A Room Of One’s Own – Week 8 – Update

September 4, 2009 by Elizabeth Harper

This week John finished putting the plasterboard (sheetrock) on the bathroom for the master bedroom and he did a bit of plastering and framed out the doorway to the bath. He gave the ceiling and walls a base coat of paint in the master bedroom and later today will begin tiling the bath. I think I mentioned last week that we’re working to finish the master bedroom and bath so we can move out of the guest room and back into the bedroom before we refocus on finishing out my studio/writing/office space.

I’ve been doing a massive amount of research for just the right way to make this all work…color, furniture design, room setup, lighting, and any and everything else one might want to consider to make it all work best. What began as a new space for me has not surprisingly spilled over in to the master bedroom with a totally new look complete with new furniture. Additionally, the kitchen and half bath have become projects for next year. It’s a good thing John likes to renovate. We hope to have the master bedroom and bath finished in two to three weeks. Next week I’ll be showing you a tiled bathroom along with a painted (probably blue) bedroom.

As you can see by one of the pictures, we’ve chosen a darker hardwood floor for the bedroom, both new baths and my new room. The rest of the house has a light colored wood flooring so this darker one is a shift for John who prefers white walls and light floors. We’re off to the store in a few minutes to pickup the bathroom tiles. He’s designing and decorating the master bath completely while I’m doing the bath that goes with my space and it’s interesting to see how different we are based on American versus British design ideas.

The bathroom ready for tiling.

More of the bath

Bedroom with the new ceiling and window.

A Room Of One’s Own – Week 7 – Update

August 28, 2009 by Elizabeth Harper

This week John has managed to get quite a bit accomplished on the renovation, but it’s hard to photograph in a way that is as impressive as walls going up or the roof going on. The bathrooms are framed out and have flooring in place. Additionally, the pipes for the showers, sinks, toilets and tubs are in along with the insulation and sub-flooring. He also did a bit of plastering and finished off the new window in the master bedroom and closed in an opening in the master bedroom wall that will be part of my bathroom medicine/storage cabinet. He’ll be putting up plasterboard tomorrow in the master bath and building the wardrobe/closet back into the master bedroom. He’s decided to focus most of his efforts on the master bed and bath so we can get out of the guest room and back into our room. We’ve picked out a new bed and mattress…well actually, I’ve picked them out, but John is so agreeable that as long as it falls within a few parameters, it is pretty much whatever I want.

I have a bit sad news about Brian who you may remember is one of our builders. Last week he fell off a ladder on another job site and broke his left shoulder in three places. He’s had surgery and will be out of work for a while, but he should be all right.

If you look closely you can see some of my paint samples taped to a door in the back. I put them up to see how they look in the different light that comes in from the window throughout the day. I’m undecided somewhere between pale greens and buttermilk yellow for my walls. Any suggestions?

A Room Of One’s Own – Week 6 – Update

August 21, 2009 by Elizabeth Harper

I will begin with a picture because that is what today’s post will contain for the most part. As you can see Brian and Bob moved inside after last week. They finished up the outside with a Tyrolean finish and it looks great. The color is slightly brighter, but that’s okay because John wanted to freshen the paint on the rest of the house anyway.

You can see here where the ceiling is going up along with the scattered bits waiting to be used or carted off.

Here’s the truck that carried away the skip.

Brian is plastering over the Artex ceiling that is sadly in all of the rooms. I like it well enough in a few places, but the overall effect tends to make the rooms look smaller and dated. Although this house was built in the 90’s, Artex, the popular finishing method for ceilings in the 70’s has covered the ceilings in all of the rooms until now.

Bob is making sure the plaster is mixed and ready as Brian needs it. This part has to be done properly or it doesn’t matter how good the person is applying it to the ceiling. They did a really great job covering the Artex and John is pleased every time he looks at the new ceiling.

Brian and Bob were gracious enough to give me one more photograph before they wrapped things up here for a while. When they began this project, the back garden looked like this nestled between the back of the house and the garage.

DSCN0879

Before

20090815-0736

After

Brian and Bob will be away working on another project for bit while John frames out the walls and get all the plumbing and electrical pieces in order. Then B & B will be back to put up the plasterboard (or sheet rock) and finish off the walls and ceiling with plaster. John will do the tile in the bathrooms and put down the hardwood floors throughout the addition and the master bedroom.

