Stairs progress report

Just look at that!  The first stairs are in and I've actually been up them!  These ones are screwed down onto some blocks of wood Bob incorporated when he was building the steps.  In a few weeks, once the wood has acclimatised itself to the surroundings, we can tighten the screws and then plug the holes to cover the screw heads.  We're going to use bog oak which is almost black so contrasts the pale ash of the step.  You either make the plugs out of the same wood, line the grain up and try to hide the plugs or you make a feature of them which is what we decided to do (so much easier).

Now, here's where it all gets tricky - how do you suspend/support the ends of the steps which turn a corner and so have no wall to be attached to?  This chunky oak bracket is our solution.  We got the local blacksmith to make some chunky brackets to hang the chunky oak bracket from.  They are bolted to a joist behind the old beam you see in the picture.  Again you have to decide whether to try and hide the fixings or make a feature of them - I think these metal brackets actually look pretty good.  Just hope the joist is man enough for all this!  At the moment this all looks a bit odd because there is just this chunk of oak hanging down in the middle of nowhere with no obvious purpose in life.  Once the stairs are attached there'll be a reason for it and so it should look better.

 I finished tiling round the fireplace.  We realised that the old tiles were 6" and the new ones are 5" - oops!  5" is a really silly size as nearly everwhere sells standard 4" or 6", but Fired Earth obviously think its funny to trip people up like this!  We made up the difference with some tiny square slate tiles which actually looks fine.  We have them as a splashback behind the sink in the bathroom and also around the sink and on the window ledge in the ensuite.  They are the same (just a different shape) as the tiles on the hall and bathroom floor too, so Country Living Magazine would say they provide continuity and flow throughout the house . . . . like we planned it!! 

Well, we're off on our holidays again tomorrow.  First we are going to Scotland to see Laura at the Buddhist monastry.  I was supposed to be on a painting party with her re-painting one of the outside Buddha statues which would have been quite good fun.  In preparation for this weekend they had rubbed down the old paint, sealed it and put an acrylic base on ready to take the fresh colours.  Trouble is, the frost got to it and 'blew' all the base coat taking bits of the old paint with it.  So they are now having to strip it all back again and start over.  In some places it is back to bare concrete and so they will have to wait for that to dry out.  Oh, if only someone had thought to wrap it up to stop the frost getting to it.  Bob is booked on the tree-planting work party (they have about 2,000 deciduous trees to plant which I think is part of the programme to replace the pine trees that were planted in their millions, but have now been cut down).  So, I think I might be doing tree planting too.  On Sunday afternoon we are joining Mum and Dad who are on holiday in the Lake District for a couple of days.  I'm not holding out much hope for the weather in either place, so any dry or sun we get will be a bonus.  Last time we were in Scotland (April last year) we got sunburnt . . . . don't think there's much chance of that this time do you?