Way back last summer, all those months ago, a germ of an idea wriggled it’s way into my head that I didn’t want a boring brick wall on the side of the garage/workshop at the all new Moregeous Mansions. Not that the wall would have been boring mind, constructed with beautiful, character filled reclaimed red bricks. The word beautiful wasn’t the word used by the brickies however, they used far more choice words which regularly turned the garden air blue as they searched to find the right sizes in the piles saved from our demolition and the *new* ones brought in by the palette load.
So when I dropped the brick bomb and tried to explain what I was imagining, I think they thought I was kidding. Or that I’d forget about it if they ignored me for long enough. You know, how builders do. Mr M just smiled knowingly, knowing that sooner or later one of them would be worn down and cave. Even when the garage looked like this I knew I wanted it to be special…
The guys duly built the inner leaf of brick work facing into the garage and left out the outer skin, secretly hoping I’d just one day say, oh just build it flat like you were going to. Soon it looked like this and they still didn’t believe I really wanted boxes in my wall.
Then when researching to see if anyone had done one already I found the most amazing Dime House in Amsterdam which had been the focus of an art installation & build project. It was way more complicated than I wanted but I thought they’d get the gist. Rather than nearly faint, which is what they did.
The wall stayed as a single skin for ages after the scaffolding went up. Every day I looked at it and imagined my boxes in place already.
And then Brian came to save the day. Wonderful, meticulous, demanding diva Brian who took up the challenge and basically swore under his breath for three days whilst I cleaned mortar off bricks, handed him trowels and generally got filthy. I heard the words he repeated every ten minutes FIND ME ANOTHER THIN ONE echo in my head through the midnight hours and had nightmares about searching through piles of red dust for the jewels he could build with. Mr M cut up lintels, mixed mortar and moved trestles to order and we were both Brian’s bitches for 72hrs.
At times Brian wasn’t happy. We had to hide his tools to make sure he came back the next day 😉
It wasn’t fun when it rained. Nope, clearing up and cleaning bricks in the rain is Not Fun 😦
But it was worth it as the wall started to take shape and I LOVED it. The lintels took the weight of the bricks ok, the random (but carefully thought out) pillar positions meant all the boxes looked different, the damp membrane will ensure no damp ingress through to the inner leaf and even with the hotch potch of bricks left, Brian managed to get a good level on his mortar lines! 
Here it is all finished, I absolutely delighted with the end result and am SO glad I stuck to my guns. With the new rainwater goods fitted and once the garage door and utility doors are fitted, plus lighting in the boxes, it’ll look spectacular! I can’t wait to get cookin’ and perch my sauces & glass of wine on a new brick shelf.
Yep, I’ve a feeling we might well be barbecuing before I actually have a kitchen 😉
Ooh, I love it! Definitely worth sticking to your guns for 🙂 can’t wait to see more of your house as it progresses.
Thanks Claire, I’m so pleased with it. Can’t wait to dress it up!
That looks excellent – will look great with a few trailing plants like fuschias and lobelia
Absolutely Bec, those touches of greenery & colour will look beautiful. I might have to sneak out to our local centre Bud & make a couple of early purchases 😉
Good plan – the brick wall will retain the heat too. It’s remembering to water the plants though (I have hanging basket under porch & water it on way to work)