Friday, November 24, 2017

the sun room


I think I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves this week...well mostly.

I've been sitting here for the past little while scrolling up and down waiting for a first sentence to jump into my head and get me going, but I've got nothing.

This week we laid the last red brick in this section of the build, we grouted them and then washed them down. Since then I've been standing and sitting all over the room, all through the different times of the day, trying to watch the light and the shadows and the views. I am obsessively in love with this space and I still can't believe it's real and it's ours. Every time I walk out the front door I get a happy surprise and then again when I walk back in.

Every single ingredient is recycled, every bit of the build was done by Jobbo, Bren, Francis and me (if you could see the state of my grout ruined hands you'd believe it) and every single brick is perfect, except for the last one which they let me lay and by accident I banged it too hard and it's a bit lower than the rest. Oh well.

It is everything I dreamed it would be and I can hardly wait to fill it up with plants, to make more dangley macrame plant hangers and to build a chunky farm-house table and surround it with old mismatched wooden chairs.

Bring on the early morning coffees looking out over the garden, bring on reading pages of books underneath the shady table in the middle of the day, bring on homework spread out over the table, cocktails at the window bar, big dinners with family and friends filling the space, winter warmth as the low sun hits the windows and it becomes a sun-room...the list goes on.






Thanks heaps for joining us on this build so far. Next week we're continuing down the front of our house with some covered decking and who knows what else. We're pretty good at making this stuff up as we go along.

And just to keep things on track and not veer to far from my usual bog post...

I'm reading my Mum's library copy of Manhattan Beach and loving it. It's beautifully written historical fiction that keeps me up way too late at night.

I'm one and a half episodes into Jon Ronson's The Butterfly effect podcast and so far so good. Gosh I love listening to Jon's voice, and what a great story teller.

And in the tiny bit of knitting time I have during these crazy busy late spring days, I'm turning the second heel of the tree socks, I'm eating lots of strawberries as they ripen, missing our big girl who's been hiking since last Saturday, enjoying our middle girl's obsession with botanical painting and loving our youngest's garden potions and fairy rings. I'm eating lots of salads with feta and lemon juice, trying to drink enough water, contemplating buying a pair of shorts to wear to the gym, smashing the laundry basket, watching Ozark, remembering to stop and smell (and dead-head) the roses, worrying about snakes, and weeding, weeding, mowing, weeding.

I'd best be going, I'd love to mow a few rows of the orchard before it gets too hot.

Are you watching/listening/reading/growing/making anything exciting lately?
Do you have a favourite place to sit and watch the world go by?
Do you think it's crazy that we still don't have our tomatoes in?

I hope you have a wonderful weekend filled with whatever it is that makes you most happy.

See ya next week.

Love Kate x





31 comments:

  1. It's absolutely GORGEOUS. Love love love love it and want one for myself STAT x

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  2. Hi Kate. I love your sun room, the floor looks lovely. I especially like that you have used recycled materials and ,what looks like,left them rough which I love. You will feel like you have a new house. I don’t think it’s too late for planting tomatoes , says me who hasn’t planted any yet, this weather we have been having is going to last quite awhile I think. Enjoy your weekend.

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  3. Just finished a wonderful thanksgiving here on the other side of the world. Watching movies with my grown up babies and knitting hats for a friends grand kids. Enjoying the heat from the wood cook stove and the heating stove.
    Love the strawberry and love the pics of the sun room.. Here in west Virginia we have only 2kinds of poison snakes. Are they something you have a lot of worries about with 3kids in the woods? Have a great spring

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  4. Wow, another whole room to enjoy, looks terrific. Love the socks too. X

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  5. I am so having sunroom envy at the moment. It looks wonderful. Julie

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  6. What an amazingly beautiful sunroom... well done! I can imagine you doing knitting workshops with the sun streaming in and coffee brewing (2 at a time socks maybe? ;)
    xx

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  7. That room is the best!!! I want that here!! We have a huge L-shape verandah we want to close off.

    The socks, the socks.

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  8. Wow, such a beautiful space! I want one too.

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  9. What an amazing addition to your family home....I loved all the things you described for the room and the future memories that will be made....so beautiful.

