One week to go!

The last 2 weeks have been a GREAT two weeks! Every day we have skipped home excited at the prospect of what is waiting for us at home. We are at the stage were things are really really coming together. The week started with a lot of man power meaning we had boys in the bathroom and the kitchen making the daily achievements double. They started by levelling out the bathroom floor and plastering the walls - we were left with something that looked a little bit like a steam room in a gym. The bath taps were fitted and the new bath ad toilet put into place. They then laid the tiles including the mosaic tiles which would form the shower tray (just to the bottom right of the picture) By the end of the week we had everything in excluding the sink and we now have a glass panel running along the side of the shower. So really now all there is left to do is paint the room and we will have our fully fledged bathroom in place!!! After quite a long time with out a proper or decent bathroom facilities we feel like we are staying in a 5* hotel with the clean and bright new bathroom.

the fridge is not green - just got cover on it!!

At the same time the kitchen has come on unbelievably! Having spent weeks and weeks drawing and planning the kitchen design I was left with a slight panic about the exact design and if everything was going to fir in properly. The started by plastering the walls and the effect was wonderful - to really see the room as one entity rather than the two separate ones it had been for so long was inspiring. After the plastering the windows and doors went in and they starting laying the floor. Once this was complete we were even more excited to see how it was going to look. Next was the building of the laundry cupboard and the larder in the back corner. The larder was one of the first decisions we made when we thought about design so it was lovely to see this appear. We had many a debate about what doors should cover the larder and laundry cupboard - whether they should both be wood, whether they should be big ceiling high doors etc etc. I had gotten a bit stuck on the idea of having a glass door as wanted to be able to see through to the window inside....we found this door in B&Q which was on sale for £20...and I a little bit put my foot down about it!!! Poor Dave was outvoted on that one!

Then all of the appliances went in and all of a sudden we had a fridge, a washing machine, a tumble dryer, a sink and a cooker!!  My dad had very kindly given us his cooker which he taken apart, cleaned and put back together - we loved the idea of this being up against the brick wall and think it looks fabulous!

Mum has, ever, been a constant provider of guidance and advice as we get through some of the more specific placings like electricity points, shelving, plumbing etc etc. All of the lights have now gone in and other than a few bits and pieces we are about 90% there in the kitchen!! We are honestly so very very happy with ow it has turned out and feel proud of our decisions and design - all be it with a lot of help ad guidance from our families!

While all of this has been taking place we have also had 'daddy' (so called because he is the father-in-law of the boss builder Janusz) Daddy has been painting the hallway and stairs and so the house continues to really take shape and look like a proper little house.

However, we have now officially run out of money - and so there are going to be quite a few things left over for us to do. This also means that we are able to have a bit of a pause in the work and so we only have two builders booked for one more week. We can breath and take stock and make a few decisions at a slower pace. Although, to be fair, there is nothing major outstanding bar one or two bits. So really it is more about painting and finishing touches. But it does mean we will not be buying any furniture any time soon. What they have achieved in the space of time and the over all cost really are quite astounding (in a good way) Needless to say both of us are extremely excited and happy - we keep thinking back to when we were living in a dusty bedroom with damp walls and very little else. Its not over yet but we are very very close!

Middle of January

 We decided - after many conversations, advice and persuasion, to take down the cupboard that used to be at the bottom of the stairs. We had thought that it was hiding some structural beam or similar but actually there wasn't anything of any importance behind there so it came down and instantly the whole room was double the size...well it looked bigger anyway.

The builders were working in the kitchen getting the final foundations and steel sorted and once the building control man had been round to approve the work they filled in all of the holes. We were then left with a more obvious and fixed room structure. the next thing was or the floor to be filled in which I think is called screeting....screeted...something like that. Anyway, once this was dry, we suddenly had a full blown room for a kitchen!! There was a lot of dust, mess , loss of heating and hotwater along the way but....then there is was the kitchen....and all was forgotten (almost!!)

So far this has been the hardest stretch as we have been left without heating and with only the bath tub left for water (so much money spent on bottled water) and with little or no kitchen utensils it has been hard. But I think it is selfish and a bit wrong to complain too much. We are very lucky with what we have and what we will have so loads of dust and few comforts is a small price to pay. I have only once had a melt down once. One night Dave was in charge of food and came home wielding a microwaved macaroni cheese. This was apparently the last straw for me. I was well looked after and soon back to positive proactivity (i think i am anyway!) I dont think Dave will be bringing one of those soon anytime soon!!

During this time I had started to draw the plan for the kitchen Along with a lot of help from my dad (and Pinot Grigio) - who got me started with the drawings (dad not wine) I gradually, after about 37,000 attempts got to grips with it and i think we know how it will look. That is assuming we have measured everything correctly!! I also had to a electricity plan - which quite frankly was all down to mum helping me when i was already at the end of my tether with kitchen planing - and to be honest had no idea I had to made a light and plug socket plan!!

