Thursday 23 December 2010

Lounge blinds



Finally got the blinds up in the lounge tonight too. Started last night drilling holes but thought it was a bit noisy at 11pm so stopped until this evening.

We're both pretty happy with how they've turned out, though they could probably do with a steaming.

One step closer...

Monday 20 December 2010

Dining room update


Just to update you all, the decorating in the dining room has been put on hold until January as the decorator slipped in the snow and fractured his arm :(

Bedroom blind



Just finished putting up the blind in our bedroom. I thought it was going to be a bit of a nightmare to line up the holes in the wood with the holes in the wall but Lu came up with a good idea and it all worked out quite well!

So we now have a proper anti-light device in our bedroom rather than the curtain from our last place which had temporarily (for a year!) stuffed in at the top if the window to keep light out.

Next, I'll be attempting the blinds in the loungebay window!

Saturday 11 December 2010

Sanding the dining room



We've spent the weekend sanding and varnishing the floors in preparation for the decorator coming next week. He's unfortunately fallen on ice and fractured his arm however so we're hoping he's going to be able to find us a replacement, otherwise we'll be doing it ourselves or waiting until next year :( fingers crossed!

Wednesday 1 December 2010

One year anniversary


Just a quick note to say that we realised only this evening that its our one year anniversary at the house today!

We've come a long way and now we've just got to finish up the last stretch. More posts to follow soon.

Sunday 14 November 2010

More stripping



We spent today stripping the rest of the old wallpaper in the dining room, on our quest to finish the house. In the process, we've uncovered a hole near one of the radiators that we'll have to find a way to fill.

We've also been removing the old architrave around the doors and putting up new ones.

I think we're both starting to tire on the journey to the end, nearly there though.

Sunday 7 November 2010

A few odd jobs



Our month off from the house while our friends were here is over, back to the grind stone.

This week we've done a few odd jobs around the house. We've finished off the coving in the lounge, put the brass handle on the spare room door, fixed the ceiling on the bathroom and started stripping the rest of the wallpaper in the dining room.

More to come as we progress.

Monday 4 October 2010

Spare bed



Also assembled an IKEA bed in the spare room for guests.

It's a day bed, so during the day you push the front part underneath the main section and you can use it as a bed/couch, or you can have it out like this as a double bed.

A good space saver, and there are three big drawers for storage underneath too.

Sunday 3 October 2010

Our bed!



Finally, after having it for nearly 10 months and having almost paid it off, and never having slept in it, we finally built our bed! We've been waiting for the upstairs to be finished so we can get the same run of carpet throughout and when that went in, we were able to do it. The bedding was bought ages ago soon and its the first time we've seen it out like this, colour co-ordinated with the rest of the room.



Feels like were on the home straight now :)

Thursday 30 September 2010

Carpet



All the hard work over the last few weeks has finally paid off and both of the upstairs rooms and the stairs are now finally carpeted.

It's quite strange to be sitting here at the top of the stairs with 75% of the house now done, knowing that the end of the renovations are not far away.

Saturday 25 September 2010

Wood!



We also got a metre cubes bag of seasoned wood delivered in preparation for winter fires with the wood burners.

Cupboard finished



The cupboard in the spare room is finished too. It's actually nicer than the one in our room, but much less hanging space as its just for guests.

Now that both the cupboard and shelves are done, there coving and beading to be finished in both the lounge and spare room to finish them both off.

The will be more updates next week when the carpet goes in.

Lounge alcove shelves



So the shelves are finally in and done in the lounge! There's another set of shelves exactly the same on the other side of the chimney. We can now start unpacking all of our boxes and putting books and DVDs that we haven't seen since we moved.

The room feels smaller now but somehow longer too. It's going to give us loads of storage, which is just what we need.

Thursday 23 September 2010

Spare Room cupboard



Day 1: New cupboard is looking good after just a few hours by the new Polish carpenter. The last carpenter (Irish) we had has disappeared from the village, his workshop has even been demolished, strange.

We're happy with the results so far. I think he'll start on the alcoves today, so more pictures soon.

Wednesday 22 September 2010

Spare Room update



We've finished painting the spare room last night. We've gone for a light brown colour called Wittering Sands on the back wall, which you can see here, and then a light silver colour called Cornforth White on the chimney breast.

All in good time too, we have a carpenter in today starting on the cupboard. He'll also be working on the alcove shelves in the lounge, so I'll be posting photo updates over the next few days.

Saturday 18 September 2010

Skirting board fix



Back from holiday, no rest for the wicked. We're still trying to finish the spare room before our visitors arrive. Had to put in some skirting board where the cupboard used to be and our en suite now is.

