Archive for the ‘the old shed’ Category
Ros’s Homemade Home
Posted on: June 10, 2009
Some recent (not very good) photos from the Old Shed:
Letterbox, not made by me, but painted by me:
Flowerpot, decorated with mosaic by me:
Cushions, designed, stitched and made by me:
Dresser, stripped, painted, lined, new handles added by me (and other family members):
Nothing homemade here, but pretty cow parsley:
Curtains made by me; cushion pads covered by me; table and chairs painted by me:
Chairs painted by me:
Box put together and painted by me:
Quilt, made by me:
Headboard, covered by me:
Chair cushions covered by me, tapestry cushion stitched and made by me:
Knitting bag, covered by me:
Sampler, made by me:
To do:
Curtains for French windows – fabric bought, hope to get these made this weekend.
Pegbag – done, but not photographed.
Finish tapestry rug for bedroom.
Possibly paint bookshelves.
Home
Posted on: May 6, 2009
The infamous sofa has finally arrived. Hooray!
I am so excited. It finally looks like a real home.
Work has also been going on outside. My brother has removed all the rubble and replaced it with some topsoil. He’s levelled off the drive and the planting area and made a nice bank going up to my parents’ garden. He and my dad have also moved a lot of large stones (not quite sure where these came from) to the bottom of the banked area to reinforce it. I plan to plant ground cover type things on the bank, with maybe some alpines and other rockery plants.
At some point, there will be gravel on the driveway (between the banked area and the rest of the garden) but there is an ongoing planning permission issue about the access so I don’t think they’ll do this yet.
Dad has been planting up the various things I got when I was at home over Easter. The acer in the pot and the birdbath came from my grandparents’ garden and I’m not quite sure where I’ll put them. I’m planning to take the acer out of the pot, I think, and see how it gets on with some real soil.
The rest of the space which isn’t planted and won’t be gravelled will have grass, as will the area on the other side of the wall. My dad has volunteered to cut this for me.
I am very happy indeed.
Oh dear
Posted on: January 27, 2009
- In: money | the old shed
- 4 Comments
Earlier this month, I ordered a sofa for the Old Shed. It was going to be a beautiful, comfortable two-seater in a fabric called Fabulous Hot Pink. I was very, very excited about this sofa.
Yesterday, Sofa Workshop called in the administrators. The official statement says that they’re hopeful about finding a buyer and fulfilling all customer orders. I haven’t heard anything to say differently. But I am still a bit anxious. The sofa’s not due to be delivered until early March.
Anyone have any advice? I paid for the sofa on the credit card, vaguely thinking that might offer some protection if this situation were to arise. Does it?
The Old Shed
Posted on: December 2, 2008
- In: england | the old shed
- 3 Comments
After:
Kitchen: The tiles are actually white, but they are reflecting the pink units. Ignore the mess on the counter.
Bedroom: the walls are pinker than they appear here.
And here! The wardrobe doesn’t quite go across the whole wall. There will be space for some storage boxes. This is the room that needs most attention, I think. I have some curtains made, that just need hemming before they go up. And there’s a chair that I covered in the curtain fabric that will also go in here, and some pictures to go on the walls. It definitely needs some bookshelves though, to really give it a homely feel.
Bathroom: I just love everything about this room. There needs to be a rail up for a shower curtain.
And I have a different bathmat waiting to go here:
So, we’re nearly there. The main thing that hasn’t yet happened is bookshelves, but apparently they wanted to wait a few months to give the house chance to settle before they get put up. It is amazing to look at these photos and see things that were only in my head now here in reality.
The Old Shed
Posted on: November 25, 2008
- In: england | the old shed
- 3 Comments
I don’t think I’ve given a progress update here for a very long time. Anyway, the good news is that it is almost done! The bad news is I’m 500 miles away and so I haven’t seen it yet. But there are pictures!
You can see the parking space by the front door and the patio by the french windows. The holes in the wall are for bats and/or swallows.
More from the Old Shed
Posted on: August 29, 2008
- In: england | the old shed
- 12 Comments
Apologies to those of you who are finding this tedious. It is completely fine to scroll past and ignore these posts. But for those of my friends who enjoy Grand Designs and Location, Location, Location, here’s the latest update on the Old Shed.
