Home Sweet Home

Barn One is complete!!!!!

We had our first night sleeping there last night and it was amazing.  Still feels a little bit like staying in a holiday rental but that's just because it still feels all new.

We'll be staying there part-time until the end of the year (because of the kids schools) but from January onwards it'll be our permanent abode.

Here's a little slide show of the journey and some before & after photos

Finish line in sight

Things are moving pretty quickly now and we’re very nearly finished. 

We haven’t posted in a little as we didn’t want to give too much away. 

Instead here are some sneak peak close-ups before the final big reveal!!

Flooring down. Driveway up!

These last few days have seen a flurry of activity.

The floor has been laid throughout by the lovely people from Chelmsford City Flooring.

Scott has dug a nice trench over the entire driveway!  I'm told this is to connect the water and electricity but if not, its got potential as a shallow grave for my enemies!! 😉

And we've been outlining the upstairs floor plan for Barn 2 - Ben and Steve had lots of fun spray painting that one out.

Splash of paint

Things are progressing well and the first coat of paint is going up.

The beams have had a nice coat of paint too and we love them even more!

Next week the flooring will be installed and then it'll be onto the internal fit out of the kitchen & utility room units, bathrooms and wardrobes.

It's all progressing very quickly!

Oh and here's a lovely photo of Ben with his new blue hair!!

Plastered!

More good progress this week....

The plastering has started and I think it's fair to say we're in love with the way the old beams are still partially exposed out of the ceiling.

Also (& Su's personal favourite thing so far) the combo heating-aircon units have gone up.  Simply cannot wait until the day that we can have different temperatures in different rooms!

Finally, the weatherboard has gone up at the front.  Was a little unsure about this at the beginning but it looks perfect.

We are water tight but it's not kept the riff raff out!

So all the window frames now have the glass fitted and we have some lovely patio doors and a wonderful front door (didn't know a person could be this excited about a front door!)

So we are now fully water tight which is great.

Kirstie & Phil came to visit today with the kids & Jigsaw too which was nice

Steven Spielberg Look out!!

Gonna let this video speak for itself.  

Thanks Ben for the awesome video blogging skills!!

Plasterboard Going up

The plasterboarding is starting to go up!.  We have "proper" walls in the Lounge/Dinner/Kitchen area and it's great to really see the place taking shape.

Doors & windows have been ordered and should be fitted in the next week or so, although right now I think the team are enjoying the more open-plan nature of the build in this very hot weather!

Just a few cables

Scott and the team have been busy with the internal wiring & plumbing this week and have made good progress.

They've also put up the back fence so it's much easier to see the boundary and it is feels bigger than I had expected.  

Room for a swimming pool I reckon!!

Internals are up!

Things have been moving on well and we now have the complete internal shell up.  Makes it much easier to visualise how the rooms are going to look when they're finished and its been great fun to walk around the internal structure.

We spent quite a few hours over there this weekend identifying where we need the electrical outlets and light switches to go - it's all getting very real.

Very long corridor!

Can you see Ben down there?!

Hallway - looking from the Front door inwards

View looking into our bedroom window

Lounge, Kitchen, Diner

Entrance to the Lounge

We've been able to keep lots of the original beams exposed as well as the vaulted ceilings in most rooms which we're very happy about.

Here's a very shaky video that Ben took.  Have a watch - if you're not prone to sea-sickness 😂