Visible Changes

Yesterday I took down the restaurant curtains and rolled up the rest of the carpet.......and reintroduced two Kingtonians ( a friend of mine and my builder ) who were at school with each other's brothers and sisters several decades ago!  Some more Art books may be coming my way for the library :^)

Today I hung some temporary, washable, voile curtains in their place, discovered another unrelated damp patch........ and remembered the camera had a wide angle lens !

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..... makes a bit of difference from the outside.... ....not a lot but its a start..... the notice board is displaying posters  about events during an Eco - fortnight in Kington, the blackboards about the gallery ...... I so need to do something about the outside !!

.......boy do those tiles need painting...... and the cills ...... if only temporarily..... but with temperatures back to -4C and snow flurries today and more due,  now is NOT the time !

.....and here is the other bit of damp that needs some investigation ......  probably of the internal plumbing !

... 

...so now I await the postman and the samples and goodies  I keep ordering........including samples of cushion vinyl...... the floor levels are all over the place!

I am considering hanging blackout blinds at all the front windows for use during slide shows... one may possibly even double up  as projection  screen........ that would be good !!

Artists and their relatives  are now starting to call in and enquire about how things are to be organised, costs, dates, opening times etc.... and diaries are wanting to know too !!  I have two more weeks to decide on whether to risk announcing a date!

Apparently at a Tourist event lunch today I got a free  plug !!!

Seems its all going to happen !!!!!

Another 6 hours!

... I'm getting a dab hand at moving furniture.... today I wanted to see what was under the carpets.....(we decided laminate flooring may not work... so am going to investigate cushionfloor to cover the lumps and bumps !]  ...so having cleared the cosy corner and taken that piece  up..... I moved things back in there leaving a clear space !!

Im hoping soneone on Ebay wants to start an indian restaurant !!

 

  

The corner of the fireplace was considerably drier when I left.. though the dehumidifier is still getting pretty full....

 

... and the builder and landlord put some dye down one drain to see if that's a culprit..... and planned some patching up in vulnerable places where water may be getting in.

we also stripped some plasterboard from the pillar .... [fun wielding a hammer at it!]..... and I am going to get a surveyor to take a look and see if the orignal timber is a strong enough support and we can strip away the extra timber.. would make it a lot less obtrusive..... and make it easier to see round during talks !!!

 

  

Two more chairs leaving tomorrow..........need to get to work soon sorting the kitchen equipment and get  shelves up.....

May is not that  far away !!!!

Some Demolition !

Since last posting, we have been busy emptying gallons of water out of the dehumidifier... and narrowing down the damp problem... and cross fingers we are possibly winning... tracking it down that is !

On Monday, after a meeting,  I walked in to find a pretty big change.... the builder had not only restored the collapsed ventialtion grill in the cellar, but demolished the small internal wall ... ..makes the most amazing difference to the space !!  Here's how it looked from the front door -

and looking from the other side

The central pillar looks as though it might not even be a proper ceiling support !!!    I am meeting the builder there tomorrow  to explore  that possiblity ..... would be great if we could get rid of it altogether!!!

We might also put the red dye down the drain outside and see if it ends up insidei !!

I am now thinking it may be possible to open at the begining of May ?

Next job to take up the remaining carpet  and inspect the floor...

Hole in the Wall.. and the Drain ?

The builder visited the gallery yesterday.........he  thinks the water entering may be related to problems with rainwater drains in the courtyard outside......will will be getting a specialised firm with drain probing  cameras to find out what's going on below ground.  

Fortunately the nasty soggy bit on the left turns out not to be anything drastic! No nasty white strands of wet rot !   But I have a feeling the opening now won't be in time for Easter.......

The snow is now 6 inches + deep after heavy falls last overnight.. I've re-instated my 'Garden and More'  blog  to show some of the best  - instead of adding them here ! :)

As soon as the snow disappears and I can get safely to the Building Supplies I shall chose a Big Letter Box and new door furniture  for the builder to install......

On my way to apply heat !

But before I go I nipped across the road to take this photo !

The Parish Church..... St Mary's Kington Herefordshire England UK  :)

Later............

 

Well I spent a few hours there .. washed some more crockery. emptied the bar and attempted to dismantle it...... but so well glued together couldn't separate the last few pieces.... you'd think with all that damp the glue would have softened !! A job for the builder I guess

Two views... after the dismantling .......towards the entrance

and looking back towards the entrance - the low barrier will go just leaving the support pillar .

The internal doors and pillar will probably be painted same shade as walls

The carpet will DEFINITELY go !!

Playing with Furniture

The good news is that things seem to be drying out slowly...... I spent a fair amount of time thisafternoon moving some of the furniture around... I found the back area could take all 6 of the 2'3"tables with chairs around them quite comfortably leaving room to walk around them and view the exhibited paintings....... if I hang permanent exhibition pieces of mine behind the tables....

This gives a painting area of 4'6"x 6'9" - one person per table.. and plenty of room for the four 2 foot square tables at the front WHEN the bar goes :)  The front area being rather larger than the back area.  The whole room is 27 feet front to back and 20 ft side to side at the widest point at the front.

 

The window blocked with corkboard is where Im thinking of in-filling with a new plasterboard full length panel .

Ive decided ALL the carpet goes......when the ice disappears I shall go to Wickes and check out their laminate flooring which I can lay myself economically.

Managed to break the glass taking down one of the Indian-Restaurant lampshades to see what was underneath it !  Knew I was going to but couldnt stop myself !! NO great loss!

I think I may be able to sand the tabletops and strip the chairs to a lighter shade.......a bit of gentle experimenting needed!

here is the basic layout  the yellow blobs are existing ceiling lights except the one by the fire whihc was a false lantern for atmosphere ! For scale  the green square represents 60cm/2ft

 

The drinks chiller, tea and coffee, kettle and shelves for cups and saucers etc will fit perfectly into teh corner opposite the kitchen door next to the fire exit.... where the freezer is now marked and next to the small sink for drinking water and brush washing !

Should have shown this ages ago for you to get your bearings !

Hunkering In......

... visited briefly yesterday.......... and things seem to be drying out a bit....... today I am not going anywhere..... all meetings cancelled... my lovely ground landlord is keeping an eye on it .. and I have left a message with a builder.

meanwhile we are staying put

top L to R Shrimp. Priscilla, Alfie  ......  underneath,  Malty

I am planning to visit the gallery today... first time for a few days... but woke to this

and still snowing heavily with more to come.... that will test out whether or not it WAS the blocked gully on the flat roof causing the water ingress ( love that word!)  .It seems there is also some  re-mortaring to be done around the chimney.... but clearly NOT today and in these temperatures ... down to -7c recently overnight.

Thank you to everyone leaving supportive comments here and elsewhere on forums.......it is so good to be able to share the excitement......as well as the dramas... and I guess there will probably be a few more of those somewhere along the line.

I need to go down there later today to switch of the Christmas lights... twelfth night and all that !  So will enter with trepidation to check the state of the floor.....  I'm told by the ground landlord no more water has entered in the last few days so fingers crossed I can put the dehumidifier on again soon.

I also have it in mind to dismantle the bar.....and use the timber in the 'kitchen' for storage shelves....but I keep to-ing and fro-ing on that idea......there will no doubt come a moment when I grab the screwdriver and the questin will be setlled.  

Ive also had an idea to put another plasterboard 'wall' up in front of the small window at the back by the chimney breast, which lets in no light ..... this would give more hanging space....and could solve the damp problems there.....guess I need to make contact with the builder soon .....

Off to find my snowboots !!!