Shingles

We were on site Thursday and the cladding on the front of the house was nearly finished. Most exciting though was the shingles being hung on the two straight sides of the house (boarding on the gable ends, shingles on the sides). It's all looking rather fabulous in my opinion.

The boarding will all be painted but the shingles will stay untreated and should weather to a pleasant grey colour. I talked in an earlier post about the paint mix. This greenish colour was pinched from university building in Cambridge. We got the paint details and instructions for the finish (which involved several coats) but failed to note that the paint is meant to be 'one coat' only - designed to show the grain of the wood through the colour. The effect on the main boarded areas is lovely but we used the white that formed part of the colour mix on the window surrounds and soffits/facias etc and a washed out look is not so good here. It proved difficult to apply extra coats as it's only designed for one coat (not helped by very cold conditions) so we still need to sort out a decent solid colour for the white areas. 

Peeking out of the study oriel window (upstairs bay). They make an interesting alcove in the room and have small side lights only so we can get some light, but not overlook the lawn at number 1. Outside you can see the shingles being hung and further along the master bedroom oriel.

The offset angle of the two sides of the house make an interesting view from the master bedroom through to the bedroom on the other side of the landing (and in the other direction).