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  10. Beautiful....I am imagining myself there...so very special. A bonus will be in Winter when you squeeze that very last bit of Sun out of everyday.
    Been in my happy place working in the garden albeit in the heat...now we've a coolish change rush through without much rain here to show for it...just noisy thunder and very dark clouds
    Blessings

    Alexa-asimplelife

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  11. Your sun room is fabulous. Yes, I could imagine sitting there, enjoying reading and quilting with a lovely cup of coffee. A glass of wine in the evening before eating a tasty dinner on your long guest-friendly table. Only one problem, I live rather a long way away in the UK!

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  12. Oh Kate, how stunning is your sun room!!....as with all your life's things, done with all of you in mind and love. I love reading your blog, and watching the seasons change with you all....it has got cold on the other side of the pond, here in the U.K, but can cosy down with a real fire, and knit, knit, knit...bliss. Have a great weekend sue x

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  13. We don't have our tomatoes in yet either Kate! I think they'll go in on December first. They always seem to end up being planted around then - coincides with pulling the garlic to make room, and feeling safe from late frost (though I still religiously check the weather forecast...). Enjoy the sunshine peeking through your sunroom xxx

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  14. What an absolutely beautiful space.. those socks are beautiful. You must be run off your feet this time of year. Xxoo

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  15. Perfect....love it. I love basketweave brickwork using old wirecut bricks. I have a miniscule patio in front of my rickety cottage in the same pattern. Love.
    I'm reading 'The Sound of One Hand Clapping', sewing a Quaker cross stitch in a single colour, eating falafel and salad wraps, looking forward to the Heath Ledger: A Life in Pictures exhibition, preparing for a scorched earth budget in 2018 in order to achieve some serious goals, loving watching my son spread his wings and soar, listening to him play Arcade Fire on the guitar, trimming back the garden, watering and weeding and watering and weeding and watering and weeding. Love.

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  16. Oh my gosh Kate, what a perfectly wonderful room!! Thank you for sharing your life with us!

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  17. What a beautiful room, all the more special because it is recycled everything. It is perfect and as others have said what a place to build many happy memories and enjoy the low evening sun, the early morning sun and the winter sun too. I have to say those socks are utterly beautiful - I have serious sock envy there!!! Your recommendation of the Toe up sock book made me add it to my Christmas wish list by the way. Thank you. Happy weekend to you and yours Kate. Elaine xxx

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  18. What an absolutely gorgeous space you've created. Enjoy every sip of tea, every page read, every moment relaxing in that space. <3

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  19. Oh my Kate what a Simply fabulous space and soooo versatile. You should all be so proud of yourselves it’s turned out so well. The socks are looking really good looking forward to seeing the finished articles.

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  20. All of it just gorgeous. I'm most jealous right now. Well done all of you.
    Cheers Kate

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  21. It looks absolutely stunning kate and you will enjoy it so much well done to all of you

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  22. Oh my, your sun room! It is beautiful and all the wonderful times that you wrote about how you're going to enjoy it, I can really imagine. It was fab to watch you laying the last brick over on Instagram! Amazing too and so impressive that it is made from recycled materials. I have a favourite place to sit on our sofa, where I drink lots of tea and read, knit/crochet, watch tv and sometimes write. Have a wonderful weekend lovely lady, Lucy xxxxxxxxxx

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  23. Kate, what an inspiration! Each photo is a perfect image. Excellent work, absolutely fantastic and you still have more great ideas to finish the place, I can imagine your enthusiasm, it´s a good feeling! Oh, my special place is my caravan, it's my idea of a little piece of heaven :)
    Enjoy your new room ;)

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  24. What a lovely room, you are so lucky. What a space and an achievement in building and hard work, Enjoy. Cathy x

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  25. I imagine you are all incredibly proud of your hard work and dedication to make this room come to life. Well done! Just you wait for winter, Kate. That is when I think this room will come into its own. Does it have a wood burner? I love the story of the last wonky brick! Jo

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  26. Sensational! I can picture everything you mentioned in that wonderful space. Enjoy xx

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  27. I took your advice Kate and popped over, WOW what a stunning recycled sunroom, I too would be spending hpurs out there. You all did an amazing job. Will def pop back from time to time...
    Enjoy that space,
    Cheers
    Jane.

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  28. Wow, absolutely fantastic room. I am very jealous :) I am knitting a ten stitch blanket whilst watching How I met your mother and eating Christmas cookies with a lot of tea. Happy times :)

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Thanks so much for stopping by...

I do read every single comment you leave and appreciate it very much, but I should let you know that I can be a wee bit on the useless side when replying to comments, that's just me, everyday life sometimes gets in the way....so I'll apologise now, just in case.

Kate XX

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