Time Goes By

I've tried out a new software toy on my Android phone, Droid Timelapse Pro. This is a short video generated over the course of an afternoon. If only I had cleaned the windows first and left it a little longer.

Next time I will try and set it up for a full day and night.

 We did get some work done as well. The final floor went down in the sun room. No more laminate flooring left to do, so now it is ready for skirting boards.

 The two sheds got another coat of green paint on two sides. As it is late spring, the other two sides have birds nesting. On the left, the empty shed has been taken over by swallows. On the right, a family of coal tits have moved in to the nest boxes.

We have made a start to the landscaping of the garden on the south side and made the first of several planters that will be in front of the deck, possibly planted with alliums.

The electricians will be in soon to finish wiring the kitchen, outside lights and bathroom.

Return of the Swallows

This time we were only at Halcyon for a weekend, leaving on Friday after work and arriving late. The plan was to complete some of the tasks left over from the previous week long visit.

This first thing I noticed on getting out to start work the next day was how noisy it was. The swallows had returned and were busy chattering away at the top of their voices. It soon became apparent they had set up home again in one of our old sheds as they swept in and out.

Task one was to purchase all of the wood required to complete the deck on the south side. This I purchased from Alpine Wood in Scratby at a very good price, much less than you would pay from a DIY store.

It did not take long to finish off the last few deck planks and the trim planks around the edge, then it was on to complete the cladding. I had been putting this off as one piece of wood that needed to be removed was proving very stubborn. I attacked it with a jig saw and a crow bar I call the persuader and this did the job.
Once removed, the cladding went up without much trouble.





Meanwhile, Helen had started painting our largest and most useful shed green. Having sanded it, she applied the first coat to one side. It will look very smart once two coats have been applied to each side and the roof has been cleaned up.

Once I had finished cladding and decking, I started to work on the finish of the cladding. Each of the windows, doors and corners need new frame edging to hide the ends of the cladding. I was expecting there to be quite a bit of cladding left over for me to make these elements up with but. for once, we seem to have bought just about the right amount. Using my table saw, I attempted to make as many elements as possible from what we had left, but may need to source a few more pieces which is a real pain.

Our next trip will again only be for a weekend and I think our target will be to work on the south garden. We have a few ideas of what we want it to look like including a boules area.

It All Starts Coming Together

Having just spent a very pleasant week in Halcyon I thought this would be a good point to look back at what the house looked like before the latest changes and where it is now. Firstly, this is how the south side of Halcyon looked last year. The remains of the old kitchen were lying around with other detritus that we had removed.

Most of the rubbish has been sent off in a skip and my friend Rafe helped lay a new deck which we almost completed in a day, only stopping because we had run out of wood.

Next is the bathroom which has been more than doubled in size.

The toilet and sink have been moved

and now a new roof has been fitted and the walls re-clad ready to be tiled.

The kitchen started out as just this unit, a couple of wall cupboards and a cooker.

we took down the wall between kitchen and living room to make an open plan space

and with the help of IKEA have a new fitted kitchen with integral cooker, hob, dish washer, fridge and sink.