Almost at the finishing line

November 5^th 2012 – May 30^th 2014

19 months from start to finish (basically)

Well it’s been a long time since I last wrote a blog entry.  Apologies to all you fans who tell me that you have been disappointed by the silence.  You are a very nice lot to be so appreciative of what I managed to do for the first few months, and so understanding that the blog had to take second place for this last, and quite lengthy stage of ‘finishing off’.

The truth is, I don’t like taking photos of something that isn’t really showing things at their best – and during all this work, neither the interior nor the exterior has looked anything but serious work in progress, and as such more ‘mess’ than ‘finished article’. On some occasions I wondered if it would ever get beyond 'mess' but amazingly it is now really feeling like the home we had imagined.  We are both verry happy with how it has turned out, but neither of us would EVER do it again.  The fortunate thing is we won't have to - it's what we want, and we are here to stay.

So the silence hasn’t been due to us having been slacking, far from it, the detailing and consideration of how all the interior fit out should be has continued with a similar intensity. 

I think it would be fair to say that most of the choices, in terms of material and colour, and how things should look was my domain, whilst how things were actually built to achieve the desired effect and the construction has been done by Max, with our carpenters coming in to help on occasional days when special tools have been required.  Most of it the interior was complete by the end of March.   Since then, when the weather has allowed us to, we have been finalising the exterior : -  the finishing touches to the external skin of the house, laying the terrace, and doing a fair amount of planting of ground cover on the terraced banks of the field.  Photos of the exterior will all come later in the summer when everything is looking more ‘mature’.  Unfortunately the wild flower meadow is slightly struggling after all the rain we had through the winter, though a local expert says it's still a bit early to know, so I've still got my fingers crossed.  I think we are finding that a lot of the seed was washed to the bottom of the field.  Not very encouraging, but we will see.  The wild flowers on Max's studio roof which we broadcast in the spring are looking more positive, so we hope for a bit of colour there shortly.  Poppies and cornflowers in the areas in the field which were just turned over due to machinery doing work in that area are of course blooming wonderful(ly)!!  Somebody's law.  It just shows nature is much better left to its own devices.  We'll learn. perhaps.

We've received all the final certificates and warranties for such things as the electrics, HETAS certificate for the wood burning stove, commissioning certificate and warranty for the heating system, and most important Building Regs approval.   

So we are 'home and dry', and very 'comfortable and happy', and here are some photos that I hope you will feel were worth waiting for.

Dining area looking towards the kitchen.
The corridor leads to Max's studio, and a lazy bucket that didn't get out of the way.

The kitchen

Looking from kitchen towards the living room

Looking from the dining table towards the entrance hall

Looking from Max's studio towards my study

Looking over the top of the dining cupboard unit that divides the dining area and corridor

Looking over my study area into the living room

Looking into the living room

Sitting at my desk, looking over the living room

The Snug.  Our inward looking room for the evenings.



The parquet flooring was bought second hand and cleaned of copious amounts of bitumen before having it laid and sanded.  The wood is Panga Panga whose nickname is partridge wood because of the patterning of the grain.
We have left it unpolished as it has a very nice natural finish, and would become much to talk of sealed, we thought!



We also bought this fireplace from a local reclamation yard in Wells which we have installed in the snug.
So the snug has a more traditional, cosy feeling.  Difficult to photograph.  But I'll try next time around.

The wall on the left contains a pull down double bed

The double doors from the corridor that open to the entrance hall and to the staircase.
(Signs of work still to be done - a bag of render leaning there waiting to be used on the external walls.)
I should have removed it!
The laburnum tree outside is particular effective through this tall window.  What a bonus.

The stair window

The stairwell showing off our lime green floor.

Entering the guest bedroom

The guest bedroom

The guest bathroom

Our bedroom with an elm floor
We actually have a bathroom (shower room) too, but too difficult to photograph with any meaning.
You'll have to trust us on that one.

So for now that is what we have to show you.  We are working hard to complete the exterior, and I will endeavour to get a series of photos out as soon as it becomes possible to show it how it should be.  Still looking like work in progress.

36. The Mondrian kitchen wall is installed

Mondrian gives the kitchen a special focus

We have installed the Mondrian wall, and all but a couple of panels including the bottom right hand ‘yellow' panel is in place.

The cupboard doors to all those open shelves in the foreground are yet to be installed and completed.

35 Time for the cover up

I forgot last week to show the studio wall being prepared for the full cover up.  So here are a few photos to show the work involved before we could mound the earth up against it and eventually over the roof.  I have to say before you start looking that I was involved with a great deal of it!  Somehow, the men seemed busy elsewhere!!