 I thought I would leave you with this picture! We came home on Monday night to find that they had got to work on the bathroom. They have been doing bits and pieces tot he bathroom but things have gone full swing the last two days. Anyway we came home to find that they have moved the soil pipe for the toilet over to where the new toilet will be. In order to ensure that we have some facilities for the evening they have popped the old one in its it place. Anyway.....to make it fit they have had to raise it up somewhat...making this the highest toilet in the world....alright for boys but sightly more interesting for girls!! We had a fantastic fit of giggles when where greeted by this on our return!

And also see this picture - this is al our tiles, washing machine, dishwasher, tumble dryer, bath, taps sink..etc etc etc - all arrived in the last week.....just waiting to become part of the house!

January starts with a few bangs

 January so far has been a whirlwind so far, a very dusty and cold whirlwind. The builders came back from their summer break - rested and ready to knock down, beat down, chip out...pretty much everything in their site! They started with the wall between the living rom and what used to be the bathroom - the french doors were gone and were replaced with a piece of plastic which made for interesting times as the wind whistled throughout the night. Gradually more and more came down - the final part being the wall between the old kitchen and what used to be the garden. All of a sudden two rooms became one and we had a small idea of what the kitchen was going to look like.

 So we were left with a great big hole at the end of the living room with the ceiling held up by scaffolding/joists (these have a proper name but I can't remember what it is!!) We lost the function of the kitchen from this point - the gas oven, the sink and...well everything!! We moved the kettle and the microwave into the living room and shifted everything else up into the spare room which became our new living den.

They then they started to get to work on the bathroom. Firstly the sink came out and then the wall it used to be attached to.....and then the ceiling at the back of the bathroom. And there i sort of stayed for  a while....thee builders were busily sorting out all of the steel work for the new extension. There was steel work coming through the floor of the bathroom. This made things a little bit interesting....there was a few holes in the floor that looked directly down to the kitchen...and therefore also looked directly back up to the bathroom. This meant we were now in competition with the builders. We had to try and make sure we planned our morning showers so as to ensure we were out b the time the first builder, Bogdan, arrived. He kept us on our toes, sometimes arriving at 7 and sometimes before or after. I think we only give him a morning surprise once or twice!!

Oh and our new roof frame arrived!! so now we have a triple glazed doorway leading up onto the roof!!

second job on our own

Before they left the builders plastered the walls of one end of the living room. We decided - or actually i insisted (!) - that we paint it a couple of coats of white undercoat. While it will undoubtedly get covered in dust etc as soon as work continues in January - I was not sure I could handle three weeks sitting in a room with dry plaster coloured walls after months of the pumpkin orange the previous owners had left us. Dave found his new calling in wall sanding and he did a stirling job teetering around the room on the wobbly ladder. Then it was time for the paint - this time we made sure the first coast was watery enough - so much so that we covered ourselves and the living room floor in spatterings of paint. But, it was so worth it.

 Once we had a lovely clean white living space we brought down all of the furniture that had been cluttering up the bedroom and borrowed a sofa from mum and all of a sudden we had ourselves an actual living space with side lamps, a rug, curtains, sofa, coffee table, television and to top it all of a working log burning stove. Only one thing missing.....the Christmas tree.....

Was great to have three weeks to really live in the house and also got started on stripping the banisters. Under mum's instruction we got to work at the wood panelling under the stairs and the banister. I then spent an entire day battling with the end post - which appeared to be covered in the thickest brownest and stickiest paint known to man. Quite satisfying but exhausting. Still a lot of work to be done on them but...at least we know what many of our January evenings are going to be spent doing!

Happy New Year Everyone - or all three of you who read this!! Will try and be better with updating in 2011!

The Builders leave us to it

 Firstly sorry for so badly neglecting the blog over Christmas - I apparently joined the builders on the Christmas holiday!

So - the last few days of the builders came and went - with a LOT of rubbish being removed. The picture shows what I was faced with when I walked through the front door in he final week. And then the were gone.....leaving us to our own devices for nearly a month.

Firstly we decided to decorate the spare room. We got to work filling and sanding the walls in the evenings after work. We also had to paint some damp proofing paint on the wet wall where there had been a leak before we moved in. Then we begun the first layer which was meant to be a VERY watery layer - but i was a bit rubbish at the mixing so it wasn't quite is it should have been!! In the end it took three layers of undercoat and about 4 on the ceiling - fun times.

Anyway we spent over a week painting after work and got onto our main coat of paint called - Elephant's Breath!!

During this time we found out that Dave had passed his final exam and so we celebrated with a second coat of Elephant's Breath and a bottle of champagne - very dignified.

Spare room done - we had the carpet fitted and all of a sudden we had a spare room which has so far had three guests to stay!!

