New Windows

Great excitement as the hotly contested roof lights go in today - the planners weren't at all keen (thinking the one small window at foot level in the bedroom was enough), but we hung on in there and finally got agreement for three windows in the new master bedroom/en-suite & a replacement for the small window on the 2nd floor.  We had to use conservation roof lights - about 3 times the price of vellum, but they look great and the room has come alive with the light flooding in.  Now the roof lights are in, the guys can finish the insulation & plaster the room.

Woodstore

The old outside store is almost falling down and so it's carefully dismantled and is being rebuilt.  We will replace the rather unattractive tin roof with a cotswold stone one which is more in keeping and has the added benefit of providing better weather proofing.  The area between the store and the house will be a very sunny spot ideal for morning coffee or a glass of something chilled later in the day!

Progress....

So, now we have most of the planning permission the guys crack on - this will be the top floor bedroom in due course.  The insulation and insulated plaster board go in and then the room is plastered or skimmed (I get a bit lost with the technical terms) before a coat of white paint goes on.  It will still need to be painted once I chose a colour - suggestions anyone?

   

Hip Hip Hooray

The public consultation on the revised application closed yesterday and much to everyone's surprise, the consent to the application came through this morning.  Phew! After months of incompetence and very slow response, the local planning authority seem to have pulled their fingers out.  Much cause to celebrate......but still have the appeal to do now for the extension and the tie beam on the top floor, but at least now Johnny & the team can crack on with the rest of the house.

Gardening

While I'm having to contain myself and not do any gardening yet, the garden has become somewhat overgrown over the summer & so Brian uses his mini digger to remove all the weeds and self seeded flowers, bushes etc - it looks a whole lot better.  As the house is in an area of outstanding natural beauty, you have to get permission from the planning authority to remove any and all trees which is a bit of a pain.  Given my ongoing troubles with them, we'll leave that until the house is finished and then ask for permission to remove a couple of trees and tidy up the pine trees at the back of the garden

The Glass box

We're having major problems with the local planning authority who don't want me to put the glass extension on the back of the house.......so that will go to appeal once the initial planning permission comes through, but in the meantime, the builders lay the cement block that will form the floor in the "barn" which will form part of the glass box.  They're making the most of the glorious autumn we're having here and doing as much outdoor work as possible

New Floors!

After the pipes are laid, the guys screed them over on a Friday so it will dry over the weekend - I am visiting with some friends and we're told in no uncertain circumstances not to walk on the floors no matter how dry they seem, so I manage to take some photos hanging in the door, hence the odd angles....  but they look great and the house is now showing real progress.  My friends Jakki & Paddy saw it 6 months ago and can see significant differences which is a huge relief!

Pipes, pipes & more pipes

The team start laying the pipes for the underflow heating in the kitchen & the snug - around 500m of pipe in total!  My feet should be toastie warm under this lot.  I did wonder about telling them that some of the pipes weren't quite 100% straight.........but decided better not too!

More kitchen work

They raise the head height of the door coming into the kitchen from the hallway and remove the hideous old fire surround

A new woodstore

As part of the outside work, the wall, which is in a bad state and beginning to crumble is going to be re-built and we take the opportunity to also re-build the outside woodstore - they plan to increase the door height to make it more useable and I'll use it to store wood and outdoor furniture etc

Moving the under stairs door

In what will be the downstairs utility/shower room, there's an under stairs cupboard and we move the door which would, if left where it is, be in the new shower

Outside stonework

While we enjoy the last of the glorious Indian summer, the guys work outside.  All the pointing has to be dug out and replaced as it's of poor quality and not a good colour - it looks grey against the lovely honey coloured stone.  The two photos at the bottom show it once they've finished raking it out.  Of course, having done this, they now have to re-point it - suspect that'll take a whole lot longer than removing it.

Kitchen

They continue to work on the kitchen - it's going to be a good sized room - about 4.5m x 7.5m.  The room has two levels of ceiling as it goes up into the space on which the en-suite bathroom sits (due to the presence of a large, immoveable beam).  The photos below show the higher height and in the first one you can also see where the ceiling level goes up.

I go to see a kitchen made and installed by Mark the carpenter and really like it (phew), so we begin work to finalise the kitchen design which is really exciting.  I show it to a few people who all approve (perhaps they're just being nice) but I'm happy with the layout etc.  Now I need to decide on colour.  The units will be made of tulip wood and painted.  I'm painting lining paper with lots of different colours and this week's favourites are a light taupe and a pale french grey.  It's a dilemma, but thankfully I don't need to decide for a few more weeks.

I'm planning to have a tiled floor with tiles that look like wood flooring and also have to think about the wall tiles - so still lots to do.  I wonder if the Aga, which was ordered last Christmas, will go in before the end of the year - I do hope so

Planning update

No photos with this entry, but an update on the (lack of) progress with the planning application.  The application went in in the middle of May and since then there has been total silence.  Just before everyone goes on holiday and about 10 weeks after the application we ask for an update.  Unfortunately, the original conservation officer has gone off on long term sick leave and in typical local government style, no-one has picked up his work or thought to let us know.

In mid August, once everyone's back from leave, a new conservation officer is appointed who picks up the file and reviews it.  While this takes time, he is helpful on a number of issues while sticking his heels in on others including those the original conservation officer was unhappy with.  We go back and forward over several weeks and it seems we are making some progress.  There are two sticking issues, but other than that everything else seems to be acceptable.

The two problem areas are the glass box extension and the proposal to remove/raise the beam on the top floor which means the door is about 2 feet 6 high and you have to duck in and out of the room.  The planning consultant is confident we'll win both of these on appeal, but it's going to cost more time and (of course) money.  The appeal process will take at least 14 weeks, so it looks like this work won't be done until 2015.

We wait for the written confirmation, but, disaster - the 3rd planning officer or case worker, rejects the whole application and promptly goes off on holiday.  The planning consultant is not happy (to say the least), and it appears we'll need to wait for another 8 weeks for even those things they were happy with to be approved..........it's horribly frustrating, but it seems little we can do.  Luckily, there's quite a lot they can get on with even without the planning permission.

Plastering

The plaster has been working hard and has been doing the final coat in some of the rooms - looks fabulous.  As the house is so old, they have to use original materials and so it's taken a LONG time - way longer than more modern methods.  I guess it's worth it, but given it won't be visible once it's painted it's another one of those invisible projects which run throughout the house - can't wait till we get to to works that will be visible post completion!

Bedroom Fireplace

In the first floor bedroom there's a fireplace (now clocked off) with a surround which was painted (badly), so the guys have stripped it off.  I was hoping they'd find the original wood underneath, but sadly it's been stained and so doesn't look that great.  They'll finish stripping the old paint, but I suspect we'll end up painting it over again in due course.  As the fireplace has been blocked off, it won't be used so will have to find something to put there (everyone reading this will be groaning at the thought of me putting clutter there !!)

Bathroom wall

When they start plastering what will be the bathroom on the first floor, the old plaster has to be completely removed leaving this gorgeous stone wall - so I've decided to keep this wall in stone so it will be pointed and sealed in due course.

Use your imagination

This is a lovely sunny south facing spot between the old barn and one of the outbuildings.  The crumbling wall at the back will be built up, some nice paving laid and before you know it I'll have a little sun trap for my morning coffee.........now, just need a kitchen to make it!

Thai restaurant?

They've put up the lathes between the new downstairs utility/shower room & the snug and to be honest it looks like a Thai restaurant with the reed dividers.  Soon these will be covered in plaster and so no opportunity for those in the snug to watch those in the bathroom showering (probably no bad thing).