Finally Painted

Finally got the lounge painted last month. The red looks great and makes a contrast with the white of the units. Looks really striking coming in from the front hall.

Still not finished.... but

Well,

met with Geoff last night and asked 'how long would it normally take to finish from here?' 'About a week' was the answer, so on the basis of weekend working, we've agreed he'll have done by the end of the month. For things he can't directly control - how long for the worktops to be delivered, I've accepted seeing the order note, but all being well we'll be done soon.

The bathroom should be done today - the radiator on and the tiles above the sink being the main things in there. Plus the step should be sorted ready for being re-covered. Phil the joiner is in so the remaining doors should get sorted. Geoff is ordering the remaining worktop and doors for the kitchen so I'm hopeful they'll be delivered soon - the big worktops took less than a week.

Nervy today though - the valuer is coming and I'm hoping it'll be good news so we can refresh the very depleted coffers.... Fingers crossed they can see past what isn't done the the intrinsic value.

Update june 08

Well,

things are still going very slowly, but we had Stephen's 4th birthday party here this weekend and the house was fine for visitors - lots of visitors! Geoff got the last drawer fronts on and temporarily fixed the plinths so nothing would get lost under the cupboards over the weekend. The dishwasher landed today (the old one wouldn't wake up and we decided we may as well get one) so that needs plumbing in.

The island now has backs and is just waiting the Iroko breakfast bar - hence the gap at the top!


The light switches and lights on the pillar have worked out really well.


The dining table under the Velux is really nice in the sumer - although we need blinds when the sun is very bright - like this weekend! We often only put the uplighters on in the evening.


Still the odd box around and about, but we're settling in. Time for that flat screen on the wall.....


The kids' cupboard - still not sure about the green, but the purple is great.



The hob run is looking good now. We need the upstands and splashback (more granite!) and the shelf lights chasing in, and the cover above the hood.

Walkabout

Here's a quick walk around the ground floor

Hoorah

Well - we have a sparky - he starts on saturday and he's called Chris.


Everything came back from storage today - The first thing I did was connect the router so I am writing this on the main PC upstairs over WiFi - for the first time snce November. 33 Windows Updates!!!


Downstairs looks pretty good now. The cupboard doors are going on and we should get light fittings when Chris starts on Saturday.


Things now look very different

April 3rd:



April 16th:

Yesterday it looked very different again as the stuff came out of storage so we have the piano, dining table, TV etc. in the room. Now the problem is deciding exactly where to put it and cabling it all up!

Floors and sofas

Well, we still have no electrician, and the heating is still off downstairs (although maintaining a good 15-17 degrees even so!), but we have half a floor in the big room and we unwrapped the sofas. The rest of the room should be laid today along with the front hall - another 48 hours then the heating can go back on. The snug should get primed today, screed today/tomorrow and start laying on Wednesday I hope, so that should be done by Friday - heating on for Sunday. Then the rear hall and utility next week, maybe earlier. Carpets are scheduled for w/c 28th.

Geoff collects the doors for the kitchen cupboards today/tomorrow so the big room should start to come together over the next week. Still no sparky though, so no light fittings (bare bulbs), no extractor and the fridge on an extension..... but moving out of the bedroom will be a massive change.

Oh Woe is me.....

Well,

today we had the flooring contractor set to start prepping the floors downstairs for the Amtico....

First they arrived nearer 12 than 10 because they found that they had been delivered the wrong stuff..... perhaps they should have checked.

Then we find out the heating should have been off for 48 hours before they start.... bit difficult wen you find out on the day!

Then, it turns out they were planning on prepping the whole ground floor - a bit difficult when we have stuff in most of the other rooms we were planning on moving into the big room when that was done.....

Anyway

We are now getting the main room, front hall and kids playroom primed today, skimmed on Wednesday (when the floor has cooled) and laid Thursday/Friday. Next monday they will start on the Snug, rear hall and loo, and the utility.

And on the 28th they'll lay the carpets upstairs!

So, fingers crossed, we'll move downstairs this weekend and have more than one room for the first time in... well it feels like years. Still loads to go at, and no sparky as yet so we'll see how much of a delay that causes..... but at least we may get to use the new sofas on Saturday! Hoorah.

Bugger

Well great. Our part-time sparky, Gary, was doing his work at weekends and splitting his time between the UK and Spain. This caused some problems as it could be a while between his visits, but he has really done it now. With no warning, we have now discovered he has emigrated permanently - so Geoff now has to find another sparky to take on a partially finished job. There appears to be no major stuff to do - just all the fiddly finishing up - light fittings, switches/sockets in some rooms, the alarm, the outside lights, but it is a long list....... and there are a lot of wires!

Bugger....

But at least the Amtico shoudl get fitted next week and we can finally move downstairs again!

Completely Plastered.....

The rear porch is the only major bit of build left to do. We're going for a flat roof to save some money, but the top half is conservatory style - just waiting for it to come from the window company and be fitted.


Here is the cupboard at the top of the stairs. It's a bit smaller than we hoped because the landing needed cutting down to give us clearance up the stairs for building regs, but the cupboard in the bathroom is pretty big which will make up for it.


The ensuite. It looks a bit cramped on the photo, but it isn't in the flesh - the gap into the cubicle is 800mm wide.


This is the secret door at the bottom of the stairs so we can get things up without going round corners.


The main room - not my best photo, but it's all plastered now.


The new front door - it's brown on the outside to match the windows.


All those wires..... New consumer unit is huge to accommodate them all.



The new drain outside. Inspected and passed yesterday so ready to be finished off.



All of this is (almost) just in time. The fridge comes tomorrow, the appliances Monday and the bath on Tuesday. Flooring is booked in for 16th feb - we've found a really good deal on Amtico at T J Flooring (via eBay)

Honey Oak - Ground floor (except snug):



Ceramic dark tiles - bathroom floor: