Lolly sticks, pewter painted paper

plus two bits of moulding
and
the important bit

– a padlock and hasp to make an old-fashioned coffer for Tilda, roughly based on various medieval chests and coffers found in a search for Medieval and plank chests.

Plank chest, narrow back to front and wide in comparison

Paper painted with pewter and a little black acrylic and pierced to give nail holes for hinges

and a back view too.

The lock and bar with small hasp came from the States and the hanging hasp to engage with it is florists’ wire.

The corner ‘metal strapping’ is more painted paper.  I’ve made the coffer a bit of a strange shape, with a lid smaller than the full width so that there are short, boxed off ends into whose corners you can stuff things.

Boxed off top at each end of coffer

Smaller lid to close over larger area

As I understand it, the idea when storing clothing or cloth generally was to squash the items down with layers of lavender or other useful herb between to help keep the moth at bay – both the herbs and the squashing were thought to be good for this.

The tale of Tilda Warren’s coffer

A bit of a back story

In this house there are four generations of the Riddingly family along with various relatives visiting and some actually working for them too.  (See posting entitled “Stats” for info on Hogepotche Hall Personnel.)

Amongst the workers there’s Tilda Warren, daughter of Edward Padget (master builder – on the roof) and Elizabeth (née Poole, part-time cook and at present directing preparations in the great hall).

Now please do read on …

Tilda was married less than two years ago but her husband Samuel died of a winter fever within the first year.  They had been living in rooms provided with his employment and, therefore, finding herself homeless and not at all happy at the thought of returning to her father’s house, she has joined Hogepotche Hall whilst she comes to terms with her situation.  She is now working as the live-in cook, helping her cousin Catherine deVander (daughter of the Guild Master but also widowed and now housekeeper at Hogepotche) with the running of the establishment generally and with the daily care of Catherine’s three children.

Tilda Warren

Tilda is prepared to accept the cramped room she has over the kitchen as her home, whilst also sharing some of Catherine’s kindly offered storage space in the attic.  Unfortunately this has had to be emptied due to the wind and tree damage on the roof and not only have most of Tilda’s things had to go back to her parent’s house, but many of Catherine’s belongings are now being stored there too.

The things Tilda keeps by her in her small sleeping space over the kitchen are placed lovingly in the coffer left to her by her husband, given to him by his mother, who in turn inherited it from her grandmother.  So Tilda now owns a very old chest, in an old style with the history of her husband’s family tied up in it.  She finds that she enjoys the idea that its story belongs to her now and not to the Padgets or Riddinglys, opening up for her a world of other possibilities.

Tilda Warren’s coffer

Continuing the same recipe

Holding bits up with one hand
whilst making good with the other

Running repairs before more make-over

I’m always surprised that any of Hogepotche Hall has lasted this long.  And yet, and yet … am now miffed as I gently remodel the women’s sleep area into something else, causing as little disturbance as possible, when a chunk of wood (which I never touched, Your Honour, honestly) falls off the wall.

It would seem that the, recommended, ‘proper wood glue’ though it was when applied five years ago is now giving up on its gluey-ness where its been asked to hold a mock beam to the walls.

 

Following day

Basic bits for linen area more or less in

and the same for a two bed space sleep area

The bed cubby hole looks a bit modern looking but I’m sure someone would have come up with it then too.  Should have been one bed for the two girls but didn’t like the look of it so fiddled about and managed to get a chest tucked in under the top bed which is useful.

It’s a small soft wood domed chest from eBay from which the dome has been hacked off (didn’t like the “dominess” after all) and replaced by mock planking, holes drilled for rope handles and the brassy clasp colour taken down with a little pewter paint.  Also scored some plank marks round the body of it – now it looks like a crate with a lid.

Doesn’t look like anything to write home about but it quite nicely and quietly sits there under the back bed hinting at being more than it is.

That battery light

Am no use with a soldering iron so haven’t shortened the wire from the battery LED and it tends to hang around in line of sight if you bend a little. (Top left red and black wire loop a-dangling)

Have turned the battery over in its cradle and that takes up a bit of the slack and the rest can only be viewed if you really try I think

What’s the colour scheme?

I have a colour scheme?  Well let’s see.  What have we got?

Linen area with a few bits draped

and ditto in the sleeping cubby – getting some quite nice borrowed light in here I see

Stepping back again to view adjoining spaces – hard to judge, should have put the other lights on.

OK, decision time followed by a bit of action:  what combo of colours, size of pieces, finish to edges, what else?  Clothes hanging off pegs in both room spaces, more hanging herbs, the odd pair of clogs and an apron perhaps …

 

Fitting in a linen room

Going for a pedestrian flow

Like a well known home furnishings establishment
though less meandering

Whole idea for a linen space arose ‘cos of extra room above kitchen extension and because I’d foolishly made a sort of linen press and it needed a home.

Where are we looking for space

The upper room over the kitchen has always been the live-in women’s sleep area and I’m proposing splitting it up.

Rough lay-out. It does mean that the ladies get squeezed into mere cubby-holes for sleeping but it might work.  Access to the men’s sleep area is from steps outside at bottom right, running in front of the dairy outer door.

Putting the linen room in the extra space above the stores (which meant going through their room) seemed odd so I’ve swapped it around a little making the linen room the first area you go up into out of the main kitchen and then squeezing the poor workers into two small cubby holes for sleeping.

Newly dressed corner under the stairs up to the linen room and women’s sleeping areas as in the plan.  (I’m hoping those hanging herbs will stay greenish – they were picked about four years ago so it’s possible they might)

Long shot of kitchen below newly split upper room. Lots still to do up there but this is roughly it with the stairs going up on the left into the linen area

Beginnings of the two spaces here with a partition and a pile of bedding thrown on the bed frame, including some half-made steps to go downwards at the foot of this bed to the second sleeping space for women which is over the store rooms

Thus the linen store is directly at the top of the stairs, gaining the immediate heat from the cooking below and the girls would be warm too, if possibly a little damp.

As you may notice I can never resist the mini pottery.  Took delivery the other day of some more Duncan White pots (from Pedlar’s Tray) and have salted them around the main kitchen.

Under the kitchen stairs I’ve mixed in three along with a ‘pub’ jug bought online

Here I’ve popped a bright yellow bowl on the dark top shelf across the room. Also moved the homemade bread cradle and bread much nearer the back of the room to give space for the hanging herbs at the front

I could never resist a slipware style item – this one is on the edge of the table going into the scullery

A poddling about kind of day

Lots of bits drying on every surface available:  buckets of “water”, cardboard ceiling layers, pretend washing to be shaped to the hanging rods, wash tub and posser …

Your turn for the washing up

Scrappy wash tub and rushed homemade posser – fortunately most of the posser will be hidden under washing and more “water”

So got round to strewing herbs and the odd rush and straw bit across that very dark main kitchen floor and then reinstating some of the scenery.

Camouflaging some of that black slate – looks much more user friendly with the green herbs hanging too

Such detail on these puss-cats it’s a pity their paws won’t be seen

Back together again and now it’s possible to see the black cat against the green floor covering, thank goodness