"I'm always thinking about future projects and at the same time trying to finish the project you're in the middle off" Jerry Lewis

Finishing the kitchen mezzanine

The top rail was eventually attached and the painting completed. Do then set about organising the playloft - a place to keep childhood memories and old books. A space for grandchildren to play one day perhaps 

 

Some favourite storybooks

Do's dolls house needs a few repairs to old hinges. The big chest now contains an eclectic collection of board games and quizzes

So now it's a place to be,something had to be done about the two wall plates. They were painted and used to show some items of kitchenalia we've picked up over the years 

"Graffiti's always been a temporary art form. You make your mark and then they scrub it off." Banksy

 Well Banksy, maybe not always. We are trying to preserve as much of the history of the building as we can and that includes some graffiti. Some we will keep on view

This message is on the upstairs gable end wall. There was another, similar one, on the lath and plaster roof which we had no option to take down but this was definitely saveable. The plan is to frame and insulate around it and cover with glass so it remains visible.

Downstairs there are some more recent scribings.

These were done at some point during the abandoned years following the sale to the previous owner, the last one being particularly prophetic. These are part of the story of the house and although we can't keep them all visible I will be leaving the plaster on the wall when we frame and insulate. One day maybe the archaeologists will rediscover them!

to be continued

"All insulation is environmentally friendly. Some installation has better environmental credentials, but what matters is the energy it saves" Dick Strawbridge

 I chose the quote because Manseadventure is our version of Escape to the Chateau. (I hasten to add that I'm no Dick... and though Do is no Angel she is an angel) The structural stuff is maybe not on the same scale but, then again, neither is the available budget nor the extent of the assistance.

errr, and not the balustrade either.

However, the action continues in our Studio project. We seesaw between full upstairs floor and mezzanine; stairs or spiral staircase but one thing which we definitely need is insulation.

Once I can see a few days without rain we will fit the new rooflight and finally make the house roof watertight. Maybe there'll also be final decisions regarding what the upstairs will look like, exciting!

"Two things are bad for the heart - running up stairs and running down people" Bernard Baruch

A spell of wet weather led to me working at my incomplete indoor jobs, or snagging. There are several of these as my preferred modus operandi is something akin to a bee collecting nectar (oh that looks interesting I'll try that...oh hang on look at that one) One of the longest outstanding jobs was up on the mezzanine in the kitchen. Health and safety would suffer cardiac arrest if they saw it pre balustrade

This weekend will hopefully see the finishing touches - watch this space.

 

"Them days we were glad to have the price of a cup of tea - a cup of cold tea - without milk or sugar - or tea" Monty Python

(See the full Four Yorkshiremen sketch at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKHFZBUTA4k)

A different four Yorkshiremen came to work at The Manse. 

They were a plastering team who came to re-render the back of the house. Joe, a volunteer who came to Eigg and stayed, agreed to come and look at the rendering which was in a very tired state of repair. He decided that it was a big job and would be best done by some of his mates from Rotherham

There were loads more pictures like this but the most impressive are these two:

 base coat

and top coat

Now it's on to the guttering and the front

"Every single day the world seems like it is on the brink of falling apart. But then I look outside my window, and things look about the same as they did a week ago. It's almost a form of cognitive dissonance" Moby

It was time to start work on The Studio - our chosen name for the self contained unit we are planning for the single storey east wing

It's quite a dark room so we are looking to harvest as much light as possible by opening up an old blocked in window

Then it was time to form a regular opening and put in a new lintel

After a prolonged covid induced delay I collected the new doorset from the ferry

and fitted it

"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"