Up-cycle a Commode Day

It has been a busy weekend at it at the Castle, or to be more accurate a busy weekend down at ‘The Lairds Retreat’, where for this season, we are officially opening up the new Kitchen. to add to our accommodation, nestled in the old walled garden.

Set at the head of the original Victorian flower garden, is what was once a derelict Victorian Seedling Shed, which in it heyday would have been a beautifully crafted building, being in the lower part a dry-stone wall with huge dressed stones and in the upper part thick greenhouse glass.

So I sit in the kitchen on this inky black dark Sunday evening, clutching a much needed cup of tea and covered in grime, a bit of mud and quite a lot of paint, due to be honest, to my enthusiastic painting style, and I am so pleased its all finished! If it wasne so dark out there, I would take picture, that can be done on the morrow, ideally in some sunshine.

One of the things we are very keen on is up-cycling, so in order to cosy up the new living area in the main Building, we found this lovely bucket style chair, which just happens to be an old Commode. Much hilarity ensued as I explained to the children, why ‘in the olden days’, ladies and gentlemen, who did not have access to indoor plumbing, or their loo was too far away from their bedroom, would use said article, or even, have a potty under the bed for the small hours, which with the clarity of the young, they, when they had stopped laughing, pronounced as weird!

Fortunately at the Lairds Retreat,  we have a lovely Bathroom with shower, so our Commode can just be a chair, and with a little TLC, I magic a tatty unloved, redundant household object chair into this beauty, complete with a re-upholstered seat and no po. A small but pleasing result.

Pics of the Bothy tomorrow – if the sun shines.

Lovely article on the history of the Loo, enjoy! http://www.localhistories.org/toilets.html