Gradual progress

Since my last post a couple of weeks ago it feels as though progress has been slow, but we have to balance our time between getting on with the practical decorating tasks, and spending time doing invaluable on-line research in order to get the best value for all new purchases.

The most exciting bit of progress (for me, at least!) is that we've been able to have baths and hairwashes in the lovely new family bathroom which Adrian has gradually been installing.  No more trekking round to long-suffering and generous friends and neighbours of an evening!  The new toilet has been in use for several weeks, then the sink, and now the bath.  (For a period of time it was really frustrating to have plenty of hot water in the pipes, but no way of using it!  Also, we currently have no way of timing the hot water as the new system is controlled with a fancy App, and the house has no WiFi yet!)  Emma has chosen some striking mosaic tiles in stripes, and Adrian is now finishing off tiling the shower so we can use that too.  The bathroom flooring is bought and ready to install, and then that's the first room finished.  We still need to use a ladder to get upstairs, but I persuaded Adrian that a shower was the most important item to start off with! 

 
 

The other exciting event this week is that we've had our furniture delivered back out of storage, even though it's now piled up in two (undecorated) rooms downstairs, now that the screed flooring is completely dried out.  At least we no longer have to pay for the storage, and we can access everything we need as and when each room gets decorated.

 

After the bathroom the stairs is the next thing for Adrian to build (he's really excited by this challenge) so that we can more easily access upstairs (although I've almost mastered climbing ladders hands-free!!), and get new carpets fitted in the bedrooms, and move furniture upstairs.  Hannah would dearly love to be sleeping in her new bedroom by her birthday in a month's time (with her precious Dobby cat, who currently sleeps in the garden room), so I really hope we can achieve that - although we've told her to prepare to have to wait just a little bit longer ... maybe?  We're waiting for Bob the electrician to come back and make the electrics safe for us to move in, and sort out all the lighting.  (The house currently has no lights fitted, so all night-time decorating or bath times have to be under the glare of builders lamps!)

After much research we've ordered all the internal doors (16 in total), the first batch of which should arrive in the next couple of weeks.  Adrian likes to play a game where he compares the actual figure of new purchases against those he allocated a year ago in the proposed project budget.  Nine times out of ten he's spot on, even one year on, if not even under budget - as is the case with these doors.  As you can imagine he finds that very satisfying.  Another thing we've ordered this week is the internal window and frame in our bedroom overlooking the extension.  It will be good to get that fitted before the bedroom carpets arrive ... not yet chosen, but we're on the case.  Hannah is wanting a white carpet (?!!) and Emma would like "half black, half white", so a bit of re-negotiating is required there, I fear!

Another large order to confirm is all the architraving and skirting boards for the entire house ... metres and metres of the stuff! 

I forgot to say, the reason why we've been able to plough on with all this ordering of stuff, is because Adrian and I have successfully managed to persuade the bank to extend our mortgage the small (in the big scheme of things!) amount of money we knew we needed to finish the whole project (including, eventually, the garage out the front, and the landscaping).  Someone came out to value the property and, even in its current unfinished state, the bank were happy to release more funds.  This means that, instead of purchasing everything gradually in a very carefully planned order - depending on build-priority- we can order as and when we find the right deals.  We really must get on and order the kitchen - which presumably will take at least 6-8 weeks to deliver - but Adrian and I just get such little time to sit down together and make important decisions like this.  Too many choices!

Adrian is, without a doubt, the person working most hard on the project - every single non-working/sleeping hour  - but I too am doing my best to help, as far as domestic/parenting/volunteering chores allow.  I've done a fair bit of painting, but there are hours and hours still to do.  It makes sense to try and finish all  this before the furniture gets put back - I'm a bit slap dash!  The girls unfortunately aren't keen on helping (not to Adrian's exacting standards!), so it's a constant struggle to keep them gainfully occupied while we neglect them.  Hey ho. It's not forever. (Thank you to all friends who kindly have them round to play.)

This has been a ridiculously long post so sorry about that.  Lots of catching up to report on.  I'll try not to leave it too long before the next one ...

Easter - Goodbye Builders

We arrived at Easter with the shell of the house complete, and reluctantly had to say goodbye to Pat and Alan, dictated by the diminishing budget.  The plasterers have almost finished the outside render - just a tiny bit left which requires an extra order of plaster arriving next week.

 

The plumber's signed off the heating - both the boiler and the underfloor heating - so we can now start to warm the place up a tiny bit and speed up the drying out process.  There's a huge amount of water in the structure to be dried out.

 Now we must concentrate on choosing bathroom tiles (starting with the upstairs family bathroom), and ordering the kitchen units.  Lots of decisions!  And Adrian's made a start on building the staircase ... to be continued ...