That’s it for this week. Come back next week to check on us. We’ll still be here shuffling around in the dust.

A Room Of One’s Own – Week 5 – Update

August 10, 2009 by Elizabeth Harper

You’ll be amazed at the progress Brian and Bob have made during week five on the new addition, plus John has been getting a bit involved too now that we’re beginning to reach the stage where he’ll be doing some of the inside work. Quite a lot happened last week and I put down the camera long enough to help John move us out of the master bedroom and into the guest room as Brian and Bob broke through the wall that had been the outside wall of the house before construction.

Everything came out of the master including the built in closet or wardrobe that John previously added when he bought the house a few years ago. Houses in the UK don’t come with closets in the bedrooms and it’s up to the owner to decide whether to build one. Our hanging clothes are now up on poles that John hung in the attic or loft as it is often referred to here. The master will have an en-suite bath added and with a new window in a wall that hadn’t had one there before, the whole orientation of the room has shifted.

Additionally, part of our old bedroom will be sacrificed to make a corridor that will lead to my new space taking a bit from the master. As is the way here with many things, rooms are generally smaller and even though this house was built in the 90’s and has larger rooms than most, they would seem small when compared to most homes built in America during the 90’s. My house in Atlanta was built in 1920 so I feel quite at home here, but my first house had huge rooms by comparison which was mostly wasted space. Quite a bit of it was not used except to fill up with more stuff and it was way too expensive to heat and cool. I have long been a fan of The Not So Big House way of living in Sarah Susanka’s books and I’m excited to be living in a place where people seem to have been living this way for quite some time.

I hope you enjoy the changes and thanks so much for all of the comments you leave each week about the progress…soon I’ll be polling you for thoughts on tile and color choices and if you’ve got any decorative thoughts of dream bathrooms in particular, I’d be happy for you to pass them on for me to consider. I can’t seem to make up my mind and my vision for my space seems to change from week to week.

Remember tomorrow is TMAST and if you’d like to join me in telling a story…please go here to pick a topic sentence to begin your story. It need not be long even a paragraph will do. It’s all about practice writing and just for fun.

Roof tiles waiting to go on the roof.

Dedication even in the rain…Bob putting the tiles in place.

With the roof tiles in place,

Soffits and water drains in place…Brian lets loose a bit as the door frame goes into place minus the glass.

Adding the glass.

Break on through to the other side… (Stealing a line from The Doors) Bob’s in the background.

Previous outer and inner wall showing insulation between the two. (and Brian)

Brian and Bob measuring wall for corridor opening and John inside moving and rewiring the internet to make way for window (closet still in this picture)

New bedroom window.

Looking in through bedroom window at what will be door to my space. There will be a corridor through part of the old bedroom leading to this entry way.

A Room Of One’s Own – Week 4 – Update

August 3, 2009 by Elizabeth Harper

This post is mostly pictures because I managed to get some (arty ones) I really liked of Brian and Bob while building this past week. While they may be used to the odd snap or two by a property owner while working, I think they’re beginning to become a bit more aware of when the camera is around. Both have been such good sports, answering my too many questions at times and flashing me an occasional smile when I’m moving in with my camera trying to get just the right shot to keep things interesting.

No one is safe from the camera not even the people who deliver the big stuff. Interestingly none of the drivers with the large deliveries seem to even notice the woman with the camera snapping photos from different angles like it’s a red carpet event.

You can see by the delivery what Brian and Bob worked on for a fair amount of this past week.

Brian is putting brackets in place to help anchor the trusses while Bob is doing the same on the other side in the shot below.

When that’s done, they put the trusses into place.

I did a little climbing to get this one.

Brian

Bob

That’s all for this weeks update, but remember, tomorrow I’ll have the first TMAST posting so if you’re writing along with me be sure and post yours on your site and send me a link so I can include it with my post tomorrow. If you need a reminder as to what I’m talking about go here and here to join me. Remember it’s practice writing not perfect writing and it need not be lengthy to post and participate.

