We completed the fencing around the shed in November – the gate latches and catches are all in place. It will certainly be an improvement when the field next gets residents. After much trial and error and eventually giving up only to find it was fixed, I got the satellite dish back into action.

The tile-topped boxing-in in the bathroom (wooden frames, with painted sides and a slate and mosaic tiled top) has stalled. I’ve built all the constituent parts and I now just need to get the impetus up to assemble and finish. The reason for my distraction has been my deviation to the world of wood…

I’ve already written quite alot about my fledgling forays into carpentry. Suffice to say that my first project was to build some shelving to fit in the under-the-stairs area and that came out pretty well even if I do say so myself – under the stairs shelves. The second project, started in the last couple of weeks of the month has been to box in the thermal store and build a cabin bed in the second bedroom. I’ve drawn up plans and made pretty good progress having made a start on the base of the bed and the two large frames that will form the ends of the cabin bed. More on this soon…

So with the ability to build shelves firmly under my wing (or rather under my stairs) I started on my second carpentry challenge, to – Box in the thermal store and build a cabin bed in the second bedroom. Basically, to enclose everything on the other side of the internal door shown on this photograph…

From Barn Conversion 2011

This is a much more involved job than my simple shelves. As I’ve previously described it “The cabin bed will run along the length of wall … with wardrobe doors on the left to allow access to the tank then the entrance to the bed to the right of that … the header tank that sits above the door and the poor positioning of the roof-light in relation to the main tank are going to make boxing in tidily very challenging“. In effect I’m boxing in the whole of one wall – full height cupboards on the left and a raised cabin bed with shelves underneath to the right.

I thought plans were in order but nothing too complex as I was bearing in mind this quotation…

“It took more brain to put it together than to invent it, I allow.”

Robert, page 106, The Worm Forgives The Plough, John Stewart Collis.

…I knew I didn’t want to over-plan or over-design. The devil was always going to be in detail with this build. So I measured extensively and drew up my plans, always bearing in mind that the hard work was yet to come.

The main plans, on the right page of the first photograph below are the most important as they layout the full face of the cupboards and bed. The rest are my various scribblings, workings and notes.

From Barn Conversion 2011

From Barn Conversion 2011

The main structure will be built with 4×2 timber sourced from a local building supplier – better quality and cheaper than the usual DIY stores. There is some variance in the size of the wood, it’s somewhere around 44mm by 96mm give or take a milimetre or two. But there’s a good mix and it’s pretty easy to marry up similarly sized pieces – I’ll double-up the timbers in the main structure for added strength.

I also ordered shaker style doors, (a full height pair to enclose the thermal store and a smaller pair for under the cabin bed) from this company – Doors Sincerely. They are due to be delivered today so more on them shortly.

The cabin bed will be built as one piece. A solid rectangular box with a sloping top to allow for the sloping roof. Cupboard doors on a basic frame will hide away the thermal store. I then need to think of a clever way to bring the two together semi-permanently – to make it look like a single unit across the whole of one side of the room, whilst retaining the ability to move the bed out of the way to allow full access to the thermal store and associated equipment. That’s where I get into “It took more brain to put it together than to invent it” thinking.

I’ve posted before and after pictures for the second bedroom previously, but I’m considering the boxing-in of the water tank and building of a cabin bed as a second phase of development in its own right.

From Barn Conversion 2011

From Barn Conversion 2011

I’m afraid that it’s pretty messy in there as it’s still being used as a dumping ground. The cabin bed will run along the length of wall shown in the second photograph with wardrobe doors on the left to allow access to the tank then the entrance to the bed to the right of that, about where the chequered throw covered box is now. As you can see, the header tank that sits above the door and the poor positioning of the roof-light in relation to the main tank are going to make boxing in tidily very challenging…

After my post about lots of befores made up of pictures of locations before I started work on them here’s another after…

This photograph is a bit of a cheat… I’m really pleased with the second bedroom now that it’s been painted and had an oak floor and a radiator cover fitted, BUT it’s virtually impossible to take a photograph that does it justice. The shape of the room doesn’t help, the light in the room doesn’t help and the straight lines of the flue, window, radiator cover and curtain rail throw an odd angle or strange perspective into every picture I’ve taken. So, I present a slightly cheaty, mean and moody, edited ‘slice’ of the second bedroom.

The next job in this room is to build the cabin bed that I’ve promised my son. I’ve just had a couple of carpentry and joinery books delivered from Amazon to supplement the old school text book that I found in my fathers house. A couple of jobs to finish and I really need to learn how to use my electric router before I can start.

Second Bedroom

BEFORE

From Barn Conversion 2011

From Barn Conversion 2011

AFTER

From Barn Conversion 2011

I was at Rounded Developments last week for a meeting and a big bag of sheeps wool insulation was cluttering the place up. It was a cancelled order that was now looking for a home and fortunately I have a home for it. I have two ‘boxing-in’ projects to complete.

From Barn Conversion 2010

The first is around the manifold and associated gadgetry for the underfloor heating that currently hums away and looks very hi-tech under the stairs, the second is a larger project, to build a cabinet around the thermal store and all its associated gadgetry. The thermal store boxing-in will extend across the width of the second bedroom and incorporate a cabin or built in bed as I’ve discussed previously.

Under the stairs it’s mainly about muffling the sound of the pumps, whilst the thermal store / cabin bed project is a whole lot more complex, with the insulation needed for both sound-proofing and stopping the thermal store from over-heating the cabin and bedroom.

I’d always planned to use sheeps wool for this – I like the idea of the cabin bed being surrounded by nice, warm, natural sheeps wool rather than anything more artificial and harsh.

So far I’m pleased with the sheeps wool as a product – soft and with a pleasant smell, it seems to be just what I’m after. Not sure that the sound insulation will be like and it’s pricey (I haven’t paid for it yet so I’m not entirely sure what it costs) but I’m looking forward to working with it – a job for the forthcoming wet and dark post-pointing days…