"Pod" removal.....

The kitchen extension on the side of the Bastle housed a most unusual "pod" kitchen and staircase arrangement when we bought it..... Oppressive to say the least. 

But with fabulous old beams and soaring height we realised this would make one big dramatic kitchen. 

The view from the front door...

View from the top of the stairs....

The yellow kitchen......

Lovely!

So....plans approved, we ( the two of us ) set to work removing the kitchen pod and worm infested staircase....cement render was chipped from the walls and total devastation was created.

A party electrical cable hung precariously over the kitchen... This was the power supply to the next door cottage, paper insulated and a little dangerous. Thankfully after many months of negotiation it has been removed and our neighbours have their own supply. 

Black beams were painstakingly stripped of treacle varnish, walls repointed with lime, insulation installed in the roof, new oak front door, timber sash windows and stable door installed and painted.....

 The old concrete floor removed and dug out by hand ready for the underfloor heating.....and finally the sub base was floated in.

Fast forward now to 2013...... Under floor heating trays and pipes in

And covered with the final screed.

The original ledge and braced front door was cut down to fit the boot room opening

Monster slate flooring was laid...

And grouted.

Just awaiting the new staircase now to replace the temporary ladder arrangement.... Bit of a problem lifting the plasterboard and steel bath upstairs, never mind...we are finally getting there!

Hope you are all enjoying the gorgeous sunshine.....it has been glorious in Northumberland.

Long may it continue.

Julie x

Triple treasures....

A laundry basket of treasures bought at Gateshead Antique and Vintage Fair yesterday.....

A machine stitched patchwork quilt with faded roses whole cloth reverse.....an unfinished 19th century patchwork piece....and a very dirty dolly.

The machine stitch quilt would make a great chair/sofa throw or even cut up for cushions.

The unfinished quilt piece with the star pattern however is too fragile.....perhaps for framing or just as a record of lovely old fabrics.

"Dirty Dolly" with her grubby hands, dress and face.... Nicely made with jointed linen legs and arms, hand embroidered features and unruly mohair hair....

Linen dress, lace petticoat but no knickers....

Question....

Do I try to wash her or leave her as I found her?

Julie x

Uncovering....

You may remember the shiny, green living room with an open fire at one end and a chimney breast and shelves at the other.

With the romantic notion of uncovering hidden ranges and hob grates we cautiously set to work opening up the blocked fireplaces.....slowly and gently.
Not with the sledgehammer enthusiasm of Mr George Clarke on the TV..... I cringe at his attack on walls as he creates a 'new opening' for his clients.

Big chunks of cement render....in places 4ins thick, came off bit by bit to reveal a simple sandstone surround and crumbling Georgian, handmade brick interior.

This 'living room' would originally have housed the beasts in the early years of the Bastle history... the family would have lived above taking advantage of the 'ground floor' heating ( albeit smelly ) then, like a lot of old buildings it was gentrified in the 18th century, windows and doors installed and the family moved downstairs.

The current single room would have been divided in two at this time...
The simple, little fireplace would have been for a small parlour and the larger one at the other end for the working kitchen....both separated by a hallway leading from the now blocked doorway.

As the sandstone surround of the larger fireplace revealed itself, it became apparent that at one point in time the header had cracked... Either from the heat of the range or a stress fracture of the long 8ft piece of stone. A simple iron stitch had been inserted in the 19th century in the hope of stabilising the fireplace.

This I found confirmed following research at our local County Records Office....an entry in the landowners account book.

1862.." Paid Wm Coulson Blacksmith for making a cramp for lintle stone at B cottage house "
1 shilling 4d

The small fireplace up to date now houses a new wood burner... the brick and old stone back have been lime pointed, the sandstone surround painstakingly cleaned of green and black paint, a simple piece of new oak added as a mantle and the chimney breast left exposed and lime pointed by my own fair hands.
Lime pointing is so rewarding and not the scary task you might think. According to the lime pointing lecturer on our course....women are very good and sometimes better than the blokes with their attention to detail!

The top half shows how it looks having been pointed with lime the day before and the bottom half shows the finished effect when it is scraped and brushed off the next day.
Simples!
The beauty of lime is it stays workable for quite a while unlike cement which goes off very quickly.

Next time I will show you what was in the large fireplace.....

Julie x

Light Spring clean....

I decided to re-arrange yesterday... Clearing the clutter that had been amassing for months and reverting back to the simple, white, glass and wire look that I always seem to be drawn to.

Using large, hand blown glass jars to store linen hearts, tin moulds and pottery eggs... These were used to encourage hens to lay...apparently popping one under a nesting hen made them think it was a good idea to produce the real thing.

A French monogrammed napkin inside another glass jar and fancy handled, Georgian custard cups.

The shelf with the wire collection again.....The blue and white has now gone.

Lynn's (Sea Angels) beautiful bag is hanging on its special crown hook and a delightful package of Victorian steel buttons sits in the treasure bowl on the tatty white table.

All is calm once more....
Julie x

Time lapse....

The Bastle when we bought it three years ago...... a pretty cottage with blocked doorway and window above. The pointing was a mix of old and new cement.... The boulder stone walls so well "buttered" with hard mortar that it was impossible to see each stone clearly.
A 1960's porch and a rampant ivy burying itself into the building.

Winter came...

A new access drive and parking space were dug out by hand.... Yes, us...
Lifting the turf and spreading a lorry load of whinstone from the local quarry was a great workout for the tummy muscles.

Permission from the planners allowed us to re-instate the upstairs window but not the door... And the porch was removed. Scaffolding was erected to address the leaning chimney and dodgy gable around the garret window.

Existing sash windows were renovated and one for the new opening made to the same specification.
I painted all the windows in Farrow and Ball Light Gray exterior eggshell when they were in pieces.... sashes, frames, bead etc, then reassembled.
They are all now working beautifully, with draught brushes to keep the wind out... No rattling here!

Fast forward to 2012 and after full re-pointing of the whole building with lime mortar, a new oak front door made by us ( we are pretty practical...).....and new simple shutters made by Mr CS and painted by moi... The Bastle is becoming more impressive with its huge boulder walls and strangely.... looks bigger than before.

Next time.... What has been going on behind that door?

Julie x