…for a conversion your hands are usually tied but you’ll need to consider insulation, finishes and any remedial work.

First things first, will the walls remain or do they need to come down? I’m going to assume they will remain as afterall, this is a site about CONVERSION…

Some questions to be answered…

Will some areas of the walls need rebuilding? Will you need to underpin some sections of the walls for greater stability? Do you have cracks in the wall that will nessitate restitching or partial rebuilding?

Pointing - (mortar not fingers) will your walls need repointing? If so with what materials? You may need to research the original construction techniques and materials so that you can achieve a sympathetic result.

Insulation. Don’t forget that insulation can be placed both internally and externally in the form of render or cladding. External insulation can be a great way to avoid losing internal space.

Rendering, painting or washing. Is there any reason, cosmetic or practical that you may need to apply a covering to the wall. For example, I had the end wall of the barn rough pointed and whitewashed in a attempt to increase water tightness.

One of the main jobs that remains internally is to install doors. It actually seems a shame to put in doors and close up some of the openness of the barn at the moment, but I guess privacy and decency must prevail.

There are only five doors to be installed. All doorways are between 78 & 79 inches high and all upstairs doors are 33 inches wide with the utility room narrower at 30 inches.

So here for reference are my doorways in their pre-door state.

I was invited to a talk by Christopher Day in Cardiff so thought I’d take a look at his work to see just what he was about. Can’t say I established that fully, but I did find an very interesting article by Christopher that feeds into the research I’ve been undertaking recently into my sons bedroom. The article, Environment for Children by Christopher Day gives some useful guidence in designing an environment for small children.

I recommend that you read the article for yourself, but my summary follows:

“Childhood is, essentially, the journey of growing up [...] Small children need
protection from the wider world, whereas adults are only fully alive when engaged in it.”

Small children need:

• As “small children live in a world between fantasy and fact” they need somewhere to retreat to, somewhere not too well lit, somewhere that provides a daydream inducing twilight.
• A secret place, a calm, safe, protective place. We all remember our dens behinds settees or under cushions – a place to hide, play or simply retreat to.
• Angles, edges and regularity are for the adult world, small children need spherical, soft edged, womb like places.
• “Infants don’t think. They experience – with their whole bodies and through all their senses.”
• Touch-friendly, tactile materials in their surroundings. Natural materials such as wood, clay and stone have a tactile vibrancy and ‘life’ not found in ‘unwelcoming’ man-made materials such as concrete or plastic.

“Even in unpromising surroundings, we can create environments for children.”

These needs are best provided for in out-of-the-way places in cellars, attics or under utilised parts of the home. Children want secret territories, adult unfriendly environments.

“The reassuring substantiveness and visual softness of curvilinear cob walls, for instance, suit infants, whereas exposed timber posts’, beams’ and struts’ visually explicit logic suit teenagers’ intellectual curiosity.”

While writing an upcoming post on the subject of walls, I realised that I had never properly concluded the thread that was bubbling away through 2008 concerning what to do about the leaky, south facing gable end wall. After finding it was ‘infested’ with stalactites and stalagmites, I considered whitewashing the wall, then eventually it was bag-pointed and whitewashed. The pointing tidied up the mortar joints then the wash gave a consistent overall coating.

The evidence of this has been staring down from the header of My Barn Conversion for some months now:

From MyBarnConversion 2009

(In case it’s not obvious it is the creamy coloured end wall to the right of the building I’m referring to.)

So, did it work?

I must admit, I don’t know. The work was completed in October 2008, so has only had last years damp summer to dry-out – and it didn’t appear to do that as there have always been damp looking patches across it. I’m hopeful that this summer will be different and provide a proper opportunity to dry out. Cosmetically I really like it – the creamy undulating finish is very easy on the eye.

I’ve been considering what to do with the second bedroom in the barn. It will be my son’s room once it’s been relieved of its current duty as store room. I’ve been planning on installing a built-in-bed, both for reasons of practicality and desire. Practical because part of the construction can be used to solve my tricky carpentry challenge and desirable, because the child in all of us would like one.

I didn’t have to look far for inspiration as I favourite site of mine, Remodelista came up with the goods as it so often does – Children’s Rooms: Built-in Beds and Bunks

Here are my favourites – those from which I’ll take some inspiration:

[The photographs link to their original source where one was available.]