The kitchen goes yellow

It is amazing how yellow even a pale yellow is when there is nothing else in the room! Apparently, they are coming to fit the kitchen on Tuesday next week. I will be at New Wine but Andy will be able to give me progress reports. It is going to be so different by the time I come back next Friday!

Colin goes grey over our decorating

Colin was sanding walls when we arrived and I persuaded him to let me take a photo! He was even greyer in the afternoon, when he had painted several ceilings!

Never show a fool a job half done!

I am a firm believer in this old saying, but I must say I had some doubts about the tile colours when we visited later in the day. They looked fine together on the sample display boards and I was happy with the choice at the time, but now......... I am a bit apprehensive. Will it be a bit overwhelming? Too bright?

Pull yourself together, Sue. Have the courage of your convictions! Never show a fool a job half done!

Despite the smile, Graham the tiler was not a happy bunny!

Graham started our bathroom this morning and has been finding the hand made tiles very irregular in size and very slow to put up. They do vary considerably and being small, take a long while to position individually. And I thought the bargain tiles were such a find! I guess everyone makes mistakes. I must say I nearly burst into tears on the way to the tile centre. Anyway, I have chosen very large and regular tiles for use in the shower room, or else we may be having to put Graham up as a house guest once we move in!

Tiles and jungle drums

I ordered some tiles for the bathroom and ensuite, which were delivered today. I had been told by the builder that his tiler would be there tomorrow, Wednesday. I counted the boxes of tiles and realised that there was a mistake, so rang the supplier. I asked if he could have the extra tiles ready for me to collect the next day, as the tiler would be needing them.

"Oh no." said the man. "He's not starting your job until Thursday."

The supplier is not linked to the tiler in any way, but round here all the suppliers and workmen know all the others, so now I know that our tiling will start on Thursday!

The shower tray- before and after

We are also re-using the shower cubicle and tray, which used to be downstairs. This is what it looked like before I cleaned off the old silicone and grub. And after!

The first signs of the gas boiler

We are pleased that we may have heating at some point. The radiators are pleasant enough as room decoration, but it will be nice if they heat up too!

A parade of sanitary ware

Loos aren't the most exciting of subjects, but if you are planning on visiting, you will be pleased to know that we have three to choose from!

Spot the pleasantly named Saniflow behind the last loo. I will leave you to guess its function.

The saga of the gas meter

Two weeks ago I phoned British Gas asking for a new meter, due to the poor condition of the old one. I was told that they couldn't authorise a new meter and that meters get changed by a separate company, who know when your meter's time is up. (Or words to that effect!)

A week ago, the builder asked me to ring to get British Gas to reconnect the meter, because the pipes were detached. They didn't have a "button" for that, so the lady said, "I've put you down for a meter exchange. The engineer will be with you next week."

I do wonder if I am inadvertently talking Welsh to British Gas staff. It would account for the communications blackout that seems to exist between me and them!

Anyway, this is our new meter!

I am still amazed!

House renovation is very unenvironmental

When we first agreed the building work on the house, we decided to reuse the 3 loos and 2 of the 3 hand basins. It wasn't just for the sake of saving money, but also because it seems criminal to throw away perfectly functional and okay bathroom ware. It wasn't even as if it was avocado or the turquoise blue so beloved of the '70s. It is all white.
We actually have reused the loos, but the "gubbins" inside the cisterns have had to be changed to a new standard. The basins got cracked during removal, so we needed new ones. We thought we would reuse the perfectly intact pedestal, only to be told that each pedestal is designed for the specific basin, and that in any case the colour of white was different.
I asked the plumber if he got upset by replacing/ chucking away things that were quite usable. He said that it happens all the time and that there was no point in him getting frustrated. He said that even if he had space to store the reusable items, no one would ever want to use them.
We live in a very wasteful world. And we are no better than anyone else.
:-(

New sign

The new house sign arrives. Haddef is renamed to Bodlondeb which in Welsh means "Place of contentment" or "Happy place".

New vinyl floor chosen

Here is a sample of the new vinyl floor we have chosen for the new house.

Except it looked a lot darker than this...