A Room Of One’s Own – Week 3 – Update

July 27, 2009 by Elizabeth Harper

Brian and Bob have been very busy in spite of the wet weather we’ve been having and you’re not going to believe how quickly things have changed. Before I show you how much they’ve been able to accomplish, I want to show you what Brian’s face looked like when I told him that I was writing about the new addition and putting pictures of the progress on the internet for everyone to see.

I’m just kidding…he wasn’t bothered at all about being on my blog and his real expression almost always looks like the two pictures below.

Getting back to business, let me show you where things stand now.

Here’s a photograph of the finished stonework. I love how everything is coming along so quickly and I’m getting really excited as I try to visualize how it will be to work in my new space. I have to confess to standing in the rain this weekend with a tape measure in one hand and an umbrella in the other as I was trying to decide how much room I need for certain pieces of furniture. Have a look at the stonework and before too long I hope to be sharing some of the choices I’m considering for flooring, paint, and tile. Oh…and please stop by tomorrow to see something new I’ve been working on lately.

A Room Of One’s Own – Week 2 – Update

July 21, 2009 by Elizabeth Harper

Last week I introduced you to the work being done in the back garden. Since John first surprised me with the idea of a room of my own, I’ve imagined all the places I could place my desk and what my view might be while writing. I’ve gone back and forth thinking… should I position it so I’d be looking at the wall or would an outside view be better for my creative process. I’m still trying to decide what would be less distracting and better for my work.

Watching Brian and Bob our builders work over the last few weeks has been a lesson in not letting distractions get in the way. They’ve worked steadily through a heat wave while breaking up the concrete for new the plumbing. It looked like tough work making a space beneath the walkway and along the side of the house. They spent the better part of a week digging deep into the backyard (garden) through three or four feet of dirt and rock to lay more pipes for the new bathrooms and making way for the foundation. Recently Brian and Bob have had to work around the rain with enough stops and starts to aggravate even the most patient soul. We’ve had a wet week or two lately and they never seem put off by it. All along they’ve moved at a pace that John said was faster than he’d imagined possible and we don’t think it will be too long before we see the roof going on.

A Room Of One’s Own And A Bathroom Too

July 14, 2009 by Elizabeth Harper

I have a secret I’ve been keeping from some of you and now that things are taking shape, I feel inclined to share the news. Remember what Virginia Woolf said about a woman needing “a room of one’s own” in order to write fiction…well guess what John is giving me. Yes, that’s right four walls that will exist just to serve me and I get to make all the decisions about fixtures, color, decor, flooring, anything and everything..it’s up to me. Now if a room of my own wasn’t enough by itself…John decided I should have an en-suite bath as well. As you can see by the building plan we’re actually adding two bathrooms so instead of the bath and a half we currently have, there will soon be three bathrooms and a loo. (half bath)

I can’t begin to tell you how loved I feel by John’s decision to add on to a perfectly reasonably sized 3 bedroom bungalow in order to make me feel more welcome and at home. When I came over last May for three months, he totally restructured the closet in the master bedroom giving me the bulk of the space, later he added extra cabinets in the bathroom and bedroom for me to have enough storage for all the things a woman uses on a regular basis, then he added bookshelves and space in his study for me before revamping the kitchen and later installing more cabinets for my kitchen things that should be arriving any day now.

John’s been so caring and considerate, commenting more than a time or two that he knows how difficult it must have been for me to sell off my things and leave my home and family and move here to live with him. He’s done all these things without my asking, suggesting, or mentioning anything about space.

It’s a tremendous gift he’s giving me and I’m not just talking only about a room of my own. I had an awareness the other day as I was making decisions in my head about how I wanted to do certain things. Having never had the opportunity to design a space from the ground up, I realized I was placing limitations on my creativity out of habit as I’ve always had to work within the framework of those who’d gone before me. The more I thought about this, the more I saw a pattern in some of my creative writing…as in too safe and too predictable. So you see, this room of my own, my quiet place for writing fiction has already has given me a bit of the freedom Virginia Woolf spoke of when she wrote about all the circumstances that kept women of her day from being able to tap into their creative voice. Going forward now, I need to remember sometimes the limitations are not those placed on us by outside conditions, but rather the internal ones we create for ourselves.

I’ll be posting updates in the building process weekly and I hope you’ll come back to see the progress.

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