With the decision made to minimise further delays (see The Cowls) it was all about the inside joinery. We wanted to move in at the end of August so that the children could start the new academic year at their new schools. Originally I had thought that we wouldn't make it in until later in the year, but impatience got the better of me. Time to apply the pressure and get everyone moving!
We had designed the house so that upstairs, our living area, walls are floor to ceiling joinery to provide all the storage a family of 5 needs. We were using birch ply for everything due to the fact that it is inexpensive and stable. Charlie had recommended a way of finishing it with a chalk stain and varnish which softened the colour and looked elegant.
The stairs were installed. Originally we had wanted to have this manufactured for us, this would have saved time on site. In the end Andrew decided that he would make them. Charlie had designed the staircase to sit within shelving, our library, which was to be constructed like all the other joinery out of birch ply. The treads however are Dinesen, to provide continuity with the flooring.
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| The treads are open at the top to allow light down into the hallway below. |
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| The LED strip lighting was fitted into shelves with a small projection, it is very beautiful and gentle washes the treads with light. |
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| The gorgeous layers of ply end-grain |
To keep all the detailing simple and modern like the shadow gaps (see Render and Plaster ), Charlie had asked that the window boards not be installed in the normal way, i.e. before the render and plaster which then comes down on top of the board. This would give a cleaner line, without the window boards projecting into the wall. As Andrew says "sounds simple, but is anything but simple!".
The Dinesen boards were glued together and cut to size. Being an exact fit, the snugness meant there was a bit of banging and shoving to get them in. We had some plaster casualties along the way.
The rhythm of site changed a little during this period as Andrew and Paul stayed in Somerset to produce the large joinery in their workshop and then transported it to site a couple of weeks later.
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| My Command Centre, a huge piece of joinery. |
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| Office shelving |
Downstairs there was less joinery. There were only a few things that 'needed' doing, the budgets wouldn't allow for 'wish list' items to be done at this stage...
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| Both bathrooms needed a simple ply box made to allow installation of the sink and toilet. |
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| There is one joinery wall downstairs, the wardrobe in the master bedroom partitions off the en-suite. |
No slacking please!
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