Old and the new

©2019 Barry Smith - Patinated door knob on old cottage

This post shares a bit of a contrast - my progress on converting the garden shed to a light and useful art workspace; and a few images of one of the oldest buildings in Armadale village.

First the progress on the workspace. I have used the shed a couple of weeks ago to do some stone cutting but found it dark and untidy.

©2019 Barry Smith - Garden shed aka studio-workshop??

I spent some time removing junk and Fiona and I took that to the recycling centre. After rearranging some of the useful material and shelving I have started to paint the whole of the inside of the shed. Initially I will paint it all with a couple of coats of ceiling paint as we had quite a bit left over when we gave the cottage a spruce up. Already the shed is beginning to look cleaner and lighter.

©2019 Barry Smith - Dark green paint on the shed walls and ceiling.

©2019 Barry Smith - It will take a couple of coats to cover the green

©2019 Barry Smith - About a quarter of first coat done

The old cottage (Allt Beag) in the photos below is one of the remaining original cottages that probably dates back to around 1800. It is a bit sad to see that though efforts have been made to preserve it from the weather the stone work and the iron roof are losing their integrity.

©2019 Barry Smith - Beautiful simplicity

©2019 Barry Smith - Losing its integrity

©2019 Barry Smith - Grass taking over

©2019 Barry Smith

Fiona and I always want to reach out and preserve such wonderful simple historic cottages.