do you mind if i knit

The window seat that was.

I promised in yesterday's post that I'd show you what happened to our window seat. This is what it was like at the very beginning................ ............This is the middle of the story.............. ............And this is the 'almost' end............ The joiner still has to put in the 'cheeks'. What-on-earth are the 'cheeks', you might wonder........? They are the 'side bits', but I think I prefer the joiner's terminology of cheeks. There's something quite charming about the window having cheeks......... don't you think.......?

The Details.

Sometimes, there can be beauty in the details.......... ........ You just have to look ........really..........really.........hard........... ..............Then again.......... ............This beauty thing........... ...........is............as they say, often............... .............In the eye of the beholder..............!

Closed doors.

This was the door into our t.v. room............, the room also had our computer in it........... .......... so we ended up spending a lot of our time there. It was the sort of room that should have been a store room, because it was a bit dark and dingy. By blocking up the door, and knocking down a wall, we're hoping this will make a great kitchen. The process of making this happen seemed painfully slow at the time............ but fascinating. Have you ever watched a wall being built? We did lots of staring, and marvelling........... and not only was it great watching that doorway being closed up, (also kind of weird), there was the added interest of a wall being knocked down............. double the fun! Life is just one excitement after another at the moment.................

Wall no.2.

So the time came when the builder was able to take out the second wall. It feels strange to see this photograph of how the kitchen used to look. The yellow that the previous owner of our home chose to paint the kitchen walls was revealed, when Hugo dismantled the kitchen units. Going, going................ ........Gone! I was in the house when the wall came down. There was a thunderous crashing thud........... and the whole house shook............... dramatic stuff. There was a lull in my blogging last week, because suddenly everything got much more complicated with the build......... something we had not anticipated. We had to call in a structural engineer, and he gave us bad news based on how this old Georgian house was built. We're still waiting for the full report. The problem can be solved, we think, the bad thing is that the works will be held up untill we know what the next step is, when we get the structural report. Hugo and I were outwardly very stoical about it all, but we felt as though the wind had been taken out of our sails.............. a side effect being that we both feel jaded and tired. Never mind, in the grand scheme of things, this is a very little happening............ and builds are always unpredictable.............

The battle of the slippery pond liner.

It's quite impressive when you don't know what it is................. Imagine receiving a gift this size.................. Except it's not a gift, it's a pile of heavy furniture and kitchen goods..............patiently waiting to return to their homes, inside the house. Oh, and if you've ever tried to cover a large pile of whatever with thick pond liner plastic, on your own, then you'll understand the small battle I had with the stuff........... it did not want to do what it was told to do......... it just slipped......... slippery slipped, slide slipped, slippery slippery, all over the place. In the end I subdued it and won the battle by holding it down with a victory chair, and three victorious plant pots. I won that battle.

Wall art.

One of the things I enjoyed doing before the building work started, was gazing at all the incidental 'art' that had been created, in the first stages of the 'dismantling' of the basement. What can you see in this abstract piece? This section of the wall, and........... this too, reminds me a little of the work of Cy Twombly Could this...........? .........this?............and.......... ..........this?........... be by the hand of Antoni Tapies? Well, if they are..........(!)............. they are no longer. Shame. This is my piece............. or you could say, my discovery............ or observation.

Open Sesame!

Yesterdays post showed the dismantling of this wall, but the photographs were taken from the other side. For these photographs, I was standing in what was the kitchen, boring through the walls with my eyes into what used to be the t.v. room. The power of one's eyes can be quite startling, don't you think.............. ..............it's as if I had laser vision............. ............... like something out of Star Wars. I just have to look at a wall, and.............. .......openings appear. Yeah, this power isn't something I like to boast about. It just makes building work so much easier........... You are now looking into what will be the kitchen............. Gosh, it really isn't some kind of weird dream......

Two rooms becoming one.

This is the wall that divides what was once the kitchen and the t.v. room. When I took this photograph, I was standing in the remains of the t.v. room............ willing that wall to disappear like magic and be done with, no mess preferable........ .......no magic wand was waved here.......... ........just the reality of sheer hard labour. These posts seemed painfully slow to take form at the time........... ............... or maybe I was just being unreasonably impatient............ ...........and how tantalising can the prospect of one small remaining section of wall ...........going away......... be? Sometimes it's difficult to keep things in perspective. It was worth the wait in the end. This opening up of space thing............. is ......................MAGIC!

And action!

I thought it was about time I showed you some shots of the works in progression. With each post I'm going to show the photographs from a particular point. I thought it might be easier to make sense of it all that way. The first few days seemed remarkably neat and tidy. The builders were digging holes for the foundations in which supporting pillars are going to sit, because this wall (and a second wall which I'm not showing in this post), are going to have huge openings in them, or maybe I should put it this way, most of two walls are going to be knocked down, and the pillars will support strong lintels, which in turn will keep our house from collapsing........... Where we once had a window seat, and a window looking on to the garden, we will have French Doors. Where we once had a door, we will have a wall. The other side of this wall will be the kitchen. And this area will be the sitting/dining room. The bit of wall to the left of the photograph will be the second partition wall to be demolished. These last couple of photographs were taken after the builders had left last night. And as I write this, I can hear their radio, and banging and crashing noises.......... I must go and offer them a cup of tea!

Wrapping rooms.

When I look at these images I feel calm. I feel calm because I'm casting my mind back to the peace and quiet before the storm and chaos of the builders arrival.................. Everything that can be covered has been wrapped, in an attempt to keep off the builders dust that seems to glide through the tiniest crack and settle where its not wanted. Even the chimney seems vulnerable to dust penetration............ When I was done with protecting all possible surfaces............. when I had satisfied myself that I had done all that was physically possible to prevent dust spreading, then I was able to step back and stare.......... ........ and wander through the rooms, marvelling at the effect of wrapping things. There was something magical about it. It brought to mind the work of Christo. I have never seen his work in real life, only the fabulous photographs. So by doing my own wrapping project, in my home, I think I am closer to understanding what Christo's work is about........ which is a wonderful revelation! As I was sealing up the stairs that link the basement to the upper floor, it felt symbolic............ this was the point of no return, it was a very final gesture. That was it, our house was going to be an unfamiliar place. It was going to be changed irrevocably. Something that has taken me time to adjust to, which I did not expect at all. Infact, as the bowels of the house are being disembowelled, I've started to have these strange aches and pains......... a pain in my knee that is quite ferocious, a crick in my neck that put me out of action for a day or so.......... and a numb feeling in my left arm. As with the injury I had with my hand, I can see the amusing side to all this. You hear of husbands experiencing pregnancy pains in sympathy with their wives........ well, I seem to be in tune with our house as part of it is being ripped apart....... I'm going through its face lift discomfort............. And yes, you have every right to declare that I am officially bonkers.