my barn conversion

My tiling has soul!

mbc — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:25:58 +0000

I came across this quote from one of my favourite authors on architecture and design, Christopher Alexander, author of A Pattern Language in a book about software design - ‘Patterns of Software - Tales from the Software Community’ by Richard P. Gabriel (’Patterns of Software’ is worth a read in its own right if you’ve [...]

Hot water system now commissioned

mbc — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:34:34 +0000

We’ve got the heating and hot water system up and running! It took a couple of attempts. The first time at the start of the month, with the stoked up stove blazing away devouring my wood supply, there was a load cracking noise (sounded like the glazing in the stove doors cracking) and a fairly large [...]

Building Progress ~ May 2009

mbc — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 07:47:42 +0000

May has been about two things - painting and tiling. The main bedroom needs finishing and then the second bedroom and dressing area need painting - and that’ll be it, first coat done! Coverage upstairs doesn’t seem as good as down, not sure if that’s to do with the plaster or the off-white paint, but [...]

Attention to detail… May 2009 update

mbc — Tue, 19 May 2009 21:48:43 +0000

You (still) can’t beat a good list (see the bottom of this post for the previous ones) - this is the current position: In Progress Flooring and tiling We’ve bought slate wall and floor tiles for both bathrooms and travertine for the ground floor. Finally, we’ve also selected oak flooring for the first floor. No more tiles [...]

Boxing Clever?

mbc — Tue, 12 May 2009 22:25:03 +0000

I have a rather tricky carpentry challenge in that my hot water cylinder / accumulator and the all the paraphernalia associated with my solar panels, hot water & heating system has grown beyond any expectations and has now occupied a large corner of the second bedroom. The challenge of how to box this in (or [...]

Online - recommended #2

mbc — Mon, 04 May 2009 10:45:56 +0000

A couple more useful sites that I’ve used recently and can recommend. Scavengers A nice idea - 'Scavengers offers a unique bespoke service to source and reclaim that period piece of furniture you've been looking for. Baths, beds,sinks, taps, fireplaces, mirrors, chandeliers, radiators, garden furniture, doors and much, much more.' So if you want something antique [...]

Building Progress ~ April 2009

mbc — Sun, 03 May 2009 13:45:32 +0000

Determined to beat my previous poor showings, here’s the April update, just a few days after April has ended … impressed? This post should really be titled Stairs Progress ~ April 2009 (but that’s already been done) as there’s not a great deal more than the installation of the stairs to report. In addition, I’ve progressed with [...]

Building Progress ~ March 2009

mbc — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:23:29 +0000

(Oh no I’ve done it again; my March progress report is late just like February’s was - sorry) The two main developments this month are the completion of the flue that I’ve already mentioned and the water mains connection being brought into the barn - previously it only came as far and an external tap. As I’ve [...]

Stairs

mbc — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 09:19:05 +0000

Pleased to say that the stairs are now in, which changes the whole feel of the building - makes it start to feel like somewhere that may one day be habitable. Although I miss clambering up and down a ladder. they started off as a pile of bits of wood (this is just some of them): Then [...]

Selling Excess Renewable Electricity

mbc — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 11:11:01 +0000

On the grounds of affordability and cost effectiveness, I’ve discounted any foray into the world of microgeneration of electricity from renewables to date. I don’t think I’m about to change that stance, but I think an interesting angle on this comes from the offer from ecotricity to buy surplus electricity from microgenerators. ecotricity.co.ukecotricity will buy excess [...]