Painting!

So Steve and I have just finished a week off work and we spent most of it up to our elbows in paint!!

We've now finished all of the internal walls & ceilings - including having to hire a tower to reach the vaulted ceiling over the lounge which given my fear of heights was a bit of a battle for me.

So here's a whole pile of photos of the current progress....

Amy's Room

View from Amy's Room out to the Nook

Ben's Bedroom Window

Lounge looking up to Stairs/Nook

View going up the stairs

Top of the stairs

View down the stairs

Landing/Nook

Hallway

View from the far side of the Nook

Kitchen/Lounge

Kitchen/Lounge

Next up flooring!!

Doors & Stuff

As mentioned before, Steve and I are currently spending our weekends (well just Sundays really) doing stuff in Holly Loft and it's pretty slow going but we've made enough progress to do a quick update....

Steve has discovered a new-found ability to hang doors and to fit frames and architrave.

I've discovered that I hate painting - it's quite slow going because we need to use a specific type of primer on the hard wood so it takes a fair few coats to get to the final finish.

Anyway, here's some in progress pictures....

Outside things are still looking good.  We've planted some veggies which will hopefully be ready for our Christmas dinner.

The grass that Steve laid in the summer is doing really well and we have a little helper to keep on top of it - his name is Mo!!

How we spent our summer holidays

So because the world is in a mess right now and because all our spare time & cash goes on this project, Steve and I spent 2 weeks of our annual leave this summer doing Project Bucky stuff.

I went first with 2 weeks off at the end of July which I spent trying to decorate Holly Loft.  It didn't quite go according to plan!

We had originally intended to varnish the hardwood so as to keep the natural wood colour & patterns but unfortunately, the finish just wasn't quite right.  

So we tried to paint it instead but that wasn't quite right either as you could still see a lot of the nail divets and joins so now we're doing a mixture of painting and lining paper.

It's taking shape but it's quite slow going and there will still be many weekends before it's finished.

That's said we do now have a small kitchen unit installed and a single toilet & wash basin together with a nice new hot water tank so it's pretty operational as a makeshift home office.

Steve has just finished his two weeks "holiday" and he spent his time to create a lovely garden space.

The outside area is pretty big so we have left a fair amount as "driveway" area but there was still a large portion which needed to be cleared, de-weeded and then laid to lawn.  

He also extended on the little kitchen veg plot area we'd already put down where I've been growing potatoes, onions, courgette & tomatoes.

I honestly wasn't sure he'd be able to get it all done in two weeks by himself but he's done a great job.  I think his body hates him right now but he succeeded.

Here's some before photos:

Some during photos:

And the finished product:

It's Been a While

It's been a while since we last posted and in that time things have taking a little bit of an odd turn (note to future readers - google Coronavirus 2020 if you need a memory refresh).

At the beginning of the crisis we weren't sure whether the building work would be able to progress or whether, like so much else, it would need to go on hold.  However, as it's a very small project and Holly Loft is a completely separate property, Scott was able to continue whilst very much maintaining his distance.

A fair amount of progress has been made and Amy has likened it to one of those online games where you level up and unlock new features!

So it's picture time!! 

Starting with the outside we have a lovely, posh, new wall with a beautiful sign that was a house-warming present from Diane & Martin:

Moving inside we have, the Hallway with a little utility cupboard off to one side which will contain the hot water tank and a washer/dryer:

Then we have Ben's room (which is currently serving as a little makeshift gym):

And finally a combined Kitchen/Lounge:

Moving upstairs, is Amy's bedroom & ensuite:

And then the little area we are calling the Nook which overlooks the lounge below.

Moving back outside the view from the outside looks pretty good with a nice little gravel area that Steve laid:

In the back garden there is lots still to do out here, as it's a large space which is pretty much just hard ground right now but we've made a start with a little vegetable plot:

Last but not least we have Amy's birthday present; Hei-Hei, Chickaletta, Nando & Keith (named after Keith Habersberger who has a bit of a thing for chicken!!)

There's still lots to be done but it's definitely taking shape.