Showroom blues

We went back! How could we summon the energy after our mammoth carpet showroom visit yesterday? It was worth it though, as we managed to save £400 by rethinking the vinyl in the dining room, back hall and kitchen. You can all guess how thrilled I am that they are all going to have exactly the same.
Actually, I am sure that it will look really nice. It just doesn't suit my non-conformist (non neutral) tendencies. The vinyl is a medium wood planking effect, so it will look slightly oldy worldy to go with the age of the house. As Andy points out, it won't show the dirt as much either!
I had a very revolutionary thought today. I think that we will take our shoes off when we come into the house, once we move in. I know that many of you have been doing it for years, but we are pretty uncouth, on the whole. However, we will have a large coat cupboard opposite the door, with space for a shoe rack and a slipper rack. We will also have all new carpets and vinyl, which is quite an incentive. My main reason for telling people to keep their shoes on has been my strong dislike for a massive pile of shoes just inside the door. If we have space to store them away, it could work! I'll let you know.

The new bath unveiled

My spur of the minute idea to write a message for future generations on the plaster under the bath failed due to complete lack of writing implements.

What would be a meaningful message, I wonder? Andy and Suz woz 'ere? A Shakespearean sonnet- to show how cultured we are? I'll have to sleep on it.

The plumbers fitted/refitted the radiators. Isn't this one diddy?

It looks like a real room now.

I'm looking forward to having red carpet and a Christmas tree in the bay window. Maybe even a sofa to sit on!

Neutral and natural.. or beige and boring?

We spent several hours at a local carpet showroom today, looking at carpets and vinyls until our eyes boggled. I have to say that the majority of good value, affordable carpets are boring! Everything is shades of cream and brown, and they are nearly all self-coloured. I agree that the hideous swirls of the 1970's were over the top, but the pendulum has swung towards bland uniformity. (Andy wouldn't agree to a nice stripey carpet I did manage to find. It was blue, cream, yellow and brown and would have looked good in our bedroom. Probably!)
The chap who had been to measure the whole house kept saying how large all of the rooms are, which is less of an advantage when you are looking hopefully at the offcuts sale bargains. (I wonder which of us was doing that?) Also less of an advantage when you come to the overall bill, which is *!£<>*!£.
I did manage to impose my will in the living room and we are having a red carpet (not bargain bin- not value rolls- why are you not surprised!). The rest is Beigeville!
I am sure it will look fine. I will just have to add some tasteful but BRIGHT accessories!

The new bath- it has a bulgy end, you know!

We are very relieved to see this bath (and the accompanying basin), as on Friday, there seemed to have been a mix up over the order. As the plumber is due to arrive tomorrow, it would have been a real nuisance if they hadn't been able to deliver the bath today.

Socket to me!

I know! What sort of sad people take photos of electrical sockets? Anyway we now have lots of these lovely things all around the kitchen and elsewhere!

New internal doors for the reception rooms

We're plastered!!

This week has seen the last of the plastering, as far as we can tell. Andrew has made an excellent job of it. It's very smooth. We would recommend him.
Graham says that the electricians and the plumbers will be in next week, with Bob, the carpenter, coming back the week after. The kitchen fitters are expecting to do the kitchen in the first or second week of August. The decorators will probably be in at the same time (but not in the kitchen, we hope!) and Graham thinks the whole thing could be ready for carpeting towards the end of August. Whoopee!
Andy said today what I have felt quite a bit, that it seems that we are checking on the house for someone else who is going to move in! It it still hard to imagine actually, really, definitely living there!

View of the kitchen from the stairs

It's not surprising that there is so much stuff in here, as this is Andrew's base for plastering. You really have to watch where you are walking though, as there are cables everywhere.

The wall that was a hole a few hours ago is now half dressed

Wow! They are fast workers!

When we came back at 1.30pm, the bathroom was 75% plasterboarded, the front bedroom was half boarded and they had done the ensuite shower room as well as various other odds and ends of plasterboard. It's incredible what 4 men can accomplish in a few hours.

A familiar sight- our house being thrown out through a window!

The view through the wall from the bathroom into the front bedroom

Strangely, I hadn't thought about the fact that if you take the plaster off both sides of a wall, all you are left with is a hole!

More destruction

We took the decorator's advice about three of the remaining walls and asked Graham Ottaway to plasterboard them. This morning, when we arrived at about 9am, two of the walls had already had the plaster knocked off them. More rubble in the bathroom!

Bodlondeb rises from the ashes!

We have informed Royal Mail and Powys County Council today that we are renaming the house Bodlondeb. For those of you who fell asleep when reading previous posts, it is the name the house had before the architects firm changed it in the '80's. It also means "place of contentment" which is very nice.
Oh you will also enjoy the fact that we had a gas bill for £6,324 on Saturday. It relates to gas consumption at the house between 30th March and 16th May 2010- in an empty house with the gas disconnected!!!!! We've decided not to pay!
Actually it boggles my mind how it would actually be possible to use that much gas in 7 weeks in a four bedroom house!

