Showering praise

Finally, after 5 years of building we can have a proper shower at the end of the day.  We started out with a solar shower - an upmarket name for a black plastic bag with a small shower head attached.  On the first day we hung it on the side of the tank and had a cold shower.  The second night the same bag moved into a discrete corner of the shed and was filled from the electric jug - and that's the way it's been for the last 5 years. (Mind you, when you're only around for a weekend at a time it is surprising what you can put up with.)

So, it was with much joy that we christened the greatly improved shower this Easter and ushered in a whole new era of comfort.  Yes, it may look just like a red plastic bucket with a tap and a shower head- but when suspended from a rafter in the shed it actually has enough pressure to wash your hair. 

A huge step forward in shower technology

PS-Imagine the joy we will experience when we install the inside shower with actual plumbing!

Benched....again

Oiling the benchtop

After a lot of fiddling and fine tuning I can finally announce that we are the proud parents of my first kitchen bench.  Joining the 3 benchtop components went better than expected as did levelling them - which I did using Dad's ancient Ryobi electric planer (it was actually made in Japan!).  But the most rewarding moment came while oiling the top.  It's probably the first time since the timber was milled over 100 years ago that the natural grain is again the star.

Next job - building a shed.

Well travelled

Kitchen

It is now a well travelled kitchen, having been broken into 6 components, loaded onto the trailer and driven several hundred kilometres to the farm on the weekend.  Did it fit in the trailer?  I’m glad you asked….and the answer is “almost”.  It all packed pretty well except for the long part of the bench top.  I could have pressed the point I suppose, but after so much work I decided to be patient and wait for next trip.

What with the tiling done, kitchen bench installation started and the stairs well on the way to completion - soon I won’t know what to do with myself.  Mind you I still havn’t tackled the plumbing, gyprocking, stair rail, bathroom ceiling, back veranda floor, upstairs’ floor sanding, linen press, slow combustion fire…..you get the idea.

All in all a great trip, especially so because my son-in-law came along to lend a hand.

Meals on wheels

After around 120 hours the kitchen cabinet is ready to install. This is a matter for great rejoicing for two reasons. Firstly, Pemberley will start to look more like a home than a workshop. Secondly, my workshop will look less like a granny flat.

The obvious question though is how do you move a 3.2 metre long cabinet? Well for once I planned ahead and built the bench as three components, the drawers, the sink section and the right hand cupboard. I’ll join these permanently once I’ve trundled it down to the farm on the trailer. The bench top is also made in three sections, the back third, which runs the full length, the front two thirds over the drawers and the section above the cupboard. I’ll glue it together on site and also oil what is just raw timber at the moment.

Will it all fit on the trailer or will I need to make two trips? I’ll let you know after the weekend.

But is it art?

The staircase design allowed for a light on top of the landing newel.  The challenge though was to find something that was sympathetic with the recycled feel of the stairs and didn't cost an arm and a leg. There are some great lights around, but the ones we liked were either really expensive or shouted "I'm brand new" (or both).

So, I had a rummage through the useful box and assembled my newel light from the following components:

• dome interior light from a 1960's car,
• Copper and brass window sliders, circa 1940's,
• Timber offcuts from our LVLs (basically really thick plywood), and
• Scrap glass.

The result is about 11 inches tall and will bolt straight onto the top of the newel.  I think it has a certain, TARDIS meets steampunk feel to it - but is it art?