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 !

frontage ready for painting!

The builders have made great progress..... I am really pleased with the way they have matched up the false timberwork.  here it is with the primer......... and the paint arrived so I guess that will start happening next week :^) 

The flooring  is ordered for delivery next week.. and the cable protector to stop folk tripping over worklamp cables when painting.   I am spending money like nobodies business.......and realise time is getting short!!!  Hoping for good health until opening....!!

Heres the  inside view right now

Transformation taking place....

I am getting excited because work has started on the front !

Apparently there have been many positive comments already about the dreadful tiles having disappeared !!  This is good news !  I have definitely decided to go for very dark blue and white.

Last week I painted out the black interior beams

They probably wont stay white ... but will certainly not go too dark ... probably the wall colour. .. a  darkish cream 'magnolia' Paintwork will be white .. I think !!!


Meanwhile we have gone through two very heavy downpours... and on each occasion the floor has got wet again :(   But we think it is now coming down the chimney...... so I have taken the gas fire out which needs the ventilation and will install a modern stainless steel and pebbles electric job... to match the contemporary lighting and hanging system ( which I stashed way somewhere. hope I can find it !!!) ......... I hope an interesting mix of old and new.


Hopefully am also getting the light bulbs sorted at last......but the place is full of woodshavings right now so that will have to wait.

Building work will take another week at least .. then  I can really get cracking on the inside .... so a late August early September opening is now  a distinct possibility.

need to start thinking about some of the details now !

...... getting somewhere at last !!

I seem to have lost most of May to doing anything useful ...... mostly because of a strange episode of amnesia during which I ended up in hospital with a suspected stroke and have been awaiting a CT scan.........results yesterday and scan showed 'nothing sinister' ...... so we have to see if the doc thinks the source is worth pursuing.  meantime I had to rest......couldnt drive or exert myself physically !  Not good for decorating !!!

The GOOD NEWS is that Ive just learnt that Ive got the shopfront grant......... and am hoping teh builders can fit that work  in before the end of July... ...so I can open in August ...... I need to be open in time for H Arts week mid September even though Im not taking part....

Light bulbs are proving a bit of a problem.....amazing waht some sellers think is 'daylight'  The last lot had an eeerie green glow !!!!   However I have now got 7 daylight hobby lamps for the painitng/display tables

Meanwhile more heavy rain showed no extra water influx... so hopefully that problem solved at last and  I can now get on with decorating and then getting the floor laid....... and I MUST pay attention to dealing with teh 'kitchen ' area!!!!

But none of this while sun shining and untl Ive got rid of this horrendous summer cold which is draining my energy right now.