After two trips to Champion, couldn't get the wood to match exactly but that's nothing a little No Nails and some caulking couldn't fix :)

Thursday 2 September 2010

Painting the spare room



We were up until midnight last night putting the first undercoat of white paint on the ceiling and walls.

The ceiling and coving will be white and the walls the same Fired Earth White Mulberry in our room. Still deciding on a colour for the chimney breast.

It alwayslooks quite clinical at this stage.

Wednesday 1 September 2010

Dining room lighting



Had an electrician come in yesterday to install a new lighting set up in the dining room. We've got four spot lights in each corner of the room, one of which you can see in the background.

Then for above where we are planning on having the dining table, we've had two drop lights installed. Both of these are on dimmer switches, for mood lighting :-)

Monday 23 August 2010

Stripping the dining room



Before we lay down the carpet upstairs, we want to have new lights installed in the dining room. Hence the need to strip the ceiling and walls downstairs.

Paul & Marian came over to help over the weekend. The current wallpaper is about five layers deep, and we were working away until late in the evening to just get the ceiling done.

Lining the spare room



Lucie and I started lining the spare room for painting last week. We've done the ceiling and got around about half of the walls over the weekend.

We're on a tight schedule to finish before Mark & Rach arrive in October.

Sunday 8 August 2010

Spare room fireplace



Spent the whole day putting the fireplace that arrived this morning into the wall in the spare room.

Hired a medium electric breaker from a nearby tool store and broke open the chimney and fitted it in.

Had some issues re-fitting the skirting boards but all ok now with some cement :-)

Monday 2 August 2010

Coving



We sanded the walls over the weekend and have now started beading the skirting boards and coving, before we start lining the walls in the spare room.

There is a lot still to be done before friends arrive from Australia for a visit in October.

Saturday 31 July 2010

Stair Handrail



Did all the preparation and drilling last weekend but had to wait for the paint to dry before I could put the new handrail up on the stairs. No more dirty hand marks on the wall now hopefully.

Lucie and I were looking at original photos of the house last night, its amazing how things have changed.

Tuesday 27 July 2010

Spare Room



After waiting for Lucie to start feeling a bit better, we've finally started on the spare room. Paul and Maz came round on Friday and started filling cracks on the ceiling and walls before we start lining. Maz made some good headway on the garden too.

I've removed the old architrave from around the door, done some final steaming, removed the remainder of the old cupboard and finished the filling.

Wednesday 21 July 2010

Kitchen Pan Rack



I finally got the pan rack up in the kitchen. The pots and pans have been laying around in the dining room,  so it's good to get them hanging up and easily accessible.

Saturday 17 July 2010

Brass light switch



We've not been doing much around the house while Lucie has been ill. I put up some brass light fittings today that I've been meaning to do for a while now.

You can see my eyes in the switches and the lounge wallpaper in the background.

Sunday 27 June 2010

Brass fittings



Done a few odd jobs around the house today, put the handle on the lounge door as you can see above.

Also hung the other bronze hall light at the top of the stairs and changed the light switches in the hallway for bronze ones. Getting a nice consistency running through the house now.

Mounted the TV on the wall



I mounted the tellie on the wall in the lounge yesterday. I was a bit worried when the drill went in for the top hole, it was a bit too much like cutting butter with a hot knife. I think it was just between two bricks though as its still up on the wall this morning :-)

Need to cover up the wires now.

Log store



Built our log store yesterday. This was bought for us by Lucie's godmother as a moving in gift but we only found one recently. Now we need to get some logs so they can season before Winter.

Looking forward to using the woodburners later this year!

Sunday 20 June 2010

Hall light



Just finished installing a new light in the hall. I had to make a few adjustments to get the door to open without bashing it. I'm really pleaded we've gone for the bronze furnishings around the house, it looks really good.

Got another one of these to install at the top of the stairs too.

Thursday 17 June 2010

New sofas




Our new sofas were delivered yesterday. We've got one smaller linen one for in the bay window, which fits in very nicely, and a bigger, leather sofa bed for against the wall.

I gave the floor another coat of varnish the night before they arrived. We both lay on them last night and watched the South Africa vs Uruguay game.

Saturday 5 June 2010

New oven



We also had our new oven delivered this week, after the last one was disconnected as it was leaking gas.

Not really had a chance to use it yet, but its got to be better than the last one left here by the previous owner.

Stairway finished



The decorator finished the stairway this week. He's lined and painted the walls and ceiling, so were one more step closer to finishing the house.

We still need a banister and carpet the stairs, but we'll do that once the spare room is finished.

Monday 31 May 2010

Stairway



We spent most of today architraving around the four stairway doors and beading the stairs. We have a decorator coming tomorrow to line, paint and cove the stairway walls as its too high and inaccessible for us to do. Looking forward to it being finished soon.