Initially the steps in the blockwork had to be painted with thick bitumen to prevent any water penetration and the blocks painted with a primer which allows the bitumen to adhere to the walls

Max just making sure Stefan understands 'exactly' what is required!

These are the rolls of bitumen that have a paper backing sheet that have to be laid like wall paper on the walls.and pressed firmly to ensure that they fully adhere.  This is your main prevention against water penetration.

The sheets in place

Now the wall is covered with sheets of 4" thick insulation to keep the house warm

The wall extending to the right is an additional retaining wall to make the mound that goes over the roof appear wider so that it looks more effective, and also provides an enclosure and privacy to the back of the house.  It therefore doesn't need the water-proofing or insulation.

The insulation panels are just supported by any means prior to the earth being poured up against it.  Max giving the sign of approval that everyone waits for!
However, it looks as though the whole building is about to topple over on top of him,
Fortunately it's just the photographer that was at fault.

The white cloth at the bottom is the 'geotextile covering' to the land drain that wraps around the bottom of the wall.  The land drain collects the water that drains down through the soil and moves it away from the building,  The geotextile fabric is meant to protect the pores in the land drain from getting clogged up.
It's all there, we just hope it all works!

Now the earth is moved in

Looking more like the intended result, prior to the grass growing.

And this is Max's shed that was built last week.
What a lucky fella.

Completed - and to match the house

This week's work on the terrace

Max has laid a lot of the footings for the ashlar (lookalike bath stone) walls that we are having to create planters around the terrace.

Drains (with the upturned saucepan, waiting to be cut down to size), levels, shuttering, building materials all in a day's work.

All ready for the concrete to be mixed and poured.

The view from the terrace.
This is what we are working towards

The Mondrian kitchen wall progresses

The vertical and horizontal having been painted, masking tape yet to be peeled off carefully.

The shelving components in position showing the Mondrian proportions of the verticals and horizontals, with the kitchen base units also in place. Other cupboards awaiting to be positioned.

The doors being painted in the Mondrian strong colours with other panels in shades of pale grey.The shelves will all be in white

and this weekend  finalising the preparation of the drive ready for the blockwork paving

Ooops, and that's where we are living at the moment - but not for much longer!

34 The Big Exposure

Week commencing 30th July

 Time for celebrations - the covers are coming off

Lunching in camouflage

The house also looks suitably camouflaged in its surroundings .
Maybe haircuts are needed all round.

The house looking a bit derelict - no windows, and the storms were imminent so we had to board it all up to protect the inside.
Not looking  its best.

Not my favourite view yet due to the the blockwork wall as yet unrendered, but the view of the main part of the house is gradually taking shape.
The scaffolding ramp has had to be retained for when the windows are installed as they will need access to the first floor.

It must be quite difficult to understand what is what here, but you are generally looking towards the entrance door which from this view is hidden by the unrendered block work wall, and underneath all that scaffolding.

This is my favourite elevation at the moment because it is the most complete. I enjoy the angularity of the shapes and the juxtaposition of the colours.
I particularly like the grey Trespa panels, especially as I was very nervous as to whether the fixing screws would interfere too much, but they are pretty discreet.

This shows the volumes of the structure well.
My favourite corner of the building.  I keep find myself walking round here to look at it again!
I particularly like the way the drain pipes are recessed into the cladding.  A brilliant detail.

This corner isn't finished at this stage, as it was difficult to do whilst the scaffolding was up.
It shows the structure behind the timber cladding which is designed as a rain screen.  The rain is allowed to penetrate the timber, but the Tyvek breather membrane prevents it from penetrating any further, and the timber can breathe and dry out easily with air circulating around it.

This is looking down the side of the house, with my floor to ceiling window (the glass not yet installed) that I have in my study.
The pale panels within the wall will be painted and plants grown up this area.
The ground level will eventually be raised closer to the level that the timber cladding comes down to.

The groundworks around the house have started. Terracing is being created to follow the stepping down of the building.

Rainwater storage has been installed

A retaining wall for the terrace will soon be built, and we have started planning how the garden will blend with the wild flower meadow..

This contraption is the shuttering  that Stefan and Jake have built for the concrete retaining wall to contain the field as it banks up over the roof of the studio.
The framework has been filled with reinforced concrete.  In a week the shuttering will be removed, and then Stefan will be back to start the great earth moving exercise.
This will involve moving the ground at the front of the house which we put there to provide flat access for lorries delivering materials to the site whilst we were building  (It was actually most of the old bungalow! - it has had its uses therefore).  We no longer want it there as we now need to create the main access to the new house. All that material can now be used to create the slope of the field up to, and over the roof.

