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.

 

A little bit about the origins of the house.....

Our house was built in 1968 and designed by Eirikur Walton of Brown and Buttrick Architects from Scunthorpe.  Eirikur was clearly influenced by the clean lines of modernist design and, whilst watching a programme on Sky Arts this weekend, my attention was drawn to two houses that share a lot in common with our home.  These two houses are now managed by the National Trust and as such can be visited. Personally, I love this style and these houses, built in the 1930s, were referenced in 1960s when modernism was revisited and our house was designed.

So for all of you who are interested in great design there are plenty of great books about this movement and just a quick trawl on Amazon comes up with examples like these if you want to find out more.

 

Some examples of 1960s modernism here - the first is owned by Leonardo di Caprio I think!  The website Houzz is a good place to look to contemporary interpretations of this style too.

  

The two 1930s houses are

2 Willow Road - designed by one of the most influential figures in the modernist movement Erno Goldfinger.

The use of large windows, wood panelling and framing and wood flooring is very much in evidence in our house.

We have inset fireplaces like this but set into a brick feature chimney breast rather than the sleek white one here

  
The pictures to the right and below are of our house before we moved in and in its unrenovated state.  I think you can see the modernist influences at work here.  Wood panelling, wood floors, open tread staircase etc.

The Homewood by Patrick Gywnne

Exterior and gardens at The Homewood

These huge windows with their sheer light curtain treatment will be a little like the windows in the garden room here. - i think I will try to do our curtains like this - maybe in a natural lightweight linen.

Patrick Gywnne used fitted furniture throughout and designed every detail of the house. - much like Eirikur Walton with this house.  We even have a secret coat cupboard in the dining hall, use of different woods and fitted cupboards in many of the rooms.

One of the bathrooms at The Homewood with a vanity unit that bears no small resemblance to one one in our bedroom - below.  Patrick Gywnne designed it to be hidden away behind sliding doors, a great idea.

Hopefully.. without sounding too pretentious - the garden room extension we have commissioned from Century Architects is taking some inspiration from another iconic early modernist building by the architect Mies van de Rohe - The Barcelona Pavilion (without the water - sadly!!) .   Pic below so as it takes shape we will see if you can see what we are aiming for!! You can also see why the current fascia board in our project has turned out too deep to achieve the elegant horizontal lines that we want to achieve.

Artist's impression of our house with garden room extension to the left.

 

Timber framing continues and just a few problems to deal with.......

This update is a little later than I intended but I have been ill this week and not being very active.  However.... work has been going on apace in the joiners' workshop (soon to be garden room!) 

timber framing under way in the garden room extension

The original plan was to have structural insulated panels (SIPs) made off site and brought to be erected when complete.  However, what we are actually doing is making the panels on site.  The crane is booked for Tuesday 1st December to lift them all into place - that should make for some brilliant pictures - and the flat roof of the carport and service rooms at the back of the house is being prepared to take them. 

These wooden frames will be clad in board and packed with lots of insulation.The two largest panels are having to be made outside.  They will form the two ends of the new bedroom at the back of the house.

One of these two large panels forms the first floor wall to the left of this elevation (clad externally in vertical larch) with the lovely big window. The other mirrors it on the other side (not visible on this picture)

Using timber panels works really well because we are building over an existing ground floor structure.  these panels are much lighter than a brick or block construction and so we haven't had to strengthen the foundations at all. 

Now, it would be a strange project if everything was going fine with no setbacks - and I cannot lie - we do have some!  The first problem we have is that the fascia board on the garden room has turned out too deep and we are looking at ways of getting it reduced down by about 6 inches to give a more streamlined elegant finish - less shopfront!  (you can see this problem in the photos on the blog post The Big Reveal)  The second can be easily seen today as it rained hard last night and we have buckets set up all through the back passageways and service rooms catching water drips!!  The water is coming through where the flat roof is being prepared for the timber panels to be erected.  The original roof covering has been cut through for these preparations and water being water it finds its way in anywhere it can.   So, buckets are out all over the place and the electrician might be needed on Monday (these things always happen at a weekend don't they)  as some of the circuits are tripping out.  

Meanwhile I am still busy researching details like lighting - my copper pendant lights for the kitchen have arrived from Pooky.com and are lovely. 

External lighting is next on my list.  We are still getting quotes for the wood burning stove as they seem to differ wildly and I have to finalise the bathrooms this week! 

The big reveal....

Well, the first of many reveals actually, as the scaffolding comes down on the garden room extension and we can get a feel for what it will look like. The scaffolding will have to go up again at a later date for cladding, roofing and windows but for the time being the lovely new room is revealed. 

Above you can see what we are aiming for and where we are now - taking shape!!

This room is now having a temporary lease of life as a joiners workshop as the roof has been made waterproof and the SIPs for the first floor extension are being made on site in here. Soon it will be busy, busy as all this wood starts to be worked. 

This is a huge job but luckily we have some great joiners on the task and the plans look like this! - I'm glad it's not me having to sort this out. 

Plans for the first floor extension which is to be built out of timber framed panels (much lighter on top of the existing carport and garage

Looking at the garden room from the front entrance

Placing orders - this is the serious bit!

All those decisions we have been making in the last few weeks are now getting serious and turning into orders.  That means deposits to be paid and, in some case, full payment because items are for immediate delivery.  The budget is constantly monitored and updated as even minor changes can have unplanned financial implications.  

This also gives us storage headaches as we still have huge numbers of removal boxes yet to be unpacked (by the time this is finished some things will have been in boxes for 2 years!)  So we seem to be living in a gradually decreasing space and constantly moving things around to squeeze in materials, fixtures and fittings.

The biggest single item is the windows and these have now been ordered - long delivery time on these with delivery February 2016 and I believe they are being made in Poland.  The windows have been ordered through Olsen Doors and Windows based near Newark and they have been really helpful.  They are aluminium outside, triple glazed and wood inside so should look spectacular (from inside and out) and they should give us a really light, tight, warm home.  LINK HERE to the product.

The mechanical ventilation and heat recovery system will also be ordered shortly for immediate delivery.  This is coming from CVC direct who I first met some years ago a Grand Designs Live! Items for the two bathroom refits are also in the process of being ordered.  

So what progress have we been making on the build?  Well - the garden room roof continues and my next update at the weekend should have a good picture it the scaffolding removed.  

Garden room roof joists - these are now boarded over and about to be covered with waterproof membrane.

Inside the house we have been renovating some of the original 1960s features - remember our mantra is re-use, recycle, reduce!  There is some lovely wood throughout the house and this is being brought back to life using some magic stuff called Bald's Furniture Balm.  It smells gorgeous and the wood soaks it up and glows once it has been applied - it gets rid of marks and scratches too!

This original vanity unit has been restored with a new basin, LED lighting and a clean bright white finish

original wardrobes brought back to a gleam with Bald's Furniture Balm

Finally you just must have a blast of this soon to be removed carpet - it will have new life under the butyl liner of our pond but those 60s colours!!!!