Inaugural Davies family gathering.

A very typical British August Bank holiday, just enough sun forecast to get everyone onto the roads, then torrential rain. Having said that, we all gathered (at different times) on the Saturday, and enjoyed a lovely evening in the orchard.

 Jess knitting for baby...he/she will be with us soon, and will be at our gathering next year !!

 Lloyd making a table from a piece of old panneling, and the old Oak joists.

From the Left..Owen, Lloyd, Tom, Alys, Andy(Alys' boyfriend), Jan and Jess.
Me behind the camera as usual :)
All together in the Orchard...suprisingly chilly for August, but a lovely evening....the rain arrived later the next day.

A dissapointing Bonfire though, those boys need more practice..although Andy did rock the Lumberjack look !

Workwise, not much was achieved, but this was a family get together more than anything.
Jan cut grass as usual, I started making stone steps up to the workshop (before I know exactly where the door is...risky!!). I also dug up part of the old drains and tidied them up and re buried, so we loose a few exposed drian-tops...been wanting to do that job for ages.

Jan and Jess started painting the panelling in the Inglenook room, which looks great...pictures available next week, when its finished !

Base for a Workshop, and progress in the Inglenook room

It's been a while since I posted here, but that's not to say that we haven't been hard at work !

I spent a few weeks making a base for a Workshop. I had to build up a wall to make a flat area, then fill in the substantial hole with rubble. This was a perfect opportunity to remove more of the old extension, so I broke up the old concrete floor, and took down the remaining breeze-block walls to the foundations. This will allow the garden to take over that area now. Also removed much of the area that we have used as a rubbish dump. So all-in-all a good piece of work (although not very blog worthy ).
Anyway this Friday the Minimix arrived and hey presto...one Workshop base...

Needs a set of steps up on the right there...a job for next week maybe..

The Workshop (20' x 12') will arrive in a few weeks, and then I can empty the house of all tools ("and mess".. shouts Jan). I can then start working on the Library, which is currently acting as my Workshop!.

Meanwhile I made a start on panelling for the Inglenook room. It took a lot of planning and working out (even some Maths !!), but we are pleased with the result.

I countersunk and filled the screw holes, so next weekend it will get sanded down and painted, and I think it will look great.

I also put the second lime render coat on the window wall.. So that can get limewashed next week too..
The window reveals look wonderful.

...apologies for the gloomy picture...iphone camera doesnt do brightness.

So lots to do next week, which is convenient as we are having our inaugural Davies family get together at BCB. The first time we will all be together there (Tom, Owen, Lloyd&Jess, Alys&Andy...and the 2 dogs, Mogs anf Jonah).
Should be fun, and plenty of jobs lined up !!

Oh...and although Alys' room isnt finished...we've set it up for next week..
....my attempt...

Jan's more practical version...















We are still working on the Chimney wall in Alys' room, which still isnt taking the limewash ! Jan raked out all the sooty brown pointing (just sand and earth really), and re-pointed with lime, so hopefully that will at least remove the brown staining. Then we just keep the dehumidifier going in there until it dries properly, and the limewash does its work.
Its a real labour of love that wall !

lots done on a short visit

After missing last weekend (work dragged me a way for a week). we were only able to spend this Saturday at BCB.
However in a few hours we managed to...

• Wire in the ground floor ring-main power points. We now have power in the Inglenook room, hallway and a temporary socket in the library.
• Limewash all four walls in Alys' bedroom. 5th coat on the chimney breast(it is starting to smooth out and turn whiter with every coat), and the first coat on the other 3 walls.
• Started to lay out the base for the Workshop. Dug out and built a retaining wall, another wekend, and I will be able to get a Minimix for the base..then order the shed/workshop...build in workbenches and then I can empty the house of all the tools !!.......soon!
• Cut the grass around the house...keeping it under control for another week or so.

our first piece of custom made furniture

one of the worst aspects of the British Bank Holiday
.....Traffic...
Traveling down to Wales on a Friday evening is a brave endevour...We were stuck at the (old) Severn Bridge for 30minutes in a queue for the toll, stuck agian at the Brynglas tunnels....not too bad after that.
But Lloyd and Jess were stuck on the new bridge for an hour, so didnt arrive at BCB until midnight !

