not one for colour blind folk

I saw this clock from the white lounge that is made up of multi coloured spots. The description says you can see the numbers in the spots.


But if, like me, you are colourblind you won't see nawt. Andy thought this was very funny and is threatening to get one. I pointed out that I may not be able to see the numbers - but I can see the hands of the clock so can tell the time fine. Not that it will help me be ready on time in the morning anyway...

site visit - hard hats and bright yellow jackets!

Yes, the jackets are so bright the flash goes a bit crazy...

We had a good meeting with the architects (Bobby and Ally) doing the conversion to finalise our floor plans this weekend and we got to have a site visit.

We haven't made major changes to the plans but we have changed where a bedroom door is, decided where to place the utility and WC on the 1st floor and agreed how we want the stairs to be. Although we weren't moving entire walls we have come to realise how important even small changes can be. The plans there are now for the stairs have solved a couple of concerns we had on the 1st floor around layout and we can imagine a much more flexible space.


The front door...

But - the site visit! This in many ways is the most exciting bit - getting to see your house progress. The last time we saw the site the church was really in darkness as all the windows were boarded up and the church was just a stone shell. The drains and concrete floor are now in and the timber framing is going up - in the back house first so ours hasn't started yet but it gave us an idea of how it will look. We could also see where the party wall will be which gave us a much better sense of the space.


This pic shows the front door and the Bed 1 and Bed 2 windows.

On Saturday Bobby took us round and explained the insultation he is using, how the timber frame is constructed and the plans for ensuring the beautiful church windows are fully incorporated into our house.

It was much lighter inside this time and so we could really get a better look at our space. On the plans you begin to think the space is small - but putting people inside up against the trusses and arches and you get a real sense of the house. And the double height space is going to be amazing.


Bobby also showed us one of the church hall houses which is about a month ahead - they have their plasterboard going up. This also meant we could see how the walls can house built in cisterns and the wee inset shelves I would like to have in the bathroom.

We also took a look at the garden space. Last time we thought it was pretty tiny and woudl probably only take a wee set of 2 seats and a small table - but seeing it now it looks much bigger - definitely room for some large troughs of herbs and flowers and some decent garden furniture. We will be going for slabs though - we are learning in our current place that we like sitting in the garden but not so much the gardening itself - time poor and not especially green fingered - so a patio style garden is probably best for us.

We came away with a much better visual for how the house will develop and the spaces we have for the rooms. In about 3 weeks time our partitions go up - so we will be back to see the plans become actual walls and rooms.

my dream kitchen

So despite the lack of posting lots has been going on with the project and with selling our own house. The past month I have been having meetings with our kitchen designer, Mark, at Selan Design in Broughty Ferry. We went round three companies but Selan really stood out for us. The customer service so far has been excellent and Mark has been great at talking us through all of the options, finding out how and how much we use our kitchen and generally being the kind of designer we were hoping for.

I started off with the idea of having a 6 burner range and stand alone kitchen furniture. I had quite a fixed idea of what I wanted. However, having gone round several show rooms, and spending time thinking through how we wanted our open plan living space to be, we both realised we wanted something quite different.

We have busy lives and so need a kitchen that is hard working but very easy to keep clean and tidy. We also thought that as the 1st floor is entirely open, and we won't have a fire, the kitchen could and for us should be the main focal point. This led us to look more at a statement design for our kitchen and to go for something very sleek, modern and simple. The simplicity is important, because we also want, in other parts of the house, to reflect the history of the building. This means the kitchen needs to marry modern and sleek with the ability to blend in with historical features.


The design isn't quite finished yet but the pics show roughly what we are thinking of. What is definite is that we will have an island, a breakfast bar, and a full wall of cabinetry with fitted ovens. We think we will go for Miele for the hob/oven and Siemens for the white goods.

This pic is one of their show kitchens and not exactly like ours - but gives an idea of the back wall.


We have also changed our floor plan - the stairs are now more of a spiral - to extend the living space right to the back wall on one side. We haven't quite decided which bit to be sofa/chill out area and which bit to be the dining table. There will be lots of discussions no doubt to be had on that.


I will post more about the individual details of the kitchen - I am very pleased with the route we have gone down re appliances and have even given up my range idea in favour of an induction hob with funky down draft extractor. Believe me, I can bore for Britain now on induction hobs!

The main thing though that tells me we are developing the right design is how excited we are both getting about our kitchen. In my current kitchen now I can't help but think how it will be in the new house compared to how we are now. Being able to imagine how our kitchen tells me I am on the right track.

a wee walk

I was off work a couple of weeks ago because my M.E. and Lupus had flared up. When this happens my main thing is to sleep a lot and work up to being able to walk a couple of miles. Just a stroll, but if I can walk to the village and back then I know I am getting better. It took me to the second week before I managed it but when I did it was lovely weather and I was in shorts and t-shirt.

The walk I do to get myself back on track is up through the university campus, through Mine Wood and up to the village. It is a good walk for recovery because there are several places you can stop and several places where it is easy to turn around. You are never far away from the bus route so there is a get out if the fatigue kicks in.

I start off walking through the campus - there is a lovely walk around the duck pond and if I have some bread around the house they get a wee snack.




From the edge of campus I can just see the riding school (white building) and the edge of Mine Wood.


