Turning the Corner?

First of all,..... thank all of  you who offered sympathy for the broken window ......an arrangement has been reached with the miscreants (though sadly it seems they were not the main trouble makers, rather goaded into it after too much birthday celebration) to pay for the cost of repairs over the next couple of months... and I've already received the first instalment.

So time for some more upbeat news.......

It seems there are to be more 'Shop Front Grants' available from May..... and I shall be applying to transform the gallery into something like this

 

However this means putting off the opening until the early summer....... absolutely no point in patching and smartening up for the opening then doing the work all over again.....

Pride of place inside will go to this..... which I bid for on Ebay and my friend Caro bought as an opening present for the Gallery

 

The artist perched on it is Picasso.....  

produced for me in a Charity Shop in Kington Yesterday !!

his eyes follow you about the room!  Or the garden in this case !

 

How could I be miserable with him around ?

Im not a happy Bunny : (

All has been going well in the gallery.. if slowly.....we seem to have sorted out the water ingress problem ... and the floor has now been skimmed and holes patched up in walls and skirting boards.......

there is still a bit of smoothing off to do .. but I was looking forward to moving on to the next stage....... fitting lights, decorating, flooring etc.... when.. at almost midnight on Friday.... I got a phone call reporting this..........

 

it seems two GIRLS from the flat opposite were having a fight during a rowdy party!!!

They were taken into custody  and are now released on bail !

The glass shards have been removed....

  

And the window is boarded up.   

 

I now have the hassle of sorting it out ....... whether its insured, and if it is, if its worth claiming on.........whether we can alter the window so the large pane is split as in the other one....... half the damage in future...... ( conservation officer), getting estimates, passing them to the police........ No wonder I have an upset stomach today !!!

Still better now than on Friday April 30th !

Slimline pillar

Great things going on now... though not all visible from  inside.  The Gallery has had a concrete mixer in the middle ( fogot the camera :( ) and loads of 'muck' going through the window to fill gaps and cracks in the courtyard... hopefully the end of water problems.....

But on the inside.....a small change that has made a HUGE apparent difference to the space....... the large fat 10" vision obscuring pillar has now gone leaving the original support timber ....

  

 

I am planning to put  blackout blinds in the large front windows...... white side to the inside so the one on the right showing here can be used as a projection screen.

Last night I decided those horrid plain brown doors HAVE to go... to be replaced with ledged and braced doors more in keeping with the properties age.

I really should start taking a serious look at sorting the kitchen- cum- storeroom next !!

The spotlight bars will be despatched on Monday......but probably wont go in until the floor is levelled and plasterboard fixed and some sockets moved.......

For those of you who paint.. there's a very good lesson on reflections.... just look at what you can see in the mirror  in teh top pic !

Out of interest here's the way it began with all the bar paraphenalia in place.

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 !

....

..... 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......