10 JUNE 2008

We also have a roof!

Well, a roof of sorts – which is just as well given the amount of rain that has fallen, on and off, over the past couple of weeks. And of course, there is nothing like tangible boundaries to give one a real sense of how the space will be to live in. With the lovely high ceiling in the main space, sloping gently down to the glass-roofed conservatory extension to the kitchen, it should be a great room. I’m slightly worried that with all that glass it might get too hot in summer but there are opening doors and windows along two sides and I’m planning to train one of the prolific grapevines in the garden up a wooden pergola that we’ll build outside the kitchen. Their foliage should provide shade in high summer and a colourful show when backlit in autumn, before shedding to let in maximum warmth and light all winter. It has also struck me that I could allow one branch to grown inside, where it will fruit much earlier – I love the idea of sitting and eating with bunches of ripening grapes above our heads…

We’ve started gathering fixtures and fittings. On the way down last week we traipsed around several reclamation yards, looking at salvaged wooden flooring (most of it, sadly, in a shocking state), old doors, belfast sinks and radiators. Radiators in particular seem to have rocketed in price since we did up our house in London 12 years ago. I swear the old four-column rads we have here were picked up for something like £40 a piece (plus the cost of reconditioning, of course.) Nowadays you pretty much have to add another nought to that figure, even for one of the smaller models. But we are going for them all the same – we only need three, and we know they pump out heat efficiently. Plus, they look good, which is important, as radiators are hard to hide effectively. As I signed the cheque, including VAT, I silently reflected that, not so many years ago, one could buy a new runaround car for less.

We’ve also picked up some great salvaged lights, from a company called Trainspotters (www.trainspotters.uk.com) after a visitor to this Blog suggested I check them out – thank you very much! Their warehouse, just outside Stroud, is a real Aladdin’s cave of salvaged and extremely smart lamps, mirrors, furniture and so on, much of it from old railway stations, factories and so on (see picture below). Our four lampshades, which are dark green enamel, were rescued from a former sewing factory in Manchester, and should look good hanging on chains above the dining table and lighting up the main central pace. I love things like this that add another layer of history to our house.

We ended up camping in the carriages. Although the floor was a bit muddy, good weather made it just about feasible. After meeting with the builders, we had a swim in the sea, ate in the local pub and then – the real treat – sat and watched the sun go down behind what will be the kitchen windows. Well, it was a treat, until our enjoyment of the view ended up in an argument between Frank and myself as to what precise shape and size the windows should be. We’d more or less agreed on a line of long narrow opening windows with dimensions in proportion with those of the original carriages. Then Frank started singing the praises of a big “picture window”, but I could not see that looking right. A cunning compromise saved the day. The central two windows looking out on the garden will be made in such a way as they have no central “transom” , allowing the view of the garden to be undivided and unimpeded. Such details, together with “self-cleaning” glass for the ceiling panels, do not come cheap, but the visual impact of this part of the new space is going to be so great we figure it is worth getting right. We can scrimp and save when it comes to other areas – I’m a dab hand at shabby eco-chic furnishings…..

As the readers of this month’s World of Interiors (www.worldofinteriors.co.uk) magazine can find out. Our railway carriage house (in its pre-build state) is featured in the July issue, just out now. And very charming the clever photographer James Mortimer has made it all look. I’m thrilled and delighted to have this document of the first leg of our journey in the carriages, before this latest big adventure began.