26.03.07 Ramblings

Well, the budget has run out. The house is not quite finished. It needs a stair carpet, woodwork on the stairs and the middle floor bedroom finishing, but phase 1 of the house renovation is almost complete. Phase 2 is the garden and phase 3 is converting the out buildings into the kitchen, utility room and toilet.
We move tomorrow and I sit here in Church Street thinking that this will be the last time that I will sleep in this little cottage. I've lived here for 3 years and it's a bit sad to leave. I will miss the fact that it only takes 1 hour to clean and Rob will miss the fact that it only took 10 seconds to get to the pub, now it's going to take 4 minutes!!!!
We move tomorrow and in true Diane style everything is left to the last minute! Nothing is packed and Mickey and John (who dug out the garden with their JCB) will bring their van and trailer and send us on our way. Via the chippy for their tea! But as Mickey would say "It dunt matter" the fact that I've not packed. Packing tomorrow will consist of throwing stuff into suitcases and boxes and hoping for the best. Thankfully, we still own this house and so moving can really take as long as we like. Well, within this week.

26.03.07 Third Floor, Front Bedroom

Phil fitted this carpet today too. This room is complete, apart from a door to the en suite. You see how everything is complete apart from a ......! But I love this room and I think that it's possibly my second favourite room. Mainly because, not only is it lovely, but I did all the tiling and grouting in the en suite. I do sometimes think that this house is far too posh to live in or use, especially as it will take me 3 times longer to clean it, than the small cottage on Church Street ever did!

26.03.07 Third Floor, Back Bedroom

Phil, the carpet man came today and fitted the top floor carpets. This is another room finished. It just needs a curtain pole.

23.03.07 The Bathroom

The bathroom is complete. I think the splendour of it speaks for itself. This is our favourite room of the whole house. It just needs a blind, some towels and bits and pieces to finish it off.

18.03.07 The Bathroom

All the grouting has been finished. Rob's Dad grouted all the floor last week. I have started painting the walls and they should be finished by Wednesday.

Rob made this cabinet last week too. It matches the sink unit.

By the end of this week the bathroom should be completed. The bedroom carpets should have be installed too. Once the middle bedroom has been cleaned out then we can move in. I think we will finally be moving in sometime during the last week in March. Yippee!

13.03.07 Woodwork

Today Rob has been making the toilet and sink unit in oak. As usual, he's done a wonderful job. Tomorrow he will make a corner unit also in oak.
As usual, I have been grouting this evening. I'm not sure why I used the grater for the cheese tonight when I could have just used my fingers! DIY is not glamorous!
We had a hole in the bath but we've fixed it with some adhesive. We will have to buy a new bath eventually and now Rob has a good excuse to buy one with water jets. The money is finally running out so we aren't able to buy one now.

11.03.07 The Bathroom

Today Rob installed the bath. Today I grouted, as usual! Rob's Dad has started to grout the floor. We have the light for the bathroom which was on the cooker in the previous pictures.

Lindsay and Jonathan came today and they said what I'd already thought about the Aqua paint. It doesn't go with the tiles. So I shall paint the walls cream instead.

Once this room is finished then we can start to clean the whole house up and move in! Yes really, we can move in!

10.03.07 Our Home!

Just a few bits which are beginning to turn our house into a home. We got the cooker installed and we now have curtains in the front room. They are slightly too long so they will be cut off and the excess used to make a couple of cushions for the settees.

10.03.07 The Electrics

Marcus came and completed the second fitting for the electrics. You can see the consumer unit which is situated in the kitchen and the wiring in the cellar from the main consumer unit which is also in the cellar. This means that we can now take out all the old plug sockets and fill them. Thankfully, there was only one plug socket in each room!

09.03.07 The En Suite

Is now finished! The shower no longer leaks so we can now have the carpet put down in both bedrooms.

The skirting boards have been fitted and the macerator has been boxed in.

09.03.07 The Bathroom

Rob finished tiling the bathroom. I think it looks lovely. It will look even better when it's been grouted.

Mac has been undercoating the ceiling in the shower room and the far wall with the radiator on it and has done a wonderful job. We were slightly worried that it would be too bumpy but he's been busy sanding it down so that it is smooth.

05.03.07 The Bathroom

Rob has put down all the floor boards in the bathroom and has laid the underfloor heating. He went off to Wickes tonight to buy some flexible floor tile adhesive. Tomorrow all the floor tiles will have been laid.

03.03.07 The Bathroom

I've been busy grouting. I no longer have skin on any of my right hand fingers. Thankully, our carpet fitter Phil, has given me top tips for grouting......if only he had told me weeks ago! The tips don't involve loosing any skin, which I'm pleased to hear about! It means that you won't see any of the grout on the tiles like you do on these pictures. Well that's the plan!

The exciting news is that we plan on moving into the house in 4 weeks time.

02.03.07 The Bathroom

Rob has worked on the house this week and he has done wonderful tiling. He cheated with the tiles in the shower area but that secret remains between us. Thankfully, Rob got the light up between the wall on one of the other wires. All lights have now been installed. Since he installed the dimmer switch when it's dark the PIR lights look faboulous. I can imagine bathing with glasses of champagne!