the daydream fund challenge thread

lostinrates

grr..my little blue egg layer is missing. One egg laid....makes her an expensive loss as well as a sad one.

Davesnave

With the farmhouse in mid Wales we were keen on before our own sale fell through, there was a barn attached. The old couple had been smart enough to get outline plans drawn & passed for this to be incorporated into the house. There were a couple of bedrooms reached by their own staircase + a bathroom between, and downstairs an extra large reception and a 'garden room.' The idea was to get the building work done, have the extension signed off and then have the builders back to change the garden room into a kitchen.

Here's the exterior plan:



The aim was to have a non-separately rated and flexible annex. I don't know if this plan would have worked, as we didn't get any further along the road to buying it.

rozeepozee

I'm excited about being able to post some plans hopefully sometime soon. Does anyone have any thoughts on how to make a rather ugly bungalow more attractive

lostinrates

rozeepozee wrote: »

I'm excited about being able to post some plans hopefully sometime soon. Does anyone have any thoughts on how to make a rather ugly bungalow more attractive

yes, I think about this a lot because I think they are hidden gems with SUCH potential. I woudn't fight its bungalow-ness, or go a half way house measure like faux shutters, but I'd personally go full out hobbit or hansel and gretel

A friend covered her bungalow in shiplap....or something more substantial than the garden fence style and turn hers into a woodcutters cottage, and its really quite pretty after my mother and I planted roses etc over it. there are some beautiful old bungalows that people ignore. I know someone (wh would get on brilliantly with Alfie) who lived in a bunglow in the woods with stable doors and honestly, it looked organic and beautiful, and was built in the 20s/thirties, and the duchy f cornwall owned one in an unloved market town in somerset that I hold is one of the prettiest houses let alone chalet bungalows ever.

planting/garden helps HUGELY. my parents rather ugly house (that looks fro th bottom of the hill its on like a bungalow) is covered with roses and clematis so just the windows peep out.....with a less modern roof it would be gorgeous.:)

alfie_1

rhiwfield wrote: »

Making the logical leap from horse manure to elephants (and having a singular lack of refurb/self build experience) I'd just like to let you know that Snowy the mahout is beginning to prepare his elephant's crimbo pressie

Hmmm, memo to me, clean stove glass and dust

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: brilliant !!:T

alfie_1

evening all
WHEN i used to do garden maintenance and planning, i was asked to transform a REALLY ugly,expensive house which was a real "footballers" place ! i couldnt believe for over £million the architect had little or no talent whatsoever !!.........
difficult to describe but try to read on .....
as you looked at the house a path [aprox 6' wide] abutted all the walls. as the bricks met path it looked blank and depressing. the lawn met this path so i dug out a very long border at edge of lawn /path. i put in a box hedge which would not [future hopes!] exceed 2' high and a foot wide when clipped thus as the eye looked at the house it gave the impression the "green" was at house edge thus softening the line. i then put in taller box on ends of line where path came away from the house edge. these where shaped conically so it was not too "straight lines".continuing this theme down the sides of the drive. now box is not cheap but depending on size they can be bulk purchased if you present yourselves to a nursery wholesaler and "do a deal" easy to maintain and look so nice. .i then used big pots along the path [didnt want to start digging holes abutting the house...damp] against the wall with roses,climbers,ornamental grasses etc....all very hardy as under the eaves possibly not getting as much of rain . i then put jap acers in the lawn to break it up but leaving the lawns as were in this case. with a very simple non invasive way.
ROZEE you have to stand back and look at the bungalow from where others would, not necesarily from the front door !.. i would [judging from memory by the pics i saw], possibly use the left hand side approaching the trees as a wild flower area...and if u keep the wall ? at the front that would suit rambling roses on the inside thus draping over the wall to the roadside.

the new owners where delighted with thier altered garden as it was low maintenance yet gave it a grand smart look, with color all year round. this was purely to the front of this house.

just had an alf thought ...you could always start a topiary kookaburrah on the lawn !!!!

Davesnave

I've no problem with bungalows at all, and if rozee thinks hers is ugly, she should see ours! :rotfl:

No hobbits or H&G for me. All I want is a pleasant looking place with one interesting or distinctive feature. However, the first architect we went to gave us this:



and we thought, "Hmmm..... Bland!" (sorry piccie is a bit wonky - done in hurry. Now a bit straighter!!!)

So, we are trying another architect to see if he has an interesting idea in his head. If he has, then we may be able to make it two.

The first architect was competent and mindful of the budget, but what he produced, inside and out, wasn't much different from what we'd already done ourselves.

alfie_1

lostinrates wrote: »

grr..my little blue egg layer is missing. One egg laid....makes her an expensive loss as well as a sad one.

oooooo wonder where shes gone mind you,last week, i did think we'd lost one of "yours" and i found her tucked up in the corner of the spare stable [4ft height of half door to clear !] between the bales of woodshavings on the spilt having layed eggs and starting to "sit" !! DECEMBER !!:eek: maybe your little blue has done same ???:)

lostinrates

alfie_1 wrote: »

oooooo wonder where shes gone mind you,last week, i did think we'd lost one of "yours" and i found her tucked up in the corner of the spare stable [4ft height of half door to clear !] between the bales of woodshavings on the spilt having layed eggs and starting to "sit" !! DECEMBER !!:eek: maybe your little blue has done same ???:)

not impossible, the egg I found of hers she was unwilling to leave doing a little dance near it. She might have felt pocessive. They are flighty birds: I haven't really ''bonded'' with them as people, but she is/was VERY pretty. I'm also very taken with the sicilian buttercup. Totally wild mind you, but flies about the place like a garden bird.... problem with both breeds is small, so possibly taken by a feral cat...

alfie_1

aaahhhh...she may turn up yet in which case you can tell her off sternly....:D