Roof-work, kitchens and sculleries

Can you spot the man on the roof?

Now there’s a good picture for proportion! Doesn’t he look tiny? He’s replaced eight broken roof tiles and repaired cracks on the chimneys. Fortunately the roof is in quite good condition.

What he was doing when I took the picture was fitting a chimney cap on that particular one because it’s the one that goes down to the newly installed wood-burning stove (in the study.)

I love how the doors align and you can see right through to that back wall which is covered in ivy.

The kitchen has arrived in a ton of boxes which are all in the hall. The fitters start work on Tuesday. For some reason they need a whole week to do it. Having that done will be a relief. Using a 1927 kitchen which had been conceived for servants isn’t the most convenient experience. The way it was originally designed is you get to the kitchen by going through the fine scullery. It has cabinets from floor to ceiling and its own sink. This area was used to keep porcelain, silver and other tableware.

It’s also where the scullery maid would wash the dishes. Then comes the actual kitchen which had furniture, open shelves, and a few cabinets- and the cooker and oven.

 

And then finally the other scullery, where pots and pans were kept and washed, probably by a different maid.

The pots/pans scullery is becoming a laundry room. The fine scullery is losing its sink (a wine rack is going in its place), and we’re keeping the cabinets for their original use. The kitchen itself is going to be contemporary, but with curved cabinets to match the art-deco ones in the scullery. By next week Friday we’ll have the after pictures. That’ll be two rooms mostly done, not yet refined, but functional. In the study all we need furniture-wise is a coffee table, then curtains, but that can wait. That’ll be three rooms done-ish! I also got furniture for one of the guest bedrooms. A 19th century wrought iron and brass bed, and two chinese side tables with mother of pearl inlay, also 19th century.

Some days I feel terribly overwhelmed. Furnishing and decorating a house like this is a daunting task. Some days, like today, I just need to stop and do nothing at all because my head is spinning. Other times I’m paralysed by the fear I’m doing it all wrong. Then Mike says stop overthinking every little thing and that tends to be enough to get me back on track. Anyway, we’ve only been here for six weeks, so it’s a decent amount of progress, I think.

 

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