The lounge, one end of which can also be used as a dining area when friends come round, has as its central feature a brick-built fireplace surmounted by a massive lintel beam. This was reclaimed by CCS from the old house at Braddan Bridge which they demolished and re-built a few years ago. The bricks they sourced from the York Handmade Brick Company.

Into the fireplace cavity is fitted a Euroheat Harmony iii oil-fired stove - these living flame appliances are so marvellously lifelike that you wonder why anybody bothers to haul solid fuel around any more. It is linked to both the central heating and hot water systems of the house, as is the Rayburn stove in the kitchen, a boost which makes the system versatile and ensures more than adequate supplies of heating and hot water. The fireplace design is a clever one which James evolved for himself; a light fitted into the top of the stove cavity illuminates a horseshoe-shaped 'window' in the brickwork above the lintel and any ornament or clock you might care to put in it.

This room is enhanced by what appear to be two enormous exposed ceiling beams, but they are not actually all they seem to be. A pair of structural RSJs have been concealed as rustic beams with scaffold planks, heavily distressed and stained to match the fireplace lintel. James did these two himself, but by the time they wanted to repeat the idea in the kitchen he had had enough and gave it to somebody else to do! So impressed have clients been, however, that CCS has already had to make more of them for other people's houses.