Jacob & Josef Kohn

Yesterday, I picked up a couple of chairs from the second-hand furniture shop down the road for just under a tenner. After some cleaning up they look quite nice in the front room - and now more than one person can sit down after all this digging and sawing, and scraping off Artex.







They have a label underneath: 'Mundus / J & J Kohn, Czechoslovakia'. After a little research, I could date them to between 1914 and 1922, which makes them rather suited to the house. (Ed. - They might not be worth much, because they were painted by a previous owner, but I've grown to love and appreciate them.)



Okay, now back to the digging and more pressing matters, but you've got to live a little, no?

It's white!

The wait is over - the rose outside has white (well, very light pink, maybe) blooms. They opened up before the weekend. It is beautiful and ever so slightly rose-scented.

The air brick

Things have been moving ever so slowly.



On the upside, I have sourced an air brick to replace the broken cast iron one that came out of the back wall.





The brickie is coming around on Thursday evening to brick up the football-sized hole in the back wall, and to replace the missing brick in the bedroom. See how nicely it matches the chemical damp proof holes in the wall...



Ah, and I managed to get the cement render off that bit of the wall. The bricks are slightly defaced because of this, so we might want to re-render with a lime-based product.



I even have the special lime mortar stuff from the Old House Store near Henley-on-Thames.



After finding lots more rotten wood, we have decided to look for a building contractor to do the works. Here is one of the quotes, if you are interested. If you would like to donate money, please contact me. :-)











Not that we are giving up on the DIY ethos, but we need help with coordinating everything, and some things just need to get done by pros.

Where to put the cooker?

We need your help.



Where can we put the cooker?



The obvious place is in the chimney breast.



But the gap is only 79 cm wide, as of now.



The plan is to have a freestanding cooker, but there aren't many good quality freestanding dual fuel cookers (hob: gas; oven: electric) around.



Just found one from AEG, which would set us back the best part of £900: http://www.redhillappliances.co.uk/product/4965



Oh, and what about the sink?



http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BELFAST-BUTLER-sink-DOUBLE-BOWL-RAK-CERAMICS-BARGAIN-/320521214664?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_HomeGarden_Kitchen_SinksTaps_GL&hash=item4aa08d9ac8



What do you think?

The red dry lining elephant

Right, so we finally started tackling the dry lining for good. And found a proper, undiscovered, possibly original feature (the writer is careful with 'originals', after the incident with the 'original' fire place surround).



You can spot the feature above Peter's head.







It is an air vent above the door of the cupboard-under-the-stairs (previously maybe a larder).







My theory is that as it was blocked by the dry lining, steam from the kitchen went into the storage cupboard, through the vent, behind the dry lining, and - as it could not go anywhere else - damaged the plaster all around the vent.



Well, we will leave it open, of course.







The plaster-boarded ceiling will remain, as the lath and plaster ceiling behind it is:-



a) Artexed, and this writer does not fancy taking any more off, if it can be avoided

b) damaged - big holes can be seen from under the floorboards in the bedroom above.



So we have decided it is best to patch any damage to the plaster board and leave it as is.

Summer!

Lavender.







A variety of campanula or bellflower.







Courgettes!

Earthborn Claypaint and Mittens

Well, I did paint.



Even though there are still plenty of cracks in the ceiling,



Even though the fireplace still isn't installed (well, not even bought or picked yet),



Even though there's a bit of plaster patching that isn't complete,



But you've got to start somewhere, and you've got to have somewhere that looks nice.





AND IT DOES!



The ceiling in Earthborn's eco-friendly white Claypaint.

The walls in Mittens from the same company.



Why them? Firstly, it's extremely 'breathable', ideal for a previously damp house. Secondly, it has very few 'nasty' chemicals in it, meaning it should be safer for humans and the environment, and doesn't stink like other paints for days on end (it just has a mild smell of wet clay for a day or so).





The paint is fantastic, although I think I will thin it a little in the future.