs to be done is probably why I get a bit down

And so I sign off again with a sigh but ever hopeful (this seems to be my permanent disposition) I promise to write a more cheery & positive post one of these days but hope that the photographs of our progress will be even more advanced 

but for now here are some pictures of fluffy bunnies and Easter chicks:

Happy Easter!!!

Wendi x

Slow Progress

As you may be able to tell from the blog title this month things are getting me down - I don't usually react in such a personal way but keeping cheerful and positive is just get a tad waring at the moment!!

Our house is stunning- I know this, we are sooo lucky- I know this too ..sometimes it just doesn't help

The cladding is almost done and looks incredible, there's one full face left to do and then all the fiddly bits around windows, edges etc
The garage now has a concrete floor - good job really as all our stuff comes out of storage on Friday and will have to live in there until we are ready. I am looking forward to this as it's been 474 days or 67.7 weeks or 16 months not that I've been counting you understand!!!
We questioned whether missing my "stuff" made me materialistic? but then we realised that it's not just "stuff" it's our history - things we've collected, saved for, made.. from Photograph albums as well as practical things like clothes to saucepans!! I think we've managed to live without some of the more luxury items we have like surround sound TV etc but 6 months in a caravan taught me to love the porcelain toilet and the power shower LOL!!!!

"So what's left to do?" and "when do you think you'll be in?.." seem to be the most popular questions we are asked. the answer I'm afraid is the same as "how longs a piece of string?" - honestly, I really did think we'd be in for Christmas and then the end of January and then Easter - I'm not convinced now.
Richard and I had a walk around the house listing all the things left to do and it's HUGE. 
We need to prioritise things like hot water and heating over fitting the kitchen units although I've made a start and tiling bathrooms. 
We can, once this is done camp out in the house in a fashion but we are truly comfortable in the studio with all mod cons it just feels frustrating literally being able to touch it but not have it.. 

Anyway, our floor tiles arrived on Monday, all 85 boxes of them! The whole of the ground floor will be done with these wood style walnut porcelain tiles - they are 1200mm x 150mm so literally look like planks of wood but offer the best heat retention with underfloor heating. 
Painting is almost finished - just a few very high bits to be done that I cant reach. The doors and skirting arrive on Thursday and my Dad is going to hang them all for us.
We have lights and sockets and switches non of which are on/up yet.. as you can see the list is endless

Interestingly as we've built an airtight eco house and we haven't got the ventilation system in place yet (Mechanical Heat Recovery Ventilation System click here for more info) we have noticed the walls were going mouldy!! Turns out its because there's no air flow in the house. Luckily with some gorgeous spring weather we've had all doors and windows open and resolved the problem (combined with some bleach!!) so that's also on the priority list

So I'm off to buy some floor tile adhesive as we're making a start on the utility room floor this evening so we can get the hot water thermal storage tank installed - another priority.

But IT WILL ALL BE WORTH IT.. sorry did I shout that? ;-)

The photos are below this time, the internet is painfully slow and I've been trying to upload this blog since 0930 its now lunchtime! BT broadband 2nd april - can't wait!!!!


Back as soon as I have anything to share

Wendi xx

Confession time..!

Well I have to confess it's been 50 days since I last blogged!! Where on earth did that time go? 
I do have a plethora of excuses: The most recent of them was Man flu;(click the link for a giggle!) yes I was struck down by that terrible virus that usually only men get!!! seriously though it has been horrible and I have felt so incredibly frustrated to have had my work flow cut short as well as other appointments.

Another reason I couldn't blog was the internet - we use a dongle on Orange network and usually it's brilliant - I'm able to stream videos and surf to my heart's content but suddenly it has stopped working and we get an intermittent signal, I can use 3G on my phone but I can't blog from my phone. 
BT were supposed to install our telephone line on 4th Feb and guess what? they didn't and we are still waiting!! So "normal" internet (although i'm told round here it's not great) will hopefully be installed soon..



So onto the house progress:
Upstairs is nearly finished, it's almost all painted with only small areas of painting and woodwork to do. It's taken some doing and painting new plaster has been a challenge. I've had to dilute the paint for it's initial "piss coat" (a term I am informed is used in the trade as it's 'weak as piss'!!!) some rooms have had 4 coats. 

