My Barn Conversion … musings in small-house, off-grid, architecture, design with smatterings of art, history and literature

Whilst the interiors of this barn conversion in Austria are a little too coldly architectural for my liking, I love this external wall. It evokes a favourite Roger Deakin quote. (It’s also a bit daft that it’s the north facade of the building as the logs will get no sun on them to aid in…

Update on building progress during December 2010… Snow, snow, snow…

Lime Pointing Tips As I near the end of my repointing opus magnum I feel a little more qualified to advise on pointing with lime mortar than on most of the subjects I blather on about on this blog. So here’s my take on all things lime mortar related – others may have differing guidelines…

“Oh the weather outside is frightful…” …never seen so much snow, but Christmas is here at last… From Barn Conversion 2010 Have a delightful one…

Lime Pointing Tips As I near the end of my repointing opus magnum I feel a little more qualified to advise on pointing with lime mortar than on most of the subjects I blather on about on this blog. So here’s my take on all things lime mortar related – others may have differing guidelines…

I have a very small amount of slate roofing to do and I was very pleased to come across a website that contains some great data-sheets on how to go about roofing with slates >> Welsh Slate.com In their own words: “Welsh//Slate based in North Wales is the worlds leading manufacturer of high quality roofing…

Update on building progress during November 2010… Pointing nearly finished but driven back inside by the inclement weather…

I visited the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) again recently and I wanted to share the impression it made on me as I came away a little bit disappointed. From Travel I first visited CAT back in 2006 before I had ventured very far into the world of construction or conversion. I was still bright…

Last Friday the 26th November it snowed like mad – 3 or 4 inches fell in just over an hour. Took me an hour and a half to complete a 7 mile journey and I gave a lift in the car to two separate groups of snow-bound refugees. Needless to say I didn’t get much…

I’ve made 299 posts before this one on MyBarnConversion.com, so I thought I’d take some time out and see how I got here while writing the 300th… The first post was made on the 28th June 2006. Since I started monitoring traffic to the site on the 6th April 2007 there have been 113,473 Visits…

I’ve been itching get started on sorting out the garden and beds at both the front and back of the barn all summer. So, when we arrived at the barn last Saturday to find S digging a ditch along the drive with a digger and with the offer of starting on our garden there seemed…

We invested a lot of money in wood when converting the barn. The stairs, doors and window frames have all been pricey items. Each involved a number of decisions – hardwood or softwood, oak or pine, painted or treated, natural or stained … Suffice to say that the decision made was rarely on the side…