Making space

Good evening folks.
Well, finally I managed to sort out my camera card so we're back in business. It has been a busy time and lots is happening . Sometimes it's hard to take a step back and see how much has been achieved when all you can see is how much is still to do and you are surrounded by chaos.
This post is all about the studio (aka the barn) which as you can appreciate, is something very close to my heart as an artist. Finally we had the opportunity to start

 This first picture is not too exciting, just making some holes in the wall.

 For these beasts. Steel support joists, new floor here we come

 Safely lifted, ready to be fixed in place.

Once safely bedding onto concrete pads and cemented in place it was time to start adding the rest of the floor with heavy timber supports.

 The finished floor has given us effectively another decent sized "room" to work in. Though it's now pretty handy as a storage place. Though the space below looks pretty low there's still a good few inches above my height so it's comfortable to stand in.

 It's definitely a different perspective from up here.

 Of course, you can't have a floor without a decent access. I don't think Susan would be too keen on climbing a ladder to get there....so here come the stairs.

 Making sure they work.....

Just busy with the return.
  So, now they are finished it makes such a difference. I can now start to work out exactly to build the workshop spaces. Well, once the space is empty again that is. The place is full of stuff moved from the house so that we have place to work inside. Some weeks I just seem to move boxes from one place to another!

We're on the final heavy push before Susan arrives in December. Obviously we are massively behind where we wanted to be at this time but we'll just have to see how far we can get. For those who don't know, because of timings not lining up my wife has had to stay down in Kent working her (very long!) notice period. So when she arrives in December, that is it, all done, no going back. I cannot wait.

Righteo, I had better get cracking again. More chaos to tame.
Take care folks.

A lot of catching up to do

Hi Folks.
Forgive the long absence, things have kind of been a bit crazy here, and to be honest, it's been a tad overwhelming at times. On top of that, I have mislaid my memory card reader so I have a load of photos on my camera, no lead and a memory card playing hide and seek! O happy days.
Still, I have found a few pics lurking on the computer to share and then I am going to be hunting so I can share more with you.
Thought I'd carry on in the bathroom lol

We thought we'd be clever and have a wall mounted tap.... plumber wasn't amused

If you remember (that far back) we had to remove the floor and ceiling. Everything finally got put back together again and we could finish insulating and preparing the room ready for plastering.

Pipework for the bath and shower in place ready for the boarding to go on

Finally, time to plaster. I always find that it is at this stage that everything starts to look better....

 It was at this stage that I decided to make life a little easier and get an electric tile cutter. Definitely a worthwhile purchase.

 Then, finally, it was time to put the bath in place. This is when you realise the challenges of working in an old property where nothing is square. Got there in the end though.

 Once the bath was securely in place it was time to start tiling. Starting with the floor. I saw these woodgrain ceramic tiles and fell in love with them. They have a myriad of different patterns to them and looked realistic

Originally, my gorgeous wife and I had a , shall we say, difference of opinion on the wall tiles and grout colour.....
I am happy to say that an agreement was reached with a minimum of blood loss lol. I didn't want a bathroom that had the look and feel of a hotel bathroom and I hate gloss tiles so when I found these slimline elongated subway tiles in a matt finish I was definitely hooked. I think they look amazing.

When it came to th sink, we decided to go slightly different. So this is a vintage cupboard we picked up from a boot fair. I gave it a lick of paint

The Joiner worked his magic on a piece of gorgeous timber and we have a bespoke place for the basin..

And I have now run out of photos, so I'll leave it there but I am happy to say that the bathroom is actually virtually complete so in the next post you will see it looking much nicer....

And, just to add to the excitement, all of the upstairs construction is finished and we even have lights and power up there too so it's all very exciting indeed.

Still lots to do but over the next few weeks the posts should be coming thick and fast...
Until then, take care