We opted to paint everywhere white, the look we want lends itself to that and it's clean. I have however chosen Cornforth white from Farrow & Ball to use in the hall stairs and landing - as this is such an enormous height I guess 
we won't repaint it easily in the near future unlike other normal height rooms.







We have skirting board and architrave pinned in place upstairs and are just waiting for the doors to be hung.

The family bathroom is tiled and fitted out and is only waiting for the shower door. The guest ensuite needs tiling but has toilet, sink and shower installed - in fact we have 2 working toilets in the house!
Our master bedroom ensuite needs tiling and a lot of work yet..

The dressing room space continues to excite me! I feel so lucky to have a great walk in wardrobe space and so we've decide to emphasise the 'secret' element and we are going to hang a mirror as a door.. watch this space


The stairs have been altered and now fit the space properly and we await balustrade spindles and handrails etc





Downstairs has been a hive of activity, Rob our electrician has finished putting sockets and switches in place ready and pandering to my every silly whim :-@




The underfloor heating has been put in - Richard and Paul spent 1 and 1/2 days wrestling with a giant reel of pipe, got in a massive tangle and sent the air blue in the process, but its done! 

The floor was screeded on Friday and Monday and the plasterers George, Mark, Darren, Tom and Dan left after doing a fantastic job!! So now the downstairs is ready for painting...







Outside the brickwork is finished and we are waiting for the cladding to arrive which should be this week - I have always joked with Paul the builder that once he's outside fitting the cladding it'll snow! I do hope not!

We went to Ikea and bought the kitchen early Feb which is being delivered tomorrow - we've gone for the hi gloss white. They relaunched their kitchen range the day we went (that was planned! Click this link to have a look) The drawers light up on opening and there are drawers within a drawer features as well as subtle details which make it a bit different. We've chosen all pan drawers mostly including the island. We hope to create more of a bespoke look on a budget and have bought nice Siemens and Neff appliances and we are having a 12mm quartz worktop so hopefully it'll have a WOW factor. 


Another reason for choosing white was based on the open plan living thing - although right now it looks an enormous space; by the time there are sofas, dining table etc it could potentially look quite full so we decided a white kitchen would 'recede' as such. Heres hoping...
We have bought hi gloss units in dark grey for the utility room with a walnut worktop - the dogs will sleep in here so white wouldn't be so practical. 

I've chosen (finally) sockets and switches, white for upstairs and brushed stainless steel for downstairs. We have some lights as you know but we are still working on the white downlights - because I want square and not round its proving to be a little difficult! 

And so that brings you up to date with our self build progress: we are still poor but loving it, exhausted but determined. 

My challenge this week is to finish painting and I'm also about to make a headboard wish me luck!! 

I can only promise to try and blog again soon...

Happy New Year!

A very blustery start to 2014! As we are currently living in the studio there's a tree above us that has been creaking and bending heavily in the high winds we're having at the moment!! I do go to sleep wondering if Im going to have to be rescued by firemen the next day ...oh no?! that was just a dream then...!!!

All is well with Maple Barn I'm happy to report. We are definitely not on schedule BUT through no fault of ours. We have found that in order to meet schedules it would take miracles! Hanging around for the building society and all the red tape that goes along with it, is where the time gets swallowed up - I would certainly say that if we did it again (never by the way!!) we'd need a lot more of a cash flow. We are 'paid' by the building society in arrears  so have to find the money to pay/buy things up front than it all gets paid off when the lump sum arrives - very tricky to say the least! 

We aren't starving yet though and had a thoroughly nice Christmas spent with my parents and our children. I must say rather selfishly that its nice to be able to concentrate again and not be distracted by all the Christmas paraphernalia. I did have a ceremonial burning of all the Christmas cards! But next year will be spectacular.....

