the lived in look - part 1

Had thought that I'd blogged my last about this house....... 

but couldn't resist posting a pic of our family room fireplace on this cold and wet November evening.  

(this pic from Atlanta Bartlet was the inspiration behind my fireplace)

Not too far off track, though my setting is a tad dark and moody I know (a situation not helped either by my dodgy phone camera / photography skills).  That said I really love the reflections that cast across the walls and ceiling from our big Ikea PS Maskros (aka Dandelion) light.  

And please correct me if I'm wrong, but in my opinion there just isn't anything that can beat the dancing orange flames  of a "real" fire, when the nights turn dark and cold.

Thanks to everyone who has taken an interest in this blog and continued to email me about my house build project saga even though there haven't been any progress posts for so long ...think I've just gotten the blogging bug back!!

Recess

Focusing on the positive, thought I'd give you a snap shot of progress down at the site.  Things are still moving along, albeit at a slower pace these days.  

We have decided to to flush mount our TV's in the family room and in the seating area in the kitchen. Made to measure niches have been created in the stud work to accommodate the TV's and slim profile bracket.  

Anyone who remembers the size of our trusty old box at Butterlaw Farm, will realise they will have to be new TV's!!  Hoping that I can make the budget do magic tricks so we are able to fill the niches we've created.....

Recessed TV's

This is where the idea came from...ripped this out of a magazine ages ago, the tv will sit in between the two windows in the dining area just like this (she says confidently!)

When the internal plastering started without any windows in situ, I did think we were asking for trouble.  However, Mark my builder has been a master at keeping things progressing, which has been difficult to do when the house should have been water tight back in October.  As you can see in these pics the walls and ceilings that have been plastered have now turned an almost dried out powdery pink.

Family Room Progress

View from behind!

click on the picture to enlarge

87 days into the project and this is where we are at.....

with the Family Room

Click on picture to enlarge

Am going to put a boiler stove into the fireplace in the family room. We do like to light a fire in the evening, so it will be great to know that every time we "light up" in the new house it will be powering up the hot water for showers and underfloor heating!! The family room is semi open plan through to the kitchen and dining area, so lighting up the stove should keep all of those areas toasty in the winter....oooh am almost looking forward to the depths of winter (next year that is!)

I was going to put in one of these

a Hunter Herald Multifuel Stove with boiler

However, I'm now considering this one!

An Aquatherm Eco F34

" The Aquatherm Eco F34 stove has the sort of heat output usually associated with a utilitarian boiler designed to be hidden away in a utility room, but in a stunning contemporary wood stove. The F34 has a huge airwashed window that is 900mm wide and 540mm high. The Aquatherm Eco F34 is also well suited for use with an accumulator tank. With such a large heat output to water (24kW / 82,000 BTU) you might decide to burn the stove relatively hard and store the heat in a large accumulator tank for use when needed later on. An accumulator tank can also easily form the connection point for other heat sources in your system, solar panels for example"....

This is a bit of a beast and I love it, it is just crying out to go here.....

next up the kitchen............