Finding Nemo... a home!

Chop chop....

It's all gone a bit Ray Mears here. With the wood burner in the breakfast room now up and running, we needed an axe to chop kindling. Enter the Gransfors Bruks Outdoor Axe, a fine specimen of an axe, don't you agree?!

 The surf dude's been busy too, chopping lots and lots of wood....

.... Christmas is going to be toasty!

The hanging of Stuart

It's not all about house renovations behind the pink door, it's also HQ for JUJU board bags, making custom board bags and other surfing accessories. This weekend's challenge, as well as cutting down trees, was a pair of straps to hang our vintage surfboard, Stuart.

We think they're rather lovely, and a little more interesting than boring old black!

STUART is getting on a bit; made in 1967 by shaper Pete 'Moony' McAllum, his days of life on the ocean are over. So we wanted to give him pride of place on the library wall.

Nestled in next to a few wave paintings and photographs by artists including Lou Abercrombie and Oddasea, we think he'll be rather at home here!

The tree surgeon & the Christmas tree

What do you get when you cross a tree surgeon with Christmas...?

What lies beneath?

Our first room to tackle is the lounge. Keen to reveal the floorboards and rid it of the faded and smelly old carpet, it felt as though the house was breathing a huge sigh of relief as we rolled it back. Groaning under the weight of the soap sodden carpet, the wood chipped walls and UPVC secondary glazing  are stopping the air from circulating.

The majority of the floorboards are OK, and luckily the original slate hearth is still in place.

Rather inevitably, we have discovered wood beetles, so more stripping back is needed. 

In pulling back the floorboards, ingenious foundations are revealed, about 3ft deep with cobble and brick walls holding up the joists . Traditionally the early Victorians built their houses with suspended timber floors over these sleeper walls; allowing the air to circulate and avoid any dampness festering.

 

Carpenter, Ben Moon, has been down in the depths spraying the floorboards and clearing out over a centuries worth of rubble. Joists have been replaced, and new floorboards will be laid where the old ones were too rotten.

With a damp proof membrane on the ground, and insulation under the floorboards, hopefully this room will feel toasty and warm, just in time for Christmas!

The journey begins...

Take one Victorian house built in 1860 with a view of the sea, add a couple of creatives with a love of surfing, and see what we create!