House remodel : Week 3

(i) The roof starts to take shape (ii) The view of the house across the rape field 

(iii) Wider shot of the roof at first floor level (iv) Outside room, still being painted! 

(v) The hallway with newly constructed sitting room wall (vi) Site meeting, chaired by the dog.

Three weeks down and we are in to the start of our fourth week of the build. We have now turned the corner and moved from destruction to construction!

The hall and sitting room are no longer entirely ceiling-less as the rafters for the first floor have started to go in and work has begun on constructing the roof frame, this will mean that very soon we will actually be able to see the shape of our new higher roofline.

On Friday I held my breath and ordered our new staircase (after getting the builders to check and double check the measurements!) the staircase is quite an exciting (and expensive) part of the build as it is oak and open riser. I grew up in a 1970s house with open riser stairs and have always wanted to have them in my own house, not least of all because it means never having to try and clean that awkward crease where the riser meets the tread. Our stairs have been ordered from the lovely team at Stairbox.com who actually featured last week (very briefly) on DIY SOS, it's worth a watch! 

Painting continues on the outside room. We ran out of the base coat and had to order more in, only to discover they sent us the wrong mix (Grrr!) All we need now is a couple of days of sunshine and we should be able to get the top coat finished and peel off all the masking tape which I think has permanently adhered to the glass.

Three weeks in we are fairing up pretty well living on site, though when there are strong winds (as was the case last Friday) the billowing wrap round the scaffolding is very loud and very annoying! We also recently all had coughs and colds and sleeping in one room has not been ideal, but on the plus side the neighbours continue to be wonderfully supportive and generous with their enthusiasm for the project and although we haven't had blue skies to keep us feeling perky, the field of rapeseed next to us is turning yellower by the day which can't help but make you feel cheerful.