We love our new house and all the character that it brings, so we will be looking to retain as much of what drew us to it as we can. But it also has loads of potential to put our own design into it and create something that perfectly reflects our personality and lifestyle.
We particularly love the nice flow of the house and the relaxed feel of the high ceilings and big windows and minimalist feel. The plan is to expand on this laid back approach and keep it simple with a Japanese feel to the design and decor.
But, first, we need to do some more fundamental DIY, like putting some more insulation in the loft, replacing pipe lagging, removing excess old lights and filling holes in where shelves have come down, but we have a year before we are up there full time, so want to balance making progress on the house with simply enjoying it for what it is. We also want to make sure we enjoy exploring the local area, finding our way round, meeting the new neighbours and easing into our new life slowly so it's not a huge shock.
Unfortunately it would be Christmas before we could be back up there, so we had a project that was both urgent and fun, that we could do in the garage in Leamington ready for our next trip. The old outhouse doors were made of chipboard and had collapsed in, leaving them insecure.
I had recently seen an interesting technique on an episode of Grand Designs where a couple made their own kitchen and used a Japanese wood burning technique that preserves and weatherproofs the wood, and I was desperate to give it a go. So, we splashed out on a weed burning device and some butane, some wood and some Osmo Oil and got to work!
John had measured the space for the doors on our last visit and carefully designed some nice barn-style double doors and worked out how they would be secured, with bolts into the floor and some heavy duty hinges.
John built the doors and varnished the insides of them, and then we were ready to play with some fire! First we tried it out on a piece of scrap to make sure we wouldn't destroy the lovely new doors, and then we set about them in earnest. We videoed the process and created this little compilation - enjoy.
There's quite a bit more to do before we get into major things like ripping the kitchen out. John has been having more fun lagging (see next post) and has been exploring Great Escape Style under the floor where he is planning to fully insulate so that the wooden floor is not cold to the touch. He's very excited and keeps talking about 'vapour barriers'.
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