Kitchen delivery

We were very excited to receive delivery of our kitchen units this week, together with our new fridge/freezer and microwave.  It took Adrian and his dad ages to unpack everything and check every item, before wrapping it all up again.   Adrian just needs to finish the staircase (bannister, posts & spindles - taking much longer than I had anticipated!) before moving on to the kitchen.  I'm learning to pace my expectations, and not thinking each job is just a weekend long!

One exciting thing is that the house has been slept in for the very first time! Bob and Pam have been to stay for a few days, in our brand new guest room, and so the girls have been allowed to sleep in their new rooms, with nice big beds, and much-wanted bedroom doors.  Plus they've enjoyed having bed time cuddles with their cats, who are still cautiously getting used to the new space. (New back door cat flap ordered.)  Adrian and I will get to sleep in our blissfully comfy old bed tomorrow night once Bob and Pam have gone home (although I have to say our caravan bed has been really cosy these past 10 months).

Adrian and Bob have spent this Fathers' Day weekend continuing to perfect the staircase, eliminating all creaks by gluing, biscuit-jointing and screwing up every single step.  Nothing new to look at, but it's good to know it's solidly built!  I should also thank Pam for doing ALL the washing up in the caravan these past few days.  It's been lovely not to have to do it.

Adrian's spent an evening researching and ordering the next batch of required bathroom items: Hannah's en suite toilet, sink and shower, Emma's mirrored bathroom cabinet, the downstairs toilet and sink, our en suite toilet and shower cubicle, and the kitchen sink. Next job, ordering the kitchen work surface (after seeing exactly how the new cupboards were going to fit in), and putting in all the kitchen plumbing before the cupboards can be installed.  The grand project continues ....

Girls' rooms ...

Still in the caravan ... but check out the girls' new rooms - couldn't be more opposite!  They definitely reflect their characters beautifully.

 

 

 

And Adrian has laid the flooring on the landing and guest room which is now almost ready for Bob and Pam coming to stay this week.  We've said the girls can finally sleep in their rooms when there's grown-ups with them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our room still has some way to go!

And downstairs, we've had a big tidy-up in anticipation of the kitchen being delivered in the next few days.

 

All in all, a productive weekend ...

Doors ... and a big window ...

Thanks to the return of Pat and Alan for five days, we have seen a big progression this week, their main achievement being the installation of our bedroom's internal window.

 

They also did a great job fitting all internal doors (handles added after taking this photo), all remaining window sills in position, and laying the paving slabs outside the front door.

Adrian enjoyed his week at home working on the house at the end of May, but also had to make time for Hannah and my birthdays and our wedding anniversary, with visits from Jen, Dad & Pen to help with the celebrations (and more painting!). We're really pleased with our final choice of hallway lampshades.



We've also had more visits from Bob the Electrician who is gradually installing lights as and when we have ordered them.







The next thing on the agenda is the kitchen delivery next week which will be exciting.  Better finish the second coat of paint!

We are expecting various visits from the Greaney family over the coming months (Bob and Pam are coming in two weeks for the Fathers' Day weekend) so we are trying to finish as many rooms as possible to accommodate everyone (possibly as many as 14 when Pete & Jo come and visit from America!).  And the balustrade and spindles have been ordered to make the staircase safe for little visitors. Must get a move on ...

Girls' bedrooms nearly done ...

Not quite done in time for Hannah's birthday last week, but very nearly there.  The girls helped lay their wooden flooring, which made the job much quicker.  (Adrian is off work all this half-term week and making great progress with all sorts of jobs.)

 

Adrian re-painted Hannah's room after deciding it was just a little bit too pale.  He used a narrower brush second time in order to have more stripes, ending up with a deeper blue.  Very pretty.

This is the huge pile of skirting board and architraving waiting to be painted and fitted.  First batch ...

And, we are relieved to have FINALLY chosen and ordered our kitchen - a very lengthy and complicated process (DIY-Kitchens).  Here below are the sample doors we narrowed it down to. 

No-one will be surprised to hear we've gone for the sage, combined with some oak cupboards too.  Should hopefully be with us mid-June, all ready-built for Adrian to fit.  Exciting! Now for the flooring, cooker, fridge/freezer, sink, work-top, pendant light and microwave to be chosen - the decisions never end ...

 

 Finally, Dobby & Pickle's latest favourite snooze spots in the awning ...

 

 

Beautiful Staircase Built - no more ladders!

Adrian is secretly really proud of his beautiful 'floating' staircase construction.  Obviously it still needs balustrades and a bannister, but we no longer need to climb the ladder - hooray!

 The corner steps are each constructed using four oak boards biscuit jointed together.

We have finally ordered our hallway lampshades - four hanging in a line.  Here, Adrian is trying to help me visualise the scale using Emma's netballs!

Hannah's bedroom paint effect

After many weeks deliberating how to achieve the desired effect, Hannah has finally managed to paint her room in a beautiful blended sky colour.  The method?  Three of us each with a big wide brush painting the whole room a horizontal stripe at a time, adding a miniscule amount of dipped mixer stick of blue each stripe, blending as we went ... very subtle.

 Another heartening sight is the pretty flowers growing out of our front garden rubble ...

Spring has definitely sprung ...

And on to our next challenge ... how on earth to install the internal window (delivered this week, and entailing a mad dash around the neighbours - in the pouring rain - enlisting help with the unloading - cheers Martin!) ...

 



Mind the Gap

Work on the staircase continues ... slowly ...