"Birthdays are about doing something fun and interesting." Parineeti Chopra

 Well it was Do's birthday in July so we decided to go down to the beach just past the bottom of the garden

It was a beautiful day for a glass of our favourite Jakot

"The difference between utility and utility plus beauty is the difference between telephone wires and the spider web" Edwin Way Teale

 We are trying to keep as much as we can from the existing building and contents. I reused some of the vee lining from the bathroom to make a sink unit and cupboard for the utility room. 

                                         

The floor is a mixture of ceramic tiles and floorboards (which are the leftovers from the 125 m2 I bought from the bloke in Oldham) I didn't have enough of either to do the whole floor and I think the way they look next to each other would almost suggest it was meant to be that way.

I have since peeled off the green plastic covering from the sink

I even retained the original toilet roll holder which Do had found

"Not managing your time and making excuses are two bad habits. Don't put them both together by claiming you don't have time" Bo Bennett

 For the next three months we sat tight in our small basement flat - Do busy working, me with time on my hands. I signed up for an online guitar course and practised assiduously. After a few weeks my finger pads had hardened and my sausage fingers were capable of moving at some speed in a predetermined pattern. The resultant sounds became less cacophonous and I slowly moved away from my infernal strumming and towards being able to make a reasonably tuneful melody. 

The lockdown was slowing the spread of the virus and we had been keeping pretty much to ourselves. The community on Eigg were likewise being careful so we decided in June that the time had come to try again. Under regulations we were allowed to move house so that's what we did. I kept the island jungle drums (aka alleigg email list) informed of our position and intention to "return home" and received a number of welcoming messages. This time the ferry wasn't cancelled and we were able to drive off the Loch Nevis and up to the Manse for our 14 days of isolation. 

Having unpacked the last of our furniture and belongings our house now looked and felt like home, so plans were made for the next stage of the transformation - the utility room.

" I've never seen the point of the sea, except where it meets the land. The shore has a point. The sea has none." Alan Bennett

March 23rd 2020 - my birthday and the day we had decided would be the day to head off and finally complete the move to Eigg. The ferry was booked, the car was loaded and excitement levels were high. We drove through the night, making sure we would be there in good time for the boat at 10.20. We arrived ahead of schedule at 9am - just as they announced the cancellation of the ferry to Eigg because of high winds! Mild disappointment ensued... but we had no option but to return to Edinburgh and hope for better luck next time. After all, the vagaries of the weather are one of the downsides to living on an island and at least we had the joys of another 5 hour drive. To console ourselves and to celebrate my birthday we stopped at M and S Food in Fort William for a few of these big boys.

Feeling a bit sick and with a sugar rush going on somewhere we made our way back to Edinburgh 

where we had to unpack the car. To crown what had been an unforgettable birthday - in so many ways - a bottle of Single Malt fell out of the car onto the pavement and smashed. Things could only get better I hear you say;  alas on going into the flat to weep at my misfortune, Boris announced the lockdown.

"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." Einstein

I never really thought about how long it's been since I updated the blog until someone asked if I'd  abandoned it. I'd forgotten that there are others who visit this particular corner of cyberspace and to them I feel the need to apologise for a lack of activity here. There has been some progress however at the Manse.

The dining room was originally part of a much larger space. Having partitioned it, opening up an old bricked up window made a big difference to the feeling of space inside the smaller defined area

The framing and insulation could then be finished, the walls plasterboarded and the floor insulated and the boards laid. 

There is an 18 ft span on the ceiling beams which make the upstairs bedroom floor very springy. To reduce this I put wooden straps a foot apart across the width of the room

After putting the ceiling boards in place the whole floor upstairs feels much less springy

Then it was time to fit the second part of the doorset we had found in the architectural salvage in Edinburgh

There were some bits missing in one corner

but once it was all installed and repaired it looked ok

I used some old panelling to make a frame for the "new" window

and so to the wallpaper. The pattern is apparently based on the design in Marie Antoinette's bedroom. The problem was that the ceiling wasn't parallel to the pattern of bees so it meant leaving a gap between the top of the paper and the ceiling. 

It was a tricky to cut around the doorset. Memo to self - next time paper first!

Then  I needed to make, rout, paint and fit the skirting.

I made a duplicate of the missing piece from around the double window at the front

The last fabrication to be done was to accommodate a fire surround found in another room

After stripping the paint we needed to choose some suitable antique tiles, so back to ebay

and then fit them 

Finally add struts to the existing wooden surround to make it fit flush against the wall

and detail the inserts so that the fireplace fits the surround at the front

The existing mantle shelf was signed by the joiner when it was first fitted in 1931

Before fixing the metal fireplace it was necessary lay some tiles in front to make a new hearth

Polish the brass smoke deflector

and "Voila"

"If all difficulties were known at the outset of a long journey, most of us would never start out at all." Dan Rather

Having been given a wide angle lens this Christmas I thought it would be good to give a quick overview of the Manse as it looks today

 Dining room

Hallway

Snug

Kitchen

Bathroom

Visiting ministers' room

Top floor bedroom

Top floor sitting room

Next part of the project will be the utility room, followed by shed, workshop, main bedroom and stairwells (in no particular order)