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Living the Dream with an Extension at Birtwistle HQ

Here at HQ we are lucky to have a workshop in the garden. It’s very presence has been brilliant for us. Making it possible to juggle freelance lives, with raising 3 children. However the roof has leaked for years and we always knew that plugging the holes would be unsustainable. What it needed was a complete overhaul, redesign and the longed for extension.

The Build

So Simon set about digging foundations for the new finishing room, simultaneously creating a huge pile of mud for the kids to play in! Well it is all about family at the end of the day. You can read more about that in my blog, A Door With a Story.

            

The Benefits

The result is small but perfectly formed. An economical ‘double denim’ styled sterling board. This new extension adds warmth, sound-proof insulation and a clean, dry space for perfect finishing. In addition to the Birtwistle production zone.

      

Previously a plethora of ‘daylight’ emitting fluorescent tubes has served very well. But nothing compares to the real thing. So the extension is fitted with some rather useful skylight windows, courtesy of 18mm clear, acrylic roof lights from the ‘waste pile’ at SXS Events. The additional soundproofing has allowed us to open the ancient boarded up window, which now sits between the two rooms.

 

     

Inaugural Extension Party

Topped off with a new sterling and one-piece rubberised EPDM roof. The whole workshop is shipshape and more importantly watertight! Ready for its inaugural 45th birthday (us, not it,) party roller disco. That’s just how we roll!                  

The knock-on effects of being able to move pieces around a much larger, cleaner environment has revolutionised the process. From design to creation and now finishing perfectly with ease and time to spare. Especially the novelty of having a wet, varnished item drying in one room whilst the angle grinder is blasting in the other! Bonafide efficiency.

Just in time too as Simon is completing his largest commission to date… 24 benches and 12 tables in beautiful chunky English ash.. But there’ll be more about those in the next blog.

It looks far smaller and neater than ever before from the outside. Our own Tardis, somehow far bigger on the inside than seems possible.