Saturday I kept working on Alys' bedroom...finishing the bisquit (Celenit) board on the ceiling. Completed the skirting around the new fireplace. Also fitted the battening, ready to complete lining the walk-in-wardroab next time.
Jan limwashed the walls in the hall and landing.

Lloyd (after taking Jess down to Tenby for her girlies night out) took on my challenge of turning a pile of old bits of wood (Tulip wood cut-offs from the doors, a piece of spare floorboard, and pieces of the cladding)...into a bench for the hall.

Here was my inspiration....
http://www.pinterest.com/blaencwmbychan/blaencwmbychan/




































Here were the raw materials.....

And so Lloyd ....

made this......
So lovely :)

A better weekend than the last one..

What a contrast between two weekends ! A gorgeous sunny and warm couple of days, we went down Friday evening, and stayed until Sunday lunch time...and got loads done.

Jan spent most of the time cutting grass in the orchard, 4 weeks since it was last cut and this time of year if you miss many more weeks than that and the grass gets away, so a great job to keep it down and looking great.
The lanes are full of wild flowers at the moment, and the garden is looking lovely too.. Jan picked some for the hall...(thanks Southmead Hospital for the Jug)

I started by spending Friday evening finishing the walk-in larder, hung the door, added the cladding, and fitted the door furniture from http://www.fromtheanvil.co.uk/. very pleased with the result...

just need to add the skirting, (when the adjacent wall has had its first coat of lime)

PS...also tried to make an oak wedge for an axe handle, but incurred a hand injury (more later)

Saturday was spent liming. I managed to complete the two remaining walls in Alys' bedroom, hard work , but it looks great. Needs a few layers of limewash to finish it off.

I've found that while waiting for the cement mixer to make a good lime mix (it takes 10x longer than a simple cement mix), I like to find other jobs to do. So managed to get the ladders out and clear/fix the guttering on the back of the house...no longer will we need to leave the back door in fear of the inevitable drip down the back of the neck !. Also managed to give the chimney wall in Alys' bedroom another coat of limewash...I think this is going to be a challenge as it still doesn't seem to want to dry white..mmmm will persevere.

Before and After (this is me taking the cement of the walls when we first bought it), and this weekend adding the last layer of Lime  !!

Managed to wear away the skin on my right hand rubbing out the trowel marks on the final wall...lime hurts !!!..and now there is my blood embedded in these walls !!!

We were both absolutely exhausted Saturday evening, so a quick BBQ in the orchard, and an early night.

Sunday, I fitted the door furniture to Alys' bedroom door. Also lime-filled the sides of the finished pantry.
Then started fitting Alys' newly purchased fireplace. I cut a slate hearth (and recessed the associated floorboards), bedded it in with Lime. Had to add some wood at the back of the fireplace to fill the gap (remember me saying that it was inches too small for the gap). When in place, I limed to the sides and hey presto......

All in all a beautiful and very productive weekend.

Wet 'n Wild

This weekend was a typical Welsh spring day.......wet, very wet, it rained pretty much all day, windy too, so we were glad to be working indoors...although I had to be outside for mixing the lime render :(

Made progress in Alys' bedroom, adding the top coat of lime-render to the window wall, it took all day because of the window reveal, but it looks lovely...cant wait to lime wash it.
Also finished dubbing in the chimney wall, which looks really nice now...again ready for several layers of limewash.

Not such good news, I measured the fireplace hole, for the newly purchased surround...and guess what ...its too small. A 26inch hole, with a 24inch fireplace....oops.
I will have to fashion a wooden backplate to fit to the wall, and attach the firelpace to it. Not a problem !

We arranged for the carpenter who made our front door, to come along and measure up for a new back door. Neil from Ystrad Carpentry, near Llandovery. He made such a brilliant job of the front door, so we asked him to make a replacement for the old, rotten and very draughty old back door, and also a new sash window for the rear window in the Inglenook room ( I will post pictures of these at a later date).
Very excited about these 2 additions, as they will make a huge difference.

Alys' fireplace...

We didn't get down the house this weekend, but managed to source a new fireplace for Alys' bedroom....

I wanted something softer and more feminine for her bedroom, and loved this white fireplace. Plain and simple as is the Georgian style, very authentic ! 
I should be able to fit it next weekend, so long as it gets delivered this week.