Let me ask you a question

How far through time does the style and decor of one period of what we loosely think of as ‘history’ flow into the general run of ongoing ‘time’ do you think? In this speeded-up all change, make-over century it’s getting hard to judge, particularly as fairly recent styles keep coming round again.

My memories of the 50s include visiting houses with an odd room or more that, with the possible exception of a TV bought in especially for the Coronation, must have been much the same as thirty to forty years before. Crowded into one living space would be all the paraphernalia of day-to-day living with a small scullery/kitchen off one corner. The front room, if there was one, was not for living in, oh, no. That was special, for visitors and funerals.

These remembered living spaces often had a velour style bobbled or fringe edged tablecloth, sometimes laid over what I knew then as ‘American cloth‘ protecting the table surface, over which as a third layer, a more delicate cloth (ecru and hand embroidered) would be spread so we (my friend Susan and me) could have a sandwich and a cup of milk at her Granny’s. There were old photos, large and small, standing on lace doilies on cupboard surfaces and mantle, the larger images hanging high up from a picture rail, but with the top of the frame leaning forward into the room so that the image was looking down on you – all very much from a Victorian/Edwardian style of decor. And of course a full cooking range, even when the scullery may have had a three ring gas cooker as well.

Am determined to start putting into 3D these memories and bits of research but I do seem to have over-egged the pudding a little as have gone about buying in mini stuff to dress this as yet invisible construction as if tomorrow was the deadline – no morbid puns intended. Never gone about any of the previous builds quite this way round before, though have started a build from one object used as a starting point. This time I seem to be buying in like Christmas will never come again! At present am plodding through the mishmash of planning and sorting all the incoming goodies while trying not to get lost in the maze. Lots of boxes sorted into types of things such as chairs, beds, kitchenalia; and all heavily labelled!

Real start point?
Three attempts at juggling staircases

Been having a go at working out how small I can make this would be model generally.

Aims

1. to build two small attached dwellings with a main living space on ground floor and sleeping space above – no front room

one house for older working couple
He’s been in the merchant marine travelling the world, she stayed at home looking after now grown up children, working in a small tobacconists and collecting the objects her husband brought from around the world. They moved here when he left the sea, the house provided for his current job as a machines supervisor in the local mill, while she does dressmaking and mending.

: Early C20 tobacco merchandiser bought by us back in about 1980, now lives in our kitchen.
An offering of a more interesting photo than mini workings so far 🙂

one house with a young family crowded into the same sized space
The father works in the mill and the mother takes in washing (possibly).

2. to include shared outdoor lavatory, washhouse, individual coal sheds, veg and flower growing spaces while making the whole ensemble as small as possible

Challenges – always look for the challenges
Size:

A. How small can I go with a house footprint and still get the feeling that I remember from those early childhood visits that everything but everything to do with one person’s life, family and memories is crowded into the one room?

Where to put the stairs, how much room will they ‘eat’ up?
- Can only think of two possible positions for them which will leave the most flat wall space for furniture, range etc
  - along the gable wall, running from an outer wall in towards the centre so get the ridge height over the top of the stairs
  - parallel with one of the other outer walls but have the head of the stairs emerge below a dormer window
- Decided to go with building towards the ridge as the simplest

B. Next ‘up’ how short can I make the stairs?

—~—

Possible answer in another memory

When we first came to the north-east we visited lots and lots of places, looking for somewhere small to renovate – at that time around here in the Borders that mostly meant estate workers’ houses that were being sold off and most of these were late Georgian to Edwardian with some, like the one we now live in, are much older still.

One Victorian/Edwardian house in particular, over the border, had a set of stairs crowded into the corner of the living space. The enclosed staircase was so narrow and steep it was a hands and feet climb. It had a turn at the foot and at the head with a very short run of four or five steps in between. How anyone in a long skirt ever climbed them I can’t imagine. As a style and neatly packed away staircase it might prove a place to start building.

First construction challenge after a rough plan of the build is to make a matching (mirrored) pair of short, narrow, bendy, steep steps, so can then work out how much living space they will take up, hopefully still leaving enough space into which a cooking range, dresser of some description, table, chairs, doors, windows, possibly even a small bed can be squeezed. Failing that it’s back to the drawing board.

Had thought of building the pair of homes more like a two storey tenement with shared stairs and alley way between the two but shelved the idea for the moment to see how this works out.

: Very much would-be plans, heavily rubbed out as the lav and coal sheds move around and the stairs shift from place to place

: The footprint of a stair unit needs to be as small as possible with plenty of space under the slope. Full-size wallpaper sponge-drag pianted with brown to make some sort of panelling

: Decoration won’t show when unit closed and there’s no house yet for it to go in but here are a mirrored pair of stair units, one for each small house.

Making bottom stairs and a run of three steps thereafter and the three stair turn for the top, leaving in between a ‘mystery’.

Will finish off the stair units, with stairs in, and move on from there. Need these first to determine so many thinkgs, not least of which is how big a base to cut for this project. If the stair units seem to work and I can work with one base then I think it will be 26″ x 26″ including outhouses and veg beds. May prove more sensible to at least have it in two, houses and front yard on one piece and the back yards, outhouses and plots on the other. Soon find out as am now building the second mock flight of stairs.