Forgot to tell you about the tiles!

At the end of last week, I went into the kitchen place (which is also the tile and bathroom place) to choose a work surface. In line with my previous comments about indecision, I hummed and hahed about work surface patterns and colours, especially as I had already decided on the tiles I wanted on a previous visit.
In the end, I asked Kerry, the sales woman to help me decide. She asked which tiles I had decided on and when she saw what I had picked said, "Have you seen these tiles? They are hand made tiles on special offer, as the company who made them have gone bust." The tiles were beautifully unidentical and looked really expensive. They were also on offer at about £6.80 a square metre (£5 per box instead of the previous price of £50!) The cheapest ones we had picked out previously were about £15 a square metre!
As a result, we are having the hand made tiles in both bathrooms and in the kitchen too, in different colour combinations. I am very pleased with my bargain. Some of Andy's bargain finding skills must be rubbing off on me!

Clarification!

Andy wasn't sure what I meant by "At least we're on to indecision over paint colours now." I simply meant that we have been undecided about so many larger and more significant things, over the course of the project, that it actually is quite a relief to be (un)deciding between white and magnolia paint!

The kitchen has been plastered and is looking like a room!

Andy at his best

Andy decided to make faces whilst demonstrating another newly revealed piece of wall!

If he ever tries to deny being a grumpy old man, all we have to do is get out this picture!

It seems as if we are well on the way to seeing every brick that has ever been used in this house! Even today, the decorator suggested that three walls we thought might be passable, would be better being plasterboarded! At least we are on to the indecision about paint colours now!

Carpenters laying plywood over the most uneven floorboards we've ever owned.

The new front door in all its glory!

At Forge House, we had an old brass letter box and a brass door knocker. When we went for a double glazed front door, I kept them both, thinking that I would get around to selling them on E-bay. Now I'm really glad I didn't.

Giant electric mixer

Andrew used a mega mixer attachment for a huge drill to mix the plaster for the ceilings and wall. It did get a bit out of control though, as you can see from the floor!

Invasion of the stilt walkers!

This was the amazing sight that greeted us when we went round to the house yesterday. Andrew was plastering the ceiling whilst wearing stilts. Really cool! He did admit that he was only just getting used to them again after coming a cropper when he first tried them. What skill though to get a smooth finish on the ceiling and stilt walk at the same time!

The new front door at the undercoat stage

The pinkish blob in the left hand window is Andy waving to you! Just humour him and wave back!

New windows plus decorator

The two top windows have had new frames made around the existing casements, as the previous ones were as rotten as week old peaches. The window you can see below the ladder has been made from scratch to replace the french doors that were there previously.
By the way, the word "casement" always makes me think of the poem, "The Highwayman". It actually mentions "casement" four times. That must be a record! To read the whole poem- one of my absolute favourites as a teenager- go to http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-highwayman/
I shall now imagine Bess sitting at our bedroom casement, letting down her long black hair into our courtyard! I'm not sure how the highwayman would get his horse over the wall though!

The stud walls around the stairs have been completed

The kitchen has a ceiling and the walls are taking shape!

Plastered wall, new ceiling and exposed brickwork in the dining room

Rob and Lois, you can both sleep easy now that the decision has finally been taken to leave this patch of brickwork exposed! The builders are going to rake out the loose mortar and find lime mortar to match the existing mortar. They will also replace one or two bricks that are past their best and have been filled with modern concrete. Sorry about the pile of stuff in front of it, but I am sure you get the idea.

Plastered walls and a new ceiling in the living room

You thought that the house renovation (or our enthusiasm for the blog) had died. Not so....

There has been a period of about three weeks with no input from the builders, because of the need to dry out the fabric of the house with dehumidifiers.
That finished the day before we went to Uckfield for Hannah and Dan's wedding, so the builders have been working for a week without any interference from us!
The first thing we noticed was that we couldn't get in, because they had put in our new front door, which opens inwards, as all sensible front doors should. It looks really smart, even at the undercoat stage.
This morning we went after breakfast and were amazed to find plaster on the walls and ceilings where ceilings ought to be. What a change! It's beginning to look like a house we might live in!
I hope you enjoy the photos.