Safety helmets must be worn…
Posted on: August 17, 2008
- In: the old shed
- Comments Off
At great personal risk, I have utterly ignored the site warnings in order to take some photos of progress on the Old Shed.
The entrance to the Shed is somewhat precarious. The doorstep looks pretty, though. There are holes like this one all over the place at the moment. Water and sewage, I think. The electrician is starting tomorrow.
Two windows: one in the main room and one in the bedroom. Once the wiring and plumbing is in place, this will all be boarded and plasters. The floor will be about 5″ higher than it is at the moment, but there will still be something of a sloping ceiling, I think.
View of the front door from the inside. This area to the left of the front door will be the kitchen. I had a meeting with the architect on Friday to talk about a lot of the details (where the power points will be, what kind of flooring I want, light fittings, doors etc.) and also to plan the kitchen. I’m very excited about the layout we’ve come up with. The kitchen will be a U-shape which will also provide a seating area between the two posts you can see in the picture. And it’s going to be pink and blue.
Bedroom. It’s going to be small. Cosy. Compact. Bijou. Get the idea?
More dangers outside.
They’re doing the roof at the moment. It looks just like it did before they started work…
The first week of demolition
Posted on: July 18, 2008
- In: england | the old shed
- 5 Comments
Here’s the building site:
Lots of wood lying around to give the impression of work going on.
Last week, this wall went all the way up to the ceiling. Now you can see all the way through to the other side. Oh well. Those beams, by the way, are specially for the swallows who will be sharing the house with me.
Inside, things are looking great. Walls that used to be sound now have huge holes in them. I’m slightly alarmed by that window-shaped hole. I can’t quite remember wanting a window from the bathroom into the sitting-room. Hmm. I love the sophisticated method of keeping the tarpaulin up.
Through the window. This will be reglazed sometime. I hope.
This picture will give you some idea of the scale of the thing. On the far left, our old house. Then the enormous garage that is easily bigger than any flat I’ve ever lived in. Then my shed. On the right, my parents’ new house.
The Old Shed
Posted on: July 17, 2008
- In: england | the old shed
- 3 Comments
Or, “Not the Lodge Project“
A couple of years ago, my parents suggested that a small stone building at the bottom of their garden might make a suitable cottage for me. Two years of rejected plans, bat surveys, and a displaced family of hedgehogs and work has finally begun. Hooray!
This is the shed before any work began:
In the background, you can see the farmhouse. It used to be mainly painted white, with some of the timber work picked out in black. The new owners stripped the paint off about 5 years ago and have not yet begun to repaint. They like to do things themselves which is all very well, but for a huge Victorian farmhouse, that tends to take a long time.
In my lifetime, this building has been variously: coal shed, cow shed, garden shed, furniture store, stable and probably other things I’ve forgotten. I’m not sure exactly when it was built.
On this side of the shed, there used to be a silage pit. When my parents’ barn conversion was done, this was filled up and the silaging was moved to another location on the farm. This photo shows my brother at work in the demolition stage. This happened a couple of months ago.
On Monday, the actual builders arrived and started work. If it weren’t raining I would go and take some photos for you chronicling their progress. As it is, you’ll have to use your imaginations. The shed is, not to put to fine a point on it, small. There will be a small bathroom, a small bedroom and then one large(r) room which will be kitchen/dining/sitting area. This will have french windows opening onto a patio area.
I have been trying to resist buying things for the Shed, since clearly it is too small to need much stuff. And I do have a certain amount of stuff that I’ve been storing (in the shed!) for years, that I should now be able to use again. But there have been a couple of things I’ve fallen in love with. Two Robert Dawson dinner plates at the Wedgwood factory shop for £6.25 reduced from £25.
A pink and green cupcake kitchen surface protector from Poundstretcher for £3.
And today, curtain fabric from the Laura Ashley sale. This was £4.50/metre and I took all that they had left on the roll, which I hope will be enough for curtains in the sitting room.
This was £7.20/metre and is going to be for the bedroom.
More updates as they happen…
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