30th November

What a lovely suprise when we popped over to the house last night to have a look at the progress. There was a roof taking shape on the extension!! Think I mentioned before the the builders are away from 16th Dec until early January. This means that they will do a certain amount of the work beore they leave ensuring that we are all sealed in with hot water, heating and no holes in walls or ceilings. So while they have built the new wall and roof for the extention they will not take down the exhisting (previously external) kitchen wall. This means that the old kitchen will reamain in tact for us to use over Christmas but we will have a window in there that will now look out on the new extension rather than the garden!

Two gaps for our velux
windows!

As well as the extention suddenly looking like a whole building someone had also been keenly plastering upstairs. Where the stairs had gone in and all of the hallway walls have been plastered, It is completely amazing that all of a sudden the house feels like it has leaped forward 20 steps. There are a few new light fittings - actually the first time we have had a light in the upstair hallway since we moved in! - and this has transformed the place. The plastered walls and lights have brought the house to life and we could suddenly really see the house in a finished state. Great suprise for us. I got a bit over excited on the weekend buying paint samples (think that it is right of passage to over do it on these when your decorating!) so I am looking forward to trying a few of these out once the sanding has been comepleted.

So we really are nearly there on the upstairs. The bathrom - like the kitchen - will be left as it is until the new year as they need to knock down part of this to extend it slightly. But once the glass doerway for the roof arrives on 2nd December and we have painted/carpeted - we hare going to be 95% there with the upstairs of the house...just in time for Christmas.



Bricks, Roof and Stairs



I think the cement will get lighter....



Once the foundations had settled it was time to start building our new kitchen wall!!! One side of the wall was built which was on the side of our nieghbour and then with some insulation sandwiched in the middle our wall appeared! We have decded that this bit of wall will remain open brick work which meant that the builder has to embrace his inner perfectionist.

Not only did the wall start going up but a brand new set of stairs arrived and was slotted into place! The stair man (naughtily don't know his name so he shall have a name that sounds like he is a super-hero) had come around to the house and measred up the stair before makeing them from scrtch for us. They are really lovely and have some nice feature bit on the side that you can see in the picture to the right. They look a little bit intrusive in that picture but actually they blend in very nicely.

There is still a hole in the roof at the top of the stairs but the new glass doorwaty is on order and will be added soon. So once that is in you will be able to head up the stairs and wonder out onto our roof terrace like it is another floor to the house.

Not only all of this but whilst this has all been taking place a couple of roofers have been beavering away sealing us in from above. The roofer, Colin (not roofer man) and his comrades had a bit of a tall task as the bioling asphalt had to be kept down the road as couldn't be parked out side the house. Although I wasn't there mum took some pictures of both roofer vans, builder van, and building materials delievery. Supprisingly we have only had one miserable nieghbour call the council to complain!

The house as of 21st November

before they had cleaned!!

 On the weekend of the 21st November we went back to the house for one night to give mum a break from us and to remember where we actually live! The place was busy to say the least - like someone had pressed pause in the middle of of days hard work. The builders had very kindly cleaned the kitchen and the bathroom for us - having been informed we were returning for the night (they are wonderfully unique) They had even cleaned the kitchen floor which we had barely done ourselves since we arrived! It was great to be able to stay and soak it all up and make a few decisions as we wondered around.


Since we had last been there last they had removed the old step-ladder leading up to the roof and they had made a large opening in the roof where our new door-way would be to gain access to the roof garden. In place of a roof was a large hole covered in a piece of red tarpaulin! This had the unfortunate effect of making the hallway look like something out of Moulin Rouge but created a great sense of how much light we would have when there was a glass doorway up there.

Thankfully there was not rain in the night so we were able to go to sleep and pretend that there wasn't a great big whole in the roof moments from our bedroom! 

 The foundations had all been filled in and the concrete blocks that now filled the holes gave us a good idea of he size of the Kitchen. We were suddenly slightly aware that perhaps the kitchen wasn't going to be the vast sprawling space we had envisioned. I think seeing a plot paid out on the floor is a little deceiving as it will always look smaller but it did make us think that we were glad we had not yet chosen the layout or any of the fittings. We realise now that we might need to have to come up with a clever layout to make the most of the space without compromising any of our ideas.

While we had been gone they had also now removed the chimney breast from downstairs. This meant that we now had a fantastic large space in he back half of the living rom that would eventually become the dining area. It was quite a small design decision that had made a huge difference to the outcome of this room and we are really happy with it. 


So things were moving along nicely. We are now on schedule to have most of the upstairs (excluding bathroom) finished by the time the builders go home to Poland on 16th December and we will have the shell of the extension done ready to be completed in January when they return. While the house is still covered in dust and full of building kit we feel happier seeing the progress as we can see the final outcome taking shape which always helps to lift spirits.