Living in a small space

Well, we have moved in, and have spent just over a month in the cottage. So far, things are working well* and we have been concentrating on making the inside work for us, and ironing out minor issues. The other main focus has been making some progress in the garden, and organising the steading in to useful space for storage and a "workshop".
 * water not included

BT are dragging their heels significantly and have still not connected us to the phone line, which has already been by Jaimin and Ali Anderson in his digger. Lukily, O2 and Vodafone have 4G coverage here so we have bought a giffgaff SIM and it is our permanent Wifi Hotspot... Works for now but not enough to stream TV, so we have had no "box" for a few weeks now!

We ran out of water 6 days after moving in. That was a challenge! One of the local farmers was very generous and delivered 3000 liters of water to top up our tank, but with the lack of rain over the past months, the spring had dropped below the level of the inlet pipe, so the tank was not being replenished. It proved that we have a week's worth of water when/if things do get tricky. However, some significant work had to be done to deepen the well, install a new well casing, and pipe the water to the house. Some more work still needs to be done which involves digging out and moving the storage tank lower down the hill, and installing a UV and particulate filter for drinking water, which up to now we have had to periodically top up from neighbours in big 40 liter containers.

Otherwise, progress continues and here are a few images of how things are looking:

First BBQ!

First evening fire (with marshmallows)!

The kitchen in use

Old floor joists from the original structure, used to make a clothes line

Kids room, looking remarkably tidy

Kitchen shelves, with lights!

Water woes: new well (black plastic) vs old well (concrete)

Making a wheel barrow ramp for access to the lower garden 

Eila working hard.

Parking area to house steps. Step 1. 

Step 2... cut off the corner

Step 3... install some old lintels (these are the original lintels from the cottage)

Step 4... tidy up the bottom bit. Wait on more sleepers for the top bit.

Sorting out the steps from the top garden to the bottom, using some (really really heavy) old granite lintels

Relax.

Finishing up, Final Inspection, Moving in!

The business of the past few weeks has taken on new levels precluding the updates Jaimin wanted to make, and did make in his head.

That's probably no bad thing as it means this post is going to be heavily photo based.

First up we had a team weekend with James, Lucy & Auren helping to sort out the barn and to landscape the front of the cottage. We laid weed fabric and then poured on 10mm pea gravel.

Next up is the week before we were moved in, where we prepared for the Final Inspection from the Building Standards Inspector. Internally we painted and cleaned. Externally we had a drain pressure test where pressure is pumped in to the drains to see that they hold 100mm of head. Sadly, ours failed and it took Jaimin & the plumber a day to work out the problems. Resolving them required significant open surgery to the wall and the bathroom drains, which to say the least was highly stressful.

Drain test plug in the manhole

The coolest old "machine". 

First log delivery in readiness to move in. 

Gas cooker plumbed in and log store even more complete

The drain test solved, the Building Standards Inspector gave us a few odd jobs to do before issuing the Certificate. So, we finally moved in! Here are some initial snaps with more to follow as we fill it and make it a home!

Log Store

Jaimin wrote this post a few months ago now, but was "waiting to finish" before posting. Here it is, with an update ("Log Store Complete", maybe) to follow "soon"....

Another Building Control requirement based on the installation of a wood burning stove, is a "solid fuel storage container", or log store.

Jaimin found a good idea online and poached/modified the plans to suit us. Kudos to the guys at that website, they're impressive. We plan to have the gas bottles for the range cooker, logs, kindling, and maybe even wellies, stored in ours. The steading will hopefully be the bulk storage area with the log store providing a week to week supply.

Internal joinery

This post will hopefully be edited and better explained soon but to keep you updated, there have been developments over the past few weeks with:

Kiran visiting and helping by sanding the bedroom floor. Osmo was then applied to protect it.

Eila started sanding the kids room floor too.

The kids room started to take shape with shelves now done and the beds put together.

We bought some fantastic milled oak and lyme boards from a a tree surgeon friend. These were heavily sanded, then cut to size to make shelves. Oak in the kitchen and lyme in the lounge.

Preparing the oak

Preparing the lyme

Wardrobe doors have also been made and are being painted

The garden is slowly starting to come together. Our first planting box:

And a front path:

The kids need storage for clothes so Jaimin made some boxes on "ball transfer units" or rollers: