Exteriors and Interiors

Plastering is nearly complete inside the extension and the outside of the house is looking heaps better after some initial layers of paint.

The builders are also starting to gut the inside of the house, starting on the old bathroom and the old kitchen, which will now be a utility room.

They've also been pulling out glass fibre from the roof which is probably 100 years old.

Roof lanterns

In order to ensure the dining room still gets enough light and the kitchen gets plenty in too, we've finally had our roof lanterns installed.

They will have uplights in them once they're done and the electrics are in giving of a nice glow at night.

We're both really happy with how they look.

Roof on

The build of the extension is going ahead nicely. We've had the roof go on since I last blogged about it. It's not completely finished yet, still some more bitumen to go on but largely there.

They've also been working on the new drainage system under the foundations so that been some mucky, hard work for them.

More when I have it.

Walls up

The builders have managed to get the walls built up this week, he's really happy with the progress he's making, and so are we.

He thinks he should had the roof on by next week and make it all watertight, so going great guns at the moment.

Pictures of the progress so far below.

Foundations are in!

So it's taken 3 months but the foundations are finally in!

The piling company came yesterday and put in the cages, which you can see below, which have anti-heave under them. It's basically glorified polystyrene. They then proceeded to fill all the trenches with concrete which set overnight.

We had to lock the cats in to make sure we didn't have half a kitty sticking out of wet cement.

Anyway, very happy to have that all out of the way, so onward and upward now with the build!

Piling

So the extension is about to start again after a brief hiatus.

The piling contractors came today and brought all their machinery for the next few days of work. They made a test hole 8m into the ground, using a boring machine.

This is going to form the base of the foundations in order to combat the issue with the tree next door.

Fingers crossed nothing else comes up and the extension will be done before Christmas.

Garden Turf

So before we start on the next big project on the house, renovating the kitchen and bathroom, we wanted to get the bottom of the garden sorted out and turf it, as it had really overgrown with weeds. The picture above might look pretty, but those are all weeds.

So we weed whacked these all out, cut down a dead tree and removed a tree stump. Over a few weeks, we then got a garden services company to come in and poison the roots and prep the area. I then installed the new garden fence just before they started. This is what it looked like after the first day.

And this is what the finished product looks like, garden turf laid and down! We're very happy with how it looks. The guys over at Mr Green Gardening Services did a really great job. 

We just have to water it loads and make sure that it doesn't flake out. Shouldn't be too hard with all the wet weather we've been having in the UK.

New Garden Fence

It's been a while since the last update. I thought it would be nice if I showed you all what we're up to in the garden.

So Paul and I have put up a new garden fence. I took a few days off work and we have removed the old wire fencing and put up some treated feather board. It actually went a lot faster than both of us were anticipating and we managed to get it up in a day.

Here's what the final product looked like:

We're also having the garden turfed soon so I also have been doing some work on get that ready. A little jack hammer was involved on breaking up the path to make room for the grass:

Nursery Wall Pictures

Finally got our animal prints up in the nursery. They're from Mrs. Booth, the eco friendly animal collection - colourful pictures for kids printed on recycled paper using vegetable inks. She has a whole range, so check them out. We got the elephant, giraffe and owl (below).

Also put up some vintage style owl hooks up for hanging things on, like the occasional pooey nappy! Put a few behind the door too. All ties in well with the room's theme.

Elephant Wall Stickers

We wanted something to go on the walls in the nursery that had a child like quality to it, but nothing that went around the whole of the room.

Lu found some stickers that we both liked of some elephants. Naturally, they weren't from anywhere close and had to be ordered from the Antipodes, Australia to be exact.

The company is called Vinyl Design and they have some great wall stickers so check out their website. Really like how it turned out. Especially Lu's clever idea to use one of the ellie's above the mirror.

Nursery shelves

I also put up a couple of floating shelves today, above the changing table so that we'll have more space for  storage for baby "things". We're going to get a night light up on them at some point soon too.

I took a few more photos of the blind, shelves and changing table so you can all see how the rest of the nursery is coming along.

Nursery Blind

We've never had a blind up in the spare room as we always figured we'd wait it became a nursery and choose something appropriate for a child.

Lu found the fabric on Etsy and then Caroline found the manufacturer in Japan and then Lu finally found a supplier in the US, called Hawthorn Threads. The fabric is called Tiny Elephants in Ivory on Slate Grey. We had some mini pillows made up too, as you can see above.

The blind was made up by Milners in Ashtead who have made all our other blinds, and done a great job. I put it up today and it is going to tie in well with all the other elephant themed elements in the nursery.

Changing Table

This arrived earlier this week and once I'd pulled it out it was clear this was a weekend job!

Spent yesterday and today putting it together with Lu's help, mostly because we've been out and about, but the Hanworth changing table which is also from East Coast Nursery was fairly easy to build.

So we pretty much have all the furniture for the room now, I just need to put some shelves up above the changing table. That's a job for another day.

Nursery Cot

So our second cot has finally been delivered. The first one was dropped during delivery (no thanks to Yodel) so I'm glad we were able to get a replacement somewhere else.

I've assembled the cot but I needed a degree to do it! It's an Anna Cot from East Coast Nursery. It wasn't that bad actually but the instructions were crap.

More nursery posts to come soon.

Picture Wall

Finally got around to putting up our picture frames on the dining room wall.

They have been sitting in the understairs cupboard for months now while we decided on the pictures and orientation of each one.

This was something I saw in a bar in London quite a few years ago. That was all different frame shapes and sizes though and I always wanted to do it in the house. We've gone for a travel theme initially, though I suspect this will change over time.

Overall I'm happy with how it worked out, may even add an additional row of pictures below at a later stage.

Nursery mirror

So apparently we're going to be having a baby soon, so we've started getting the nursery ready for the impending arrival of Peanut.

I know there haven't been many posts recently, this will soon be rectified. Without further ado, we thought it would be good if Peanut could see him/herself so I've put in a mirror.

It's still hanging 2 days later so I must have done something right!

Dining room dresser

Finally found a dresser that would fit into our 3 foot alcove next to the chimney in the dining room. More storage space!

Fresh produce

Veggie box is still reaping crop going into autumn. Carrots are a bit deformed but the beans are going wild!