23rd September
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| John Lewis sample |
Over the last week we’ve been trying to get to look at samples of worktop for the galley and bathroom. A trip to John Lewis in Sheffield gave us one option not holey satisfying. Hunting round on the internet can point you in the right direction but you still need to see a sample to know exactly what they look like.
Adam from NB Briar Rose mentioned Silestone, so I had a second longer look at their website and found a possible. A supplier in Doncaster had samples, but sadly not the one, a couple more possibilities.
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| Daria |
With a hire car we were able to visit another kitchen showroom. Russell & Hutton had big samples which for us was good to see if there was a bit more life to some of the Silestone. In the end the best we have come across was the worktop we were resting samples on to look at! Daria has a mottled look to it and has more life than just a uniform slab. We made a short list and these have been passed onto Finesse.
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| Sofas on display |
Having made a note of the measurements for the sofa a week ago we headed to see Michael Roberts at Sofa Bed Barn near Bradford. At Crick Boat Show we had chatted about what I was after and today we went to confirm dimensions, choose fabric and get the ball rolling.
The normal range of fabrics didn’t have quite the shade of red I was wanting, so I was allowed to look in the drawer of samples. Most of his sofa beds have a drawer or box underneath for storage and this one was crammed full. Several options came to hand and were compared with the other fabrics we will be having. I could have matched it to the dinette, but that wouldn’t have been interesting. But there was a chenille of a very close colour with a gold in it that stood out from the others. |
| Hampton |
Michael has several designs that he has adapted or made especially for narrowboats. The Hampton is designed as a sofa which opens flat and with the addition of a pouffe it will fit across a narrowboat to make a bed. You can get this made in several widths from a single bed to 5 ft 3″ wide. The gap we have is just under 4 ft 6″ so the mattress will be made a bit smaller. I need it to sit under the gunnel, so the height is being reduced to fit. We don’t have enough space for the full width pouffe, but want it to be used to make a small occasional single by adding it to the end of the sofa a bit like the green pouffe in the photo. The pouffe needs to tuck into the gap under some shelving when not being used, but can be pulled out as an extra seat if needed. So it will be made almost square. The base of the sofa is a storage box which will get used for spare bedding and then the pouffe is also a box which I will keep my crafty bits in. 
All the amendments are easy as everything apart from the mechanisms are built on sight. Since we last visited the ground floor has become a workshop where the frames for the pouffes are made.