Hello

 Quick video, showing some of the reasons we built it...

House Complete: Full Montage

 Hi all. sorry it's been so long. But we're in :-)

We have a completion certificate for the house, work still continues on the Sunday School and that will last into next year. It (the Sunday School, or "venue" as we've begun calling it) does have a stage, a bar room, a kitchen/serving room and toilet block, all functioning. More on that as it happens (and it does feature in the montage), but this post is mostly about Mount Pleasant, the dream home we planned (twice) and finally realised.

Can't put in words how lovely the place is to live in. We're so glad we took the risk, even though it swallowed us for four years.

Here's the "Final" montage. Beware, it's quite long, best part of 32 minutes. I've used timelapse footage from lots of cameras (I remember posting about cameras back in the day), plus photos and videos taken by Lyn and myself over the four year project. I apologise for my video editing skills, but it pretty much describes the build from beginning to (sort of) end.

Hope you enjoy it... more soon.

Pathage

Well we (actually Lyn and builder Paul) discussed the subject of paths for many hours, finally settling on using road planings, which are created when roads are resurfaced. They are just smashed up roads really. It's a cheap and easy solution and so far looks very good. As I type, they are all whizzing back and forth in the rain with barrows full of the stuff, occasionally stopping to use a wacker plate to smooth and compact it.

Before:

During:

Later:

There will be an "After" pic, but it's now late in the day, and I'm keen to post something, anything, as it's been so long. 

We all know the news we're waiting for, and obviously there will be a joyous post on the day we get it.

More soon

Frontage

Front patio and rockery area is taking shape.

40 tons of good topsoil will arrive soon to fill the two corner areas. Lyn is looking forward to planting those up and putting in some artfully placed stones, and of course in a nod to the trees that populated this area for 30 years, these lovely silver birches..

Can't tell from this pic, but they are 4m tall.

The rest of the patio area will be porcelain tiles like the one in the first pic.

More soon

Update

Work has now started on the patio and decking which will surround the house, so that won't take too long.

I need to do a final montage of the time lapse stuff, which involves loads of photos and images from the last 3 years. I'll get on that right away.

Here's Lyn's latest photo, taken today on the way home from Benchmark Building Supplies in Romiley, to show our delight at finding the right tiles for the patio. A sample is in the background, but I think the photo just illustrates how well the colour goes with her eyes, and hair. Must be feeling romantic :)

Montage will appear here soon, don't miss it it'll be ace.

Laters

Silver beam

Hi all, well we'll be done with scaffolding very soon, but I thought I'd share these pics of the old steel beam that's supported the front facade for 130 years, now in its shiny silver coat. There's a bit of pointing to finish off, then this lot can be moved to the north wall so that can be repaired.

In other news:

• We get our first two bedrooms carpeted on Tuesday, the rest will wait til the ensuite in the master bedroom is tiled, mid-November.
• Hot water is now a thing in our house
• Final second fix begins next week
• Our posh glass balustrade for the landing arrives on Monday
• We think we'll be living there from next weekend, albeit sleeping in one of the carpeted bedrooms, not the master one.
• Furniture will be brought from storage slowly, as we'll be doing it ourselves and we're a bit broken for heavy lifting

More soon :-)

Lights on, nobody home

Lots to tell. How to begin. I know, pics:

Yes, the scaffolding has finally been moved away from the house so we can get a better idea of Jeremy's design. We think it looks very fine and contemporary and contrasts nicely with the setting. This was known at the start, and the planners greatly approved of it.

After nearly killing me, the North meadow is beginning to give back. The longer parts will eventually be 60-70cm tall, with all kinds of native goodies. Foxgloves, fritillaries and so on. We will continue to mow this path, for wanderings.

Constrained for space after the great refactoring of 2022, we fit in bookshelves wherever we can.

Up close, the finer details are very pleasing. The burnt larch is lovely.

Final few days of second fix. We even have electric light. The colour here is Cornforth, and anyone who knows me will have heard many times that we really like this colour. It seems to work with anything you put on the wall. We've used it throughout the last three places we've lived.

I expected more complaints than we actually got on tree-felling day. In fact it was well received by the vast majority of passers-by. It's produced this impressive pile of logs and an even more impressive pile of chippings, which will be put to good use around the gardens. Another effect is of course, more daylight into the light-starved areas of the South meadow. The seeds we sowed earlier this year have really struggled, but next year it will be lush and beautiful.

Finally got something out of storage :)

Our trusty (and very heavy - many thanks Sam and Colin) washing machine is in place. In the coming weeks, more items will be released from captivity, as we gradually re-evolve into house dwellers.

More soon.