And now for something completely different

We are beginning a brand new project. 

Can you guess.  We are still in the planning stages. I will need your help. 

I am sure we will manage to make a great big mess first. 

Yes. It is a building project.  My first big building project was the large deep Kiwi  verandah on the West side. The second one was taking out the ceiling in the living room to incorporate the attic into a loft study and extra bedroom. 

The third one was the converting part of my basement into a large cellar that is filling with food for the winter.

This one is even grander. A Gingerbread House,  in the garden,  as a retirement home for The Matriarch.  A perfect little self contained miniature home linked to the main house with a glass corridor. All I have so far is a complete vision in my head, a couple of drawings and some paint  and sticks on the lawn. 

We will build it right here under the cherry tree.

Naturally it will be built using recycled materials, clever use of angles and windows to maximise the sun or shade, environmentally friendly principles, perfect balance and in a form that will allow it to blend with the house and tuck in under the existing trees.   It will be well appointed and quite quite beautiful.  It will be light, with high spaces above the head, and interesting windows framing her favourite views. There will be a deep loggia so she can sit outside in the rain or watch the sun go down with a glass of wine and company. And a verandah out to the East for sunrises.

It will have a tiny kitchenette with a beautiful hand thrown pottery basin and  a window that opens to the loggia. There will be an inside bathroom and washhouse with an extra outside barn door onto the deck for summer accessibility. The small double bedroom will have a Japanese screen door and I am eyeing the floor of an old abandoned schoolhouse down the road. The main room will be two stories high with a tiny loft for her young visitors,  high windows to catch winter sun and a wall full of her books as high as the loft floor. A ladder will access the loft and the books.  She will not be alone you see. Her grandchildren and their friends will flock to their favourite Nan in her  Wendy house so close to the pool.

There will be a sitting area that has tall windows out to her North/ East courtyard for the morning telephone conversations and late Television watching.

I am still working on where to put the writing desk with her computer.

Everything will be on one level, and joined to the house through a glass corridor that will double as a glass house in the spring, with room for a lovely comfy chair for sitting in the spring sun.

The Matriarch is not old enough to step into that calm period of her life yet, but she is planning ahead. Until she moves in, it will be the perfect guest house for the summer people! A writers retreat or a farm stay cottage.  

My new fire hydrant, Madonna eat your heart out.

Good morning. So here is our homework. I would love you all to put your thinking caps on. At the moment the area is 18 foot square.  Once you take out the loggia you have a very small space. We need to work very hard on maximising the space without losing the grace in the lines. Remember light and air! This has always been my mantra when working with a building. I am sure that you have come across some fantastic space saving techniques. I would love to hear about them.

Although The Matriarch is paying for her little house with money that is returning to her purse soon, after a long stay in the hills, we still need to be very careful about the cost. But budget does not have to be ugly.

This weekend The Tall Teenager known now as Triple T Sid and I, are going to build a cardboard model of the Gingerbread House Project.  He likes to work in miniature. I will show it to you. I can show it to my builder next week.  And I will show it to the junk yard man whose property I will be combing for materials.

Have a lovely day. I had better get a wriggle on and start mine! Daisy is calling.  Life is so exciting.

celi

On this day a year ago. introducing the worm farm.