More 1960s furniture finds......

Finding myself with some down time over Christmas I have been tempted onto Ebay again looking for more vintage furniture and things.  Actually, I got a great book for Christmas -Miller's Mid-Century Modern: Living with Mid-Century Modern Design and this has reminded me of the Midwinter Pottery amongst other great vintage design.  I absolutely love this Zambesi range and I am currently stalking some of this for sale online - too expensive I think but I will keep watching..

Midwinter Zambesi Coffee Set

One of the great designers for Midwinter was Jessie Tait - LINK HERE to an article from The Guardian about her (obituary) Zambesi is one of her designs along with Primerva and Festival - all really great designs and available reasonably priced online.

Festival pattern

 

Primerva pattern

 
However, today I have bought a pair of Guy Rogers Chairs online through Ebay from http://sweet-vintage.com/

They should look great in the garden room.  The frames have been restored but I may need to redo the upholstery.  Guy Rogers Ltd made furniture in Speke in Liverpool in the 1960s for companies like Heals.  Their style was very simple, clean and modern with clear Scandinavian influences.  These chairs are made from Afromosia wood (a type of teak) and there is lots of this wood in the interior detailing of our house so they should fit in just fine.

Anyway that's enough for now - I have to get back online!!  So much fun to be had re- discovering some of these fab designs at really reasonable prices!

Finished for the Christmas break..........

The builders have gone and all is quiet - phew!  Today we had a really good site meeting and planned the next 3 months starting on their return on 5th January.  It will be a crazy 3 months as they move inside the house and start linking up the new build with the old and strip out things like the old kitchen and bathroom. There looks to be a short period of time when we will have to cook on the little electric ring and cope with a downstairs cloakroom only for washing.  I think we will be inviting ourselves round to friends for meals and arriving with our wash bags! 

But heh! - It will be great when it is done.  The latest pics were from the top of the scaffolding today and the roof boarding is well underway. They have also cut into the main roof to connect the old with the new. (and waterproofed the join for the next 2 weeks!) In February the whole roof will be replaced with  slate tile (these old concrete tiles have seen better days).

  
After Christmas we will have our work cut out packing up rooms and ordering and ensuring things are here on time for the builders.  Key to this are the bathroom fixtures and fittings which, I must confess, I started organising and then stopped again as i ran out of enthusiasm.  The trouble is there is just too  much choice out there - do we want a drenching shower or an ordinary one?  Do we want tiles or panels? What sort of wash basins do we want - classic or contemporary?

Well it can all wait till after Christmas - So a very happy Christmas to anyone who is following this blog. - 2016 will be a very exciting one for us so watch this space.....

   

A big delivery.....

The timber framing for the first floor extension is coming on nicely and the floor and ceiling joists are now in position.  Today we took delivery of the purlins for the roof structure they are really huge!!

 ....and here they are in place!

So roof and walls next!

Today we climbed the scaffolding to see inside our new bedroom and bathroom.  The view from our bed will be great - down the drive to the beautiful Lincolnshire countryside....

 

This will be the view from our new bathroom window - just our garden and lovely woodland behind!

This will be the view across the garden  from the new Bedroom 3 

 

 

By the time we have knocked two small bedrooms into one larger room in the existing house we will end up with a 4 bedroom house with a family bathroom and a master ensuite.

Well, Christmas is fast approaching and the guys will be off site for a two week break so, before they finish, they intend to have the walls and roof boarded out.  Whilst we won't be quite watertight in the new section we will certainly be able to see it all begin to dry out. 

In the meantime those decisions keep having to be made and this week we have been pondering how to heat the domestic hot water.  At present we have a huge, very poorly lagged hot water cylinder heated by the oil boiler and/or an electric immersion heater.  It heats far more water that we need and we are trying to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels so we think a new well insulated tank with a coil so that we can connect solar thermal may be the way to go. The old tank is copper and can be recycled and will have some scrap value. 

After the Christmas break all hell will break loose I fear as the guys will need to start breaking into the house to connect all the new sections up with the existing so we will be in for some fun times!!

  

A day of great progress......

Today was the day for the crane to arrive and lift the timber frames into position.  Well, the crane arrived on time and the sections went up like a dream in just a few hours all fitting together perfectly.  Great work guys!  This section of the house, built over the old single story carport and games room, will be a new guest bedroom, the master bedroom, dressing room and en-suite. 

Lifting work begins and the first panel is put in place.

Above, below and left show the new guest bedroom with its large window overlooking the garden.

The front section of the master bedroom goes into place with its large floor to ceiling window.

Right - standing in the master bedroom looking through the door to the dressing room and ensuite beyond.

Timber framing in place! The next job will be to board this out and stuff it with insulation.  The guys intend to have his done and the roof on before they break for Christmas.








Below is the first floor plan and the new section formed today is to the right.