We Are OPEN !!

Well. I made it.......... sort of.. still things to do behind the scenes....... but so far so good.

The Horseracing and large vibrant flower macros are Ruths the rest mine !

 

Now I need to go down to open at 2.00pm.... a whole new way of life begining !

The sign has gone up !!

 

While inside I layed .a second roll of flooring.

Sadly I cant use the mirrored door as the glass isnt toughened and it cant go up in a public place :(   So it now has two primer coats of white on it..... awaiting a decision as to what the top coat will be !

The Chimney has now been capped off........ so hopefully thats an end to rain down the chimney.


Also some work done on fireplace .. but not ready for viewing just yet !

Counting Down the Days :)

Closest yet !

Today I cleaned up, stacked the furniture and unrolled the flooring to see how it will look... as well as how it would match up ( it will - much relief !)

Starting to look like a real gallery at last !

A bit more floor levelling....... move the furniture back to the OTHER end ( no , not a mistake, method in my madness... I needed 3 metre wide space space to unroll the vinyl!)

Oh , and I've found the hanging rails !!!   Now I have to decide whether to line them up with teh ceiling or the floor - or neither .....just make them horizontal !!!!

Its August !!!

... and Im committing myself to opening for the Bank Holiday weekend just four weeks away!!

here a shot from thisafternoon complete with glowering cloud..... those of you who know The Swan Hotel ( now Inn) can see it at the top of the hill.  That's a friends daughter waving!

And this is the view folk will see from teh front door.....well not quite this .. maybe I should say 'the aspect' !  The blue doesn't look this light and the lobby is no longer white !

I've been decorating in teh gallery most afternoons.... and 99.9% of the painting is now finished... the bit under the window is still damp and I'm waiting for some stuff to prevent that coming through the paintwork   I decided to match the beams to the wall colour .

The erstwhile kitchen door is now Gloss white like the other white paint  - not satin..... a decision I made when thinking of all those paint- covered fingers going into the storeroom !!!


I am toying with the  idea of painting the part walls around the chimney breast in a deeper colour.....at leas the one on teh left  for more balanced proportions..... here it is with only  lining paper on teh wall and undercoat on teh beams.  Head on it looks a bit too lopsided.  May try some of the terracotta left over from Ivy Cottage-assuming I have some.  Remarkable the leftover  'magnolia stretched exactly round the walls with enough left over for patching up !

Tomorrow a tidy up day and clean out the fireplace......maybe a bit more floor levelling..... ready for laying the flooring !!!!

Now to find where I hid the hanging rails when they arrived MONTHS ago !!!  Ive looked in teh obvious places and not found them yet - a bit worrying as the package is over 6 feet long !!!!!!!

... still on schedule ..... assuming I have one !

A few afternoons in the gallery and I have lined the two walls that need it and filled a few holes in the floor.........

Lots of fiddly work round those bricks and beams... glad my father taught me how to do this.....

Also filled some holes in teh floor with self levelling compound.

Tomorrow painting starts again..... another undercoat on the beams I think ..and the brown door..... then the walls !!!

The sun shone all day......

..so the gloss painting got finished......

........this is how it looked in January...... complete with rotten cills and peeling paint......

and NOW!

 

.. earlier in the week I unrolled the sample of vinyl wrapping the full rolls as a taster of the finished floor

....tomorrow I intend to go down and start on lining the walls ........since the white gloss is finished there too .......

And I need to create the hanging sign......which will look something like this

 

and hang at the left of the left hand window .....

.. getting closer !!!! 

......suupose Id better get some paintings framed too and publicity going !!!!

...

Amazing what a little paint can do.....

Things moving a-pace now.. or so it seems.......

.........the frontage now has all its undercoat in the right places......

The dark blue on the inside of the door and window is an approximation of the topcoat colour.....(impossible lighting to snap by!)

... and   I made a sensible decision.... and asked the builders to do the white gloss paintwork inside ( I will  emulsion the walls ).. so far only one undercoat ... but what a huge difference difference it makes ! 

 It also gives them something to do when the rain comes and they have to stop painting the outside......they are hopping in and out like yo-yos... or those little weather people  in teh weather house (I even suggested one should wear a skirt to complete the image!!!) .so benefits us all... and will get it ALL done faster and better than I would !

Note the rolls of  flooring sitting there...... I unrolled a bit today wide mock light oak boards ...and its going to look great..... it links with the lonely stripped oak upright... so may allow me to keep the ceiling beams white after all.......the open door you see reflected in the mirror is the one to be replaced by a full length mirror door when its closed... bouncing light and images across the gallery,

I've also spent two wide awake night re-jigging  the interior plan.... there going to be a distinct seating / book browsing / commission discussing / coffee drinking etc area  on the left inside the door with its own fire  ... well I have to do something with the one no longer going in the main fireplace. !  The oh-so-comfortable sofa/couch however is going up to the far back of the gallery so I can have a quick nap  unobserved from the street !!!!

We have had more heavy rain ... and wind........ so not vertical stair-rods like the last time....... and only dampness in the fireplace - not flooding... the proposed cowl on the chimney should solve this last problem

My excitement is building !!  I think I will get there by September after all !