When you get up towards the riding school there is a wee bench that is an absolute sun trap and is a welcome break from the steep road.



From the edge of Mine Wood you can see out across to the Wallace Monument and also across the village and out to the Ochils. My house is just below the Monument so I like this view as it makes me feel I have done a fair bit of walking by this point.


There are two walks you can do through Mine Wood - they both bring you out roughly at the same place but the lower walk is easier and downhill most of the way. The upper walk takes longer and is steeper. It goes up and round the back of the back of the woods. On the longer walk there is a big uprooted tree - good for a wee pause to catch your breath.


They bring you out at the back of the village and you follow the walk down through to the river and the back of the local chippie.

I then have two choices - if it is a very nice day I get a takeaway picnic lunch from the deli and sit by the river. If it is nice but not quite picnic weather I go and get the artichoke, feta and beetroot salad from Clive Ramsays and sit in their wee outdoor bit.

Then it's the walk back along - I am usually pretty exhausted by this point so instead of trekking back through the wood I walk through the village along the main road.

I managed this walk three times before I went back to work and on the last walk I did the upper version so treated myself to an icecream from Corrieri's as a reward - not sure that's on the healthy eating list...

home made lamb sausages in prosciutto

On Saturdays we allow ourselves a bit of a lie in after a week of 0630 starts and take in a bit of Saturday Kitchen - yes, our life is just too exciting. But sometimes there are good recipes or ideas to try out for Saturday dinner. A few weeks ago Tana Ramsay was on - much nicer than Gordon - and she did a recipe for home made lamb sausages. Being half asleep I didn't quite catch everything so when we did our shopping I kind of had to wing it. Here is the recipe I did but if you want the proper one it is on the BBC website.

Makes 12 small sausages or six big. The 12 small means you can split it out over a couple of nights.

Ingredients

for the sausages

500g of lamb mince
couple of tablespoons of breadcrumbs
red onion finely chopped
2 tbsp of cumin
1 tbsp ground coriander
pepper to season
beaten egg
12 slices of prosciutto

for the salad

spinach and rocket leaves
cherry tomatoes cut in half
warmed broad beans
squeeze of lemon juice, half a tsp wholegrain mustard and glug of olive oil mixed for dressing

for the potatoes - this makes my recipe much less healthier than Tana's but Andy loves these potatoes

baby potatoes, cut in half and boiled until just done
olive oil
garlic

Method

for the sausages

mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl
mix in the egg
roll into 12 wee balls - wet hands first to prevent sticking


pat the balls into wee sausage shapes and then wrap around the prosciutto
place in a well greased baking tray
cook in an oven preheated to gas mark 6 for about 20-30 minutes (my oven isn't great so adjust heat down a bit if you have a fan oven)



for the salad

mix the salad dressing ingredients while heating the broad beans through in a pan
mix ingrediants together!
I quite liked some shavings of parmesan

for the potatoes

heat enough olive oil to reach half way up the potatoes
pop in some cloves of garlic and allow to cook gently
remove garlic as oil begins to sizzle - you can check the heat by testing a potatoe
add potatoes cut side down and fry for 10-15 minutes
turn over to the skin side and fry for 10 mins

For a healthier alternative, boil the potatoes until done and while still warm mix with a tablespoon of pesto.

This was a good dinner to have outside in the garden when its not quite fully salad weather but you don't want a steak pie or something heavy. It was very nice with a cheeky glass of wine!!

the project

We both wanted to know a bit more about the church we will be living in - fingers crossed - and so being stuck at home I did a bit of internet searching. I thought it strange for a church to be called 'Chalmers Church' - I associate churches with saint's names or a more religious sounding moniker. It turns out it was called Chalmers Memorial Church (a free church) and was built circa 1854 but I haven't discovered yet who Chalmers was.

I have found a picture of the inside of the church as it used to be -


I got this from the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments in Scotland website. They seem to have lots of pictures but only let people download this one from their site. The others you have to order - although you can't see what you are ordering. It also looks like the RCAHMS holds an unpblished leaflet (Bowden, J (2003) History of Chalmers Church 160 years: 1844-2003, Unpublished Pamphlet)on the church that might be worth a look. So it may be a wee visit to the RCAHMS will be the way to find out more.

If you look on the right hand side of the picture, the door you can just see will be our front door.

The Church was designed by W.H., J.W. & J. Hay, Architects, of Liverpool and is described as a Middle Pointed Gothic style church. The pointed spire is 108ft in height and it was erected at a cost of #2,500 with seating for 800 people. This is how the church is described in The Building Chronicle, 1856.

I also found an article in the Glasgow Herald, 20th May, 1940 which reports on the dedication of the organ screen.



The church closed and merged with Bridge of Allan Parish Church (Church of Scotland)in 2004. Bridge of Allan Parish Church is notable for some its internal fittings, which were designed by Charles Rennie Macintosh in 1904. And, with a bit more searching, I found the schedule for selling the church in 2006 which included this photo -


The church was originally for lease/sale as offices - I am glad that instead it is going to be houses!

alternative to wallpaper

I have already posted about wall stickers or decals - here are some more that I like from Supernice.

This one would be good for a utility or laundry room...


This one I like for the diving theme...maybe for a bathroom or a store room for our dive kit...

And this one is a design I think would look good in a lounge area...