STURFORD MEAD

Recent Works



The 1960s wallpaper in the staircase hall was 'tired' and water damaged, so we decided to re-decorate in a plain colour, and to have the woodwork painted at the same time. When the paper was stripped off we found an amazing, and probably original, treatment of simulated ashlar work with the 'joints' picked out in white. It was not in perfect condition, but we found Wilm and Joy Huning, of Bath, who, with wonderful skill and taste, have restored both the surface and the white lining to stunning effect. As a finishing touch they have re-painted and part-gilded the iron balustrade.
These pictures show the final result, and the scaffolding erected for the removal of the paper.


A recent success has been the restoration of a small bathroom half way up the stairs. This had been created in the 1930s by installing a bath in a typically long narrow lavatory, but it hadn't been used for years. We tiled it to shoulder height, papered it to the 10 foot ceiling, moved the heated towel rail, installed a basin and bought some really nice taps. A friend stripped and polished the old loo seat and has made a mahogany box for the cistern. It looks splendid, and for half the price we were quoted!
The 'Rough Area' - always a problem - has now become the site of a Polytunnel, erected with great labour to serve as a 'hardening off' area for countless plants, raised from seed in the Greenhouse, and then pricked out in the pricking-out house, and eventually potted up in the potting-up shed.
Also in the Rough Area, a vast three-chambered compost heap has been built from telegraph poles, baulks of timber and steel mesh. This should make some use of the tonnage quantities of grass, leaves and other garden rubbish which currntly go to waste.
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