Dennis the Menace....

The run up to storm "Dennis" this week has kept any work outside to the minimum. What it has meant though is that all those finishing off jobs inside have got done. Jim was away for the first few days of this week and I don’t think Paul knew quite what to do with himself so he kept busy doing what Paul loves to do, digging holes, but this time inside the house, getting ready for the drainage.

Once Jim got back, normal business resumed and they methodically went through each of the rooms making sure absolutely everything that needs to be detached from the main structure was removed, cleared and taken away as they went. Some parts of the house are even looking tidy.

It didn't last of course, the next round of destruction was just around the corner as Paul and Jim then got to taking down the first wall. Exciting!

Bathroom Layouts

Monday afternoon saw Tim and I heading over to CBK in Truro to finalise the layouts for the Bathrooms on the ground floor, the Master bathroom and Guest 2 bathroom. If you are doing your own renovation or remodel, I would really recommend working with a bathroom design specialist as early as you can in the design of your project. Just like kitchen designers, they really do understand how to get the most out of any shape or size of space so it will really work and still look amazing.

Jaye our designer at CBK had already worked the Guest 2 bathroom design and there really wasn’t anything we needed to change, but the Master bathroom, despite it being a good size was proving a real challenge. When our architect first designed the room you walked through a small dressing area and and pocket door into the main bathroom.

No matter what we did we just couldn’t get the design to work and not look cramped.

Our must haves were a larger than average walk in shower, a good sized bath, double sinks with plenty of elbow room and good storage underneath. As it’s the Master we also want it to feel roomy and have a bit of “wow” factor. In the end we decided to remove the wall between the dressing area and the bathroom and bingo, the design started to come together.

The next stage in this process is for us to start compiling mood boards for each of the bathrooms. This will enable Jaye to finalise the design and put together an approximate budget.

Up until now I have just been collecting ideas under “Bathroom” on my Pinterest, so now I need to start weeding out what I like, but now know I don't want and keep back the images I love and best describe the vibe I want for each of the bathrooms. As storm "Dennis" also had us confined to barracks this weekend I took the opportunity to spend some time putting together mood boards for each of the bathrooms.

Here’s my first draft Mood Board for the Master Bath:

I am, by no means finished, but I am starting to get a better feel and vision of what the end design might look like. I can’t tell you how good it feels to finalise layouts. Until you have done this you just can't get a good enough picture in your head to start thinking about style, colour etc. Of course this will stay a draft until the room is actually built and we can see it in reality. I know once I see the actual space we are working with I will then want tweak the final design accordingly.

This is how our architect designed the Guest 2 Bathroom:

And here’s the design Jaye produced for us. What a difference!

And here’s my first draft Mood Board for the Guest 2 Bathroom:

I will be sending these over to Jaye next week and she will then start to put together the 3D plans which will really start to give us a better vision of what the finished rooms will look like. I will of course share these with you when I have them.

Exterior Finishes

We are still on the hunt for the perfect colour walling stone to clad the walls on the front of the garage and around the front entrance as shown here on our architects impression:

On Tuesday we headed over to Delabole an area in North Cornwall that has several slate quarry’s, the most famous being the Delabole Quarry which is one of the largest in the country and has been in operation from the 15th century, making it the oldest working slate quarry in England. We visited Delabole and the Trebarwith Quarry. They are quite magnificent to see even on a wet and windy February day. Whilst we loved the stone, our visit did confirm that this is not the stone for us.

As you may recall from a previous blog, we want a predominately grey colour stone and although the Trebarwith and Delabole stone often comes out of the ground looking mainly grey, it oxidises over time and eventually goes gold and brown in colour.

So next week we will be heading back to Contec in St Austell this to look again at their Celtic tumbled stone below, check delivery times and cost per sqm.

Internal Doors

I am still obsessing over finding the right internal doors. I know we really can’t make a final decision on this until the windows are in (we have decided on matt black frame colour, inside and out), and we have narrowed down our flooring choice, but just like the bathroom and kitchen designs, you have to start narrowing it down.

Internal doors are not just there to provide privacy and noise control, they are a key component in setting the base style of your home and as they are in every single room will make a huge difference to the look and feel of your finished interior design. It doesn’t end with the style of door, that’s sort of the easy part, it's the finish, colour and furniture that will have the greatest impact.

So my hunt goes on, but here is my first draft Mood Board showing the look/vibe I'm after. I would love to know which look you like the most?

Kitchen Design:

Another biggy, not just in setting the base style, but a real biggy in nailing down what we will need in terms of budget to be able to achieve the look we want.

This, like the windows will be one of the biggest cost items, so getting, not just the style, but the functionality right is going to be crucial. We have made a start and are talking to four different kitchen designers.

This sketch shows the starting layout we gave them to work with, again basically what our architect suggested.

Interestingly, nothing we have seen so far, from any of the kitchen companies has blown us away in terms of creativity. They all need a lot of leading in the right direction.

Lot’s more to come on this item, so watch this space.

Well that’s it for this week, until next time…..