The fireplace wall is now insulated and boarded, and we’re ready to build the alcoves.  I suppose this is as good a time as any to make a confession: I thought we’d find alcoves that had been boarded up in the wall.  Our house is a very old house, from 1906.  On our street there are two or three other houses that are built using the same design as ours.  Two of these have been split to make smaller houses, so it’s hard to tell which ones have original features or not.  When we go for walks down the street, sometimes you can peep in through the windows to see how things look, and I would have bet good money that one of the other houses has alcoves on either side of the fireplace.  It’s not an unusual thing to find in old houses.  We know there’s a chimney and it would have been a real fire originally.  Alcoves are a normal thing to see, and were often boarded up in the 30’s and 40’s as unfashionable.

Well, when the wall came down, there were no alcoves, and I was deeply disappointed.  For all of 2 minutes.  Because I have a vision for this room that includes alcoves, so why couldn’t I BUILD alcoves?!  And that’s exactly what we’re doing.  The fire will come out a bit further and I’ll have an alcove on either side.  I’ve sourced Ikea cabinets that will fit inside, and they’ll have oak shelves the same as the desk.  It’ll all work.  My lovely builder says it can happen, so it will happen.  These photos show the wood going in to build the alcoves, and we’ve agreed the heights so the wiring for the lights can be positioned correctly.

Oh, and remember that shoogly wall beside the window?  That’s been all sorted now, and looks fab!  The guys can even stand on it to open and close the windows now, which believe you me they certainly couldn’t do before!