The following week commencing 12th August

There has been a big change this week.  First of all in my mood - I was suddenly feeling despondent   It is strange how ones emotions change for no apparent reason when one is involved in such a personal project.  Some days one feels totally elated and excited about how everything is going, and other days it all feels as if everything is going horribly wrong. 

Without anything triggering these feelings this week seemed to start off with a strong sense of the latter.  The choices I had been most influential in making I felt had turned out not as I expected, the finishing of some of the work that had been completed seemed less than perfect, and anything I thought about filled me with doubt!  Not a nice start to the week. 

The most exciting thing to at least look forward to was that the scaffolding at the front was all to be removed on Wednesday.  

With this done,  the whole house was now exposed and showing its true form.

On Thursday, Stefan and Jake were due to move in with their massive machinery to completely reshape the exterior landscape.  This coincided  with Max feeling very poorly and confined to bed, so unwilling to postpone this major event I took the task in hand and agreed to manage the day's work - actually as it turned out - two day's work.

Just a few bits of drainage to tie up, water connections to make, as well as deciding exactly how the entrance drive should be shaped, how large the flat area should be and the degree of the slope to the road.  I was fortunate that Stefan knew exactly what he was doing, and he can be so delicate with this big machine that I knew he would basically take control where it mattered, but I did feel I had a  huge responsibility to make the correct decisions that would meet with Max's approval.  The weather was foul too.  It always knows when you are going to be churning up the soil - it finds it such fun to make it into a mud bath for the workers!

The green sheeting is where the front door will be - arriving September 9th

Full frontal

Still my favourite view

The start of the slope

Building up

building up, or building being submerged . . . .

Round the other side - and in the rain, so the timber changes dramatically - like a polished yacht

The Living Room, with the beginnings of the terrace being constructed

Looking across all the building materials for the terrace to Max's studio

The reason for getting the outside sorted now is to have a nice clean hard surface laid before we move in.  I have seen what happens when muddy boots come inside the house, my worst nightmare if we move in before this can be properly controlled.  We have all the paving stones for the drive already on site.  We have people lined up to lay them both front and back, so with any luck by the end of September it will all be sorted. 

By the time Stefan had finished on Friday afternoon, the site had changed completely, and my mood had changed.  The house is in its final position with the shape almost intact around it. Next week the mound up to the studio roof will be completed, and the driveway will have its hardcore spread over it to make it suitable for the blocks to be laid.

This weekend, Max and I are working on a kitchen wall that is either sheer madness, or very brave.  Because of my excitement over this piece of creativity my mood has instantly returned to feeling positive about everything about the house. One realises that small irritants in the whole scheme of things really are insignificant.  

Some weeks ago Max had the idea to make our end wall of the kitchen / dining room into a Piet Mondrian wall. I set to and found the Mondrian that we should base it on, and drew out how I thought the wall would work.  Max actually configured how it should be made, and we briefed the joiner who actually understood exactly what we were after and has seemingly achieved the end goal.  The joiner made up the horizontals and verticals that form the shelves, and a number of panels that will be recessed to create cupboard doors or just blanks.  These were delivered in the week and today we have painted them all with undercoat.  Tomorrow we will paint the top coat with three separate panels painted red, blue and yellow.  The others are in pale shades of grey.  The verticals and horizontals are in a very dark grey.  You'll just have to wait for a future blog to see what it will be like when installed.  We plan to have it ready for Mark our main builder/carpenter to fit in place next week when he is back from a break.  With that in place he can then fit my kitchen so things are getting really exciting.

The Piet Mondrian our kitchen wall will be based on

Sections of the Mondrian shelving (on their side)  There are 3 sections in total.

Here they are in the process of being painted

These are all the panels that will be recessed into the dark grey verticals and horizontals being painted by the master!  Is it Mondrian himself?

Looking for perfection

Last week also saw the bathrooms completed - our tiler had to come back and cut out a couple of tiles and replace them due to two different mishaps but these don't need recounting!

Our tiler has to be one of the best - he's done a really nice job, and he is so good at coming to the rescue without any fuss when we most need him.

So the house is very much on course with us beginning to see our journey out of this siding 'fairly' imminent, and our mood back in tact after a shaky start to the week.  Max is feeling better too which is a big relief.