Still Going

Most of the time spent since our last post has been spent on finishing touches and little things. The coffee cup kitchen worktop is in very neatly as are the splashbacks. More boxes are coming out of the garage and we are going to need more storage space, maybe a sideboard and certainly a drinks cupboard.

The timber floors are oiled and nicely dark but, as we aren’t doing the tiles in the hall until the stair is in, we are trailing dust everywhere. We have built in the wardrobe in the bedroom but have still to finalise the (sliding?) door detail.

We’ve also agreed on a stair design with John Dement from Prestwick who does Handmade Stairs. He came out to measure up and we worked out a single curve at the bottom and a flare at the top, so not the double curve we’d originally imagined but one which can be elegantly graded. It will have oak treads and risers and a solid (plywood) balustrade which can be curved then plastered or painted to blend in with the wall and it will have a rounded timber handrail.

The slightly amazing decision we have made is that we aren’t going to put in the solar panels – at least this year. In common with a lot of energy saving techno gadgets, the payback time is going to be at least 10 years. Maybe not so bad with the total life of the house, but, when you think about it, in winter we’ll have the fire on, which will heat the water and so it will only be effective in summer. With the dishwasher and washing machine taking cold fills and an electric shower, it is going to be pretty marginal.

We’ve rigged up the Owl energy monitor and it sits on the kitchen window sill where we can see if anything unnecessary is switched on. Interestingly, the stand by settings on the computer and the clocks on the cooker and microwave use next to nothing. All this stuff about switching electrical equipment off is also pretty marginal. We are running one freezer and 2 fridges at the moment, the big freezer does use a noticeable amount so that is off until we are harvesting from the garden.

Anyway, the location for the solar panel, on top of the log store on the southwest wall, is not great as the house will cast a shadow for the early part of the day. So, because of that and the fact that the shelter for the logs and the back door is on made-up ground, it will all benefit from being left to settle for a year. In the meantime we have tidied out the barn and are gathering logs and putting them in there, then stockpiling the chopped up ones in the utility room.

The cedar has been away and is now back in planks. Derek was honest enough to admit that he wasn’t confident about designing and building a stair, so it has just been planked for the decking. There is plenty of it, but Richard and Emily are buying their own house so I think they will have their hands full with that and we will not be having the decking built for us!

And speaking of building help. The stone wall has collapsed in two places. Amusingly, we think, the bit that Jo and Ste Shaw built has remained standing. It looks as though there may be some drainage needed in the walled garden, through and under the wall into our swale, but that’s something for when the new owner comes along.

The vegetable garden is coming good as far as it goes, with beans, peas and more beans keeping us going. The beetroot, shallots and leeks are for later and the potatoes were very late going in so I don’t expect too much from them. The rest of the garden is covered in chickweed which can get turned in as green manure!

We’ve ordered timber for doors, skirtings and architraves for the downstairs and have made the doors for the bedroom and toilet. We’ve even bought our dining tables and started looking at sofas and tvs. The end (of downstairs) is in sight – I think we are both dreading starting the upstairs.