The opening frame

Over the past few months, while waiting on the big work to begin, we've been tinkering about what smaller projects. I'm waiting till we shovel up all the rubble before posting the rest, but this is a nice piece of work done by my wife.

Cast your mind back to an early post about the first attic level, and this room. Here's what it looked like before we bought the house (taken while standing in the door).

July 2010.

Then, in January 2011 it had been cleaned out and the lovely wall paper stripped off.

January 2011.

The wall to the left of the shot above (against which the bed rested in 2010) is a south-facing wall behind which is the roof. One of our four dormers goes there, so naturally, to use it as a window, something had to happen to the wall. As it happens, the wall is half-timbered and structural, so it's not a case of just ripping it down.

June 2011.

Pretty, isn't it? And still traces of old paint-jobs. So, a dormer is planned behind it, but we're not exactly sure will it line up with the middle section, where a door originally lead into a storage space in the eves. Plus, we want even more light! Solution, take out the wattle and daub and see. An incredible amount of clay and straw between those few beams, and quite a bit of weight.

July 2011.

But first the roof has to come off and the dormer framework has to be built.

Monday, August 8th 2011.

And how does the dormer line up? Surprisingly well! We thought we might need to shift the upright timbers a little, but it may be that we just take out the lintel between them, and hey, access to the front! The top of the dormer is higher than we expected, but the architect is OK with this and said it'll get more light in.

Today. A view through to the dormer.

Note the pile of clay and straw is gone. Most of it now coats the inside of our car...