Getting nowhere fast

No rush

After the intensity of a London-based work project, I decided to take a slower-paced trip back up to the Outer Hebrides this time. For me, road trips are a good way of clearing your head.

It was a good excuse to take my vintage VW camper van up with me to the Outer Hebrides. This way, getting there is very much part of the overall experience.

Driving through the highlands of Scotland always brings a smile to my face. Seeing a vintage camper van often brings a smile to other people’s faces too!

Green shoots

I came back to find the humble beginnings of my very own (unintentional) indoor garden had started in my absence.

The windows are shot. What was left of the frames, is only loosely held in place, plus the surrounding gaps just let the wind whistle in.

Temporary fixes

Talking of gaps, the front and main hall doors both have gaps that don’t particularly help keep the elements out.

I need to devise temporary solutions to remedy some of these issues before I can get new windows fitted, or these windows fall apart!

The first task is to stop the existing frames from wobbling loosely in the wall openings. Fortunately, I had plenty of wood to repurpose and use for the task.

Mind the gap

Warning, look away now! My excuse is I’d never used expanding foam before. My first attempts at using this stuff were a bit of a mess.

It looked ugly but did help secure the frames. More importantly, it reduced the draughts coming into the building itself.

Fortunately, this will get ripped out and removed when I get to the dizzy heights of having new windows fitted!

I got a bit better with practice, so by the time I got to the doors, things got a little more controlled. Anything that reduced the wind getting in was a big win for me!

Chaos reigns

Whilst it was good to be back, there was a huge amount of tedious work to be done. There was still an inordinate amount of wood to sort from when I removed all the old plasterboard and stud work.

In my eyes, the timber was too good to just skip and add to landfill waste. But to be usable, it would require effort to sort and de-nail. That then was unfortunately down to me!

This raggedy pile of wood seemed pretty daunting, especially as I didn’t at this stage know what it could be used for.

Missing motivation

Maybe if I stared at it for long enough, something would magically happen all by itself. Spoiler alert. This doesn’t work.

However, it did spark an idea for a potential use for the timber. This then gave me the motivation to begin sorting through it all.

Firstly, everything needed to have all the old nails removed. I won’t tell you how many days/weeks this process took. There must be some kind of weird therapeutic nature to the monotonous nature of doing it.

Outside ideas

There is a limit to how long you can spend pulling old nails out of timber. Doing mindless jobs does, however, give your mind a free license to roam. Well, it does for me at least.

I had been thinking about creating some kind of abstract sculptural dry stone-walled ruin. Why? To act as a sort of front door wind deflector.

This was a great excuse for a wander along the local coastline. Exploring all sorts of different stone-walled structures, walls and ruins.

Wonder wall

Normally you would just build a storm porch. However, this is my project, and quirky ideas that may or may not happen, are a fun part of the process.

Nothing wrong with a bit of design escapism once in a while just to push the boundaries of what’s possible…