So much has happened since last time I wrote that it is hard to know where to begin. The easiest way to keep things up to date is to post a gallery of pictures from the first four and a half weeks of work on the house.
Changes to the back of the house
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- From one tiny window, a ramshackle roof and a broken chimney stack
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- a lovely new chimney and the roof fixed
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- Knock through for two more windows added
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- bathroom, landing and new bedroom windows are being added
Changes upstairs
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- Upstairs – one large space
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- Clearing the rubbish and rubble from a half-built stone partition wall
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- Outer wall is being lined with insulation and then an inner wall built
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- Rapid progress
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- This will be our bedroom
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- Our first bedroom wall is complete
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- Starting on a bathroom
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- This guy does not hang about!
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- Our bathroom now half rendered for tiling
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- Another bedroom and bathroom built
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- This will be the upstairs guest bedroom
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- Another view of one of the bathrooms
Changes in the barn
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- The barn as it was
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- The old stone walls being repointed
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- A hole through to the courtyard for a window
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- The view will improve!
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- New wall to create shower enclosure
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- Doorway into the bathroom
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- The new front door for the barn
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- From outside
There are also huge changes happening on the ground floor – a new kitchen, utility, larder and cloakroom configuration, preparations for the office where El Perro will be produced, and the reworked sitting room.
Outside, work has begun on rotivating and tidying the first level or orange trees, ready for fencing it off for the dogs to have a large, safe area in which to do dog things. Mario and Richard have made huge inroads into clearing and digging post holes, and Mario has shown Geoff the basics of pruning orange trees. Geoff has spent the last two days with his chainsaw and secateurs. Piles of logs and kindling are dotted about the place, and the beautiful perfume of orange blossom fills the air.
More pictures to follow, when time permits…