Lounge wallpaper



Finished wallpapering one of the lounge walls, just got to finish the chimney and then we'll be done. The painting is done too and we have sofas on order due to arrive soon. Just need to get the carpenter to make and install the shelves and we can finally sit and relax in it :-)

Thursday 27 May 2010

Radiators



We had a plumber come in yesterday to move two radiators in the house. The one above is in the lounge and has been moved from behind the door to along side the outside wall, do we can eventually mount the TV on the wall behind the door.

We also had the radiator in the spare room replaced with a smaller version and moved to under the window, so we can put another decorative fireplace in the chimney.

Saturday 22 May 2010

Lounge woodburner



We had our lounge woodburner installed yesterday. Too late for winter now (its 24 degrees here today) and it still needs to be smoke tested but at least its in now.

Monday 17 May 2010

Lining the lounge



We spent most evenings last week after work and the whole weekend lining the roof and the walls of the lounge in preparation of painting the room. We actually got around to putting a white top coat on the roof, coving and above the picture rail.

It looks so vastly different now its hard to believe its the same room. Paul and Maz helped over the weekend too and Maz did some gardening, which is exploding with the sporadic showers were having.

Thursday 6 May 2010

Front door bay trees



We bought and potted some bay trees for either side of the front door. Adds a little something extra to the entrance of the house.

Wednesday 28 April 2010

Garden



Thought I'd post a picture of how the garden has blossomed since the air has turned to Spring. Loads of colour coming out now with plants and flowers I have no idea what they are. Need to get in there and do some weeding at some point too.

Thursday 8 April 2010

Front house windows



So we finally got our planning permission approved to have the windows at the front of the house installed, only took 2 months!

One of our neighbours told us when we'd already ordered them - the back windows are already installed - that we needed planning permission because our road had recently been turned into a conservation area.

So we pre-empted the approval and booked the installation 2 days after the agreed approval date and they're in!

Friday 2 April 2010

Toilet installed



The toilet was finally fully installed this week. Take any timing a tradesman gives you and double it! Anyway, it's in and working so we now have an en suite loo in the room.

I have just finished putting grout cleaner and protector on the tiles. The plumber put his grubby paws all over the paintwork so the walls will need another coat (will have to cover everything in paper/plastic) of paint. Black pipe will also need painting to white.

Tuesday 30 March 2010

Toilet update



So the sink is in, and the tiles have been laid, though the grouting still needs to be done.

The toilet is in as of today but here's a picture from yesterday on how it was looking.

Thursday 25 March 2010

Upstairs toilet and sink



It's day 2 on the install of the en suite toilet and sink in the "cupboard" space upstairs. Not much to see yet but the bedroom is a state as you can see, tools everywhere, and the floor is a real mess!

Sounds like it's now going to take longer than expected :( but should be good when finished :)


Wednesday 24 March 2010

Stripping wallpaper



Lucie and I were up until midnight last night, stripping wallpaper from around the electrics in the stairway, in the hope that the plasterer who's coming today will smooth these over for us, to a decorating standard.

Front Door Light



We've had an electrician in this week, as we're having a toilet and sink put in upstairs. He's had to test the house before the plumber can go ahead and he's had to rewire the lounge and stairway.

He's also installed a few lights around the house, at the top of the stairs, in the loft and a new light (with night motion sensor) outside the front door.

To-Do Lists!



These are our lists of to-do's on the dining room wall. Each on is an A3 sheet of paper, with things to do from top to bottom for each room. Feels pretty good when we cross something off :)

Woodburner



The picture is a little bit dark but here is the woodburner going a couple of weeks ago, with logs stacked either side of it.

It's getting a bit milder now so we've not had a chance to use it much lately.

Loft ladder



We had the handyman put a loft ladder in last week so that we can move all the bags & boxes lying around, out of the way, and give us some space. Put down some chipboard on the joists to support all the boxes.

We found Mr Pickles up there sleeping one day, and had to take him to the vet as he had got fibre glass in his eyes! He's currently on anti-biotics & eye drops :(

Thursday 4 March 2010

Woodburner



Finally had one of our woodburners installed in the dining room fireplace downstairs after rain delayed the first installation.

Really looking forward to using it this weekend as it's been quite chilly here this week - am keen to see how much it heats up the house, and hearing the fire crackle.

Note to self: Get some logs for the weekend!

Architraving



I have finished adding the architraving around the bedroom doors. We can finish lining the room now and putting down a layer of white paint before we pick our room colours.

We have also painted the cupboard white and I've finished the ceiling coving and skirting board beading.

Thursday 25 February 2010

Bedroom cupboard


We had a carpenter make and install a built in cupboard for our bedroom earlier this week. We still have to prime and paint it but this is a big step to completing the room.


We can finish the coving, beading & lining now, and then do the architraving around the doors and more!