Back to the house; we are well underway with all the plaster-boarding. Upstairs is nearly finished (probably today) and the plasterers are in tomorrow! That means in real terms that in a weeks time I could potentially start painting upstairs and bathrooms will get tiled and fitted out (oh god I am sooooo excited!!!!) Downstairs all the first fix plumbing is done and lighting plans underway: This is the tricky bit for me, I know exactly what I want but the cost is humungous so I'm working really hard to find cheaper equivalents; it's possible, just time consuming. For example I quite fancied a Moooi light for one of the bedrooms (really I didn't know they had changed the picture to a naked man holding the light..;-)click on the link!!) so its around £350.00 and I just looked on ebay and found a much cheaper version (and granted it isn't exactly the same) for £26.99!! bargain!

We have also been very inspired by our friends house who have been doing a Georgian house renovation in Alcester. They are furniture designers and have impeccable unattainable taste but they have been very clever with some of the things they've put in their house. Flooring from B&Q that looks every bit as good as Karndean/Amtico but is less than half the price! Guess what we'll be putting in the bathrooms? We spent New Year's eve and day with them and as we'd both moved out of our homes at the same time (Dec 2012 we lived opposite one another) it was a poignant New year! They had most certainly achieved their goal and it was nice to see familiar things like pictures and plates etc - sounds weird but I miss that stuff - I am looking forward to unpacking my belongings that I haven't seen now for over a year..

Anyway we have a new deadline (only moved it twice!) and we think realistically we will be in proper by Easter - we have to have a goal!

Heres another gorgeous Moooi chandelier, for the hall perhaps?...

I always say I'll blog again soon but life's so hectic so this time I'll try (honestly!) back soon!

Windows and High Winds!

Another couple of weeks has passed with such changeable weather - but on the whole we have been lucky. I think Paul has been wet through, nearly blown away and frozen solid all at once!

We have had an exciting two weeks as the windows have been fitted! Here is the first one to arrive. Its quite difficult to see in the photos as they are grey but once the scaffold comes down next week we'll get a much better view inside and out and we'll be able to open the doors. The funniest thing is the dogs have been used to running through the open space and suddenly they can't get anywhere!

 

We have all the first fix electrics in now and thought I'd give you a peek at our dining lights! They will be above the dining table, evenly spaced of course! They are Tom Dixon Beat Lights. I think they will look very cool - they have a gold/copper hammered finish on the inside and are hi gloss white on the outside.

All the velux windows are in and are producing a lovely light into the hallway..

One of the things I've noticed here is the beautiful sky - I'm not sure why as we did have sky at our last house!!! All my photographs seem to show amazing colour and cloud formation. Followed by fabulous sunsets

Across the Midlands on Thursday we had gale force winds up to 60 mile per hour! Paul decided it may be an idea to place a tarpaulin across the gable end to prevent any accidents :-/

The gable end window has been damaged and we are waiting to hear when this will go in? It's frustrating but it happens; this is where weeks can be lost and the build is set behind schedule...


The next stage in progress is the plaster boarding of the internal walls. It's finally looking like we have actual rooms and it's all coming together. I can finally visualise where furniture will be now. Lots of lovely roof angles and spaces..

The front door: We are having a painted front door to match the colour of the windows, I found this one (left) on a fabulous web site called Urban Front but they are in excess of £6000! Our good friends Richard and Dinah have a contact and we have had a similar one made 80% cheaper! (It doesn't have any side windows yet and so we'll have to build this in) I'm now looking for big chunky handles and a long door handle like the pic..

 
We had a real giggle last weekend at the local village quiz. We've made some nice friends here and have joined the choir (!!) and we are off to lots of organised do's over the next few weeks.

We invited our friends Melanie & David over and ended up coming last!! Obviously this was a tactical manoeuvre NOT!!! It was a bit of a surprise to find I'd been mentioned in the local newsletter ;-@. I like that we were excused for being in a tent - would we have done any better if we were in a caravan LOL! We have to make sure we do much better next year....

And so I'll sign off again and hope to blog about more exciting progress soon. One of the most commonly asked questions now is "when will you be in?" or "will you be in for Christmas?" The decision to not try and be in for Christmas was the best one we've made! The pressure just for a couple of days was too much and we now feel much happier working at an achievable pace with a plan to finish or at least be in by the end of January ... 

Ciao for now...Wendi xx