Tee hee - we've been playing house

Yep, we've been playing house for the last couple of days.  When we got up yesterday, it was absolutely tiddling down, chilly and dark so we thought it'd be a good day to give the Ironheart woodburner its second firing.  This time we loaded it up a bit more and got it burning really well . . . . . as we did, the sun came out!  So, we had the woodburner and the solar panels heating the water at the same time.  We did think the solar might not do much if the water in the tank was hotter, but it seems that they do.  The temperature reading on the roof got hotter than in the past, so it was still sending hot to the tank.  We can only assume that the heat doesn't get pulled into the tank as quickly which allows it to heat up more on the roof???  We also got the oven up to moderate.  There isn't a temperature guage as such, but a dial with Cool, Mod, Hot and Very Hot readings.  The first time we lit the woodburner we were Cool, yesterday we were Mod . . . . we're thinking of renaming the next setting Rocker!  So, there we were with a tank of nice hot water and it seemed a shame to waste it so we tried out the en-suite shower.  Oh, what bliss!  You can stretch your arms out, bend down to pick the soap up, even walk around a bit if you want to and the shower head delivers a good drenching - luvverly.  It did seem a bit odd padding down the drive with towel and shampoo under arm - just like being on a caravan holiday.  Let me tell you, this morning's shower in the caravan really was a disappointment after that.  By the way, I didn't take any photos of this milestone you'll be glad to know!

Today was another miserable day and, as we were going to be working in the kitchen, we lit the woodburner again this afternoon - you really shouldn't have to do this in July should you?  This time I put the washing to dry in front of it.  It all looked very homely and it got nice and cosy in there. 

The homely end of the room . . . . . .


 

. . . . and the building site end of the room!

Bob has been working on the fireplace at the other end of the room.  This won't be a working fireplace, but desparately needs tidying up.  We have re-pointed the top half of the bricks and they look quite nice, but the bottom half was covered in concrete (which is rock hard and almost impossible to get off) and looks a real mess.  There was one horrible brick among the nice ones which Bob managed to get out (hence the black hole in the picture) and replace with a similar brick to the rest.  So, we are going to plaster and paint the bottom half.  Bob has made an oak mantle-piece from offcuts from the doors.  We then need to find some nicer tiles for the sides and something to make-good the bottom half of the back, black the ironwork and , dah dah - it should look completely different.  It's not so obvious from this photo, but the chimney breast really leans over to the right and it completely throws your eye when you look at anything else next to it.  When we were putting the centre post in the kitchen we kept standing back to look at it and being convinced it wasn't upright, despite what the spirit level said.  Today, when Bob put the oak shelf in place it looked really wonky, but it wasn't.  I think we'll have to look out for a nice spirit level - you know, the old rosewood and brass type, just a little one - to put on the mantlepiece as an ornament so that when people say 'Surely that's not level!'  they can check for themselves!

While Bob was doing that, I did some more tiling - well, it's a while since I've done any you know!  So, I had to do some more carefully planned randomness with the colours.  Phil and Ann came round for a chat when I was in the middle of it and Ann pointed out a dark patch where there weren't any cream tiles darn it!  We all decided you wouldn't really notice later on.  When they'd gone though I thought, 'Yes, I will notice now' and so I did a bit of rearranging.  Good job the adhesive hadn't set, eh?

While we had the oven nice and hot, it seemed a waste not to use it and so we cooked our first ever meal on the woodburner.  Homemade chicken pie from the freezer, baby baked potatoes, carrots and brocolli.  I hadn't a clue how the oven settings relate to conventional settings - we had it just into Hot and I think it could have done with being a tad hotter, so that was probably Gas Mk 4 or 5.  As with the padding down the drive for a shower, it was a bit bizarre to trek back up to the caravan with a pan of veg, a tray of pie and potato and two warmed plates.  It was so nice and toasty in the house, it was a wrench to go back up to the caravan which hadn't even had the benefit of the oven being on to cook tea to warm it up.  Bob also had a shower in the house.  So, for free today we have dried the washing, been warm while we work, cooked tea and showered - not bad, eh?



First beer in the house by the fire - a taste of things to come!