Only 3 pieces To Go and 5 Days to Get it Done!

Things are looking great here and finally you can sort of get an idea of how it could look when this second stage of insides is completed.

I haven't thought too much about inside as outside work was so pressing to get infrastructure done first, so the grass could grow back!

Inside has about 6 stages.
Stage 1...

• The entire house, attic and cellar cleaned out, 
• plumbing brought inside with shower, toilet and sink
• power throughout and completely rewired
• Windows added where necessary...3 of 6 so far
• Doorway cut through a wall to connect an externally entered, but connected to the house, room in the main house
• 2 full cement floors added in the end room and the now bedroom and bathroom areas
• A basic quick paint job internally to bring all the place to one main colour...white!
• Playing around with room uses to find the correct flow for how I want to use it, while trying to maintain as much antiquity and authenticity as possible.

Stage 2...

• Chosing a theme and colours to suit that theme for the place
• I found Catherines' cottages in Budapest at Xmas time and was inspired by her 6 cottages and different, playful, but unique colours and ideas
• Renovating, sanding and painting or staining ALL the furniture in the entire house to fit the new theme...PS, I think it looks stunning!

Stage 3...

• Re-purposing all of the rooms now I have had a family of 3 here for over a month, showing how some ideas were not practical and other ideas could work much better
• Bathroom and existing kitchen have been swapped around for an excellent result with a new wall going into separate the entry from the bathroom
• new window cut in to the bathroom, with shower, loo, basin and washing machine all installed and working
• A huge new window to replace the big window in the new kitchen area
• A new door or window to replace the old cellar room door...then the house will be completely sealed up!
• Cellar set up for medieval parties
• Power and lighting added to new areas inside and outside, including light fittings as needed
• final testing and playing around with curtain, cushion and bedding ideas before starting to source the needed furniture and materials
• A final tidy up before the next exciting stage of tying it all together

Stage 4...

• The new room should be rebuilt by end August, mid September, so it is automatically added to the inside jobs list.
• A final big paint job throughout... walls, ceilings, windows, shutters, doors, architraves etc 
• Any broken window or door panes of glass being replaced first
• Flooring installed, parquetry throughout
• Rooms set up to suit, with any general furniture bought to complement any shortages thus far
• Kitchen finally installed with a real stove, a work-in pantry and lots of bench space!
• Heating throughout is the last thing to do around September/October at the latest

Stage 5...

• A pre-opening in Oct this year with invited guests from within the hostel industry...a rough test run in nice weather basically...
• Hoping to have the little wooden house deck completed by then with the spa in going order!

Stage 6...

• Final tiddly bits added to complete the picture over Xmas-New Year in readiness for April opening 2017
• Cutlery, crockery, linen, mattresses etc all bought in March 2017 and place set up
• Promo, gardens etc are not on this schedule...this is an inside job schedule only.

So now that Stage 2 is fast drawing to a close, Stage 3 looks exciting for sure and it will bring noticeable changes. Most of what has been done has been hidden underground or in walls, scattered all over the place etc, so has not been very noticeable at all.

Stage 3 will be awesome and am looking forwards immensely to that.

Maria hard at it...

Eric hard at it...

An old black table becomes a piece of art...

Wow, Eric spent 3 days getting this one back to basics, but look at it! It was real wood...we thought it was a veneer finish, but it was real walnut wood it seems.

Almost finished the easier parts...

How does it look?

The harder parts being done now...

From another angle...

A neighbour brought us over a massive bag of cherries. This bowl is only half of the bag! The bowl belongs to another neighbour who brought that bowl over the other day, full of cherries too!

Off to Tesco again for more paint...

The lovely gardens on my walking path...

More wild flowers from my jogging expeditions!

Testing out the colour schemes with towels and sheets over the couch...Hung up the gingham tablecloth as a curtain and it looks awesome! People have given me all the traditional cushion covers here, except the one I bought from Gabriella's shop...

From a different angle...

A nother angle on the chair. Only the insides of the back legs to go now...then the next one begins!

This is how it all begins...Chair 2 will be a different pattern of flowers...similar colours.

More jogging track treasures!

OK, that's it for another busy week here.

See you all next week with all the finished pieces. Cheers,
M
xxx