It's time we updated the blog on the INSIDE of the house. It's all too easy to get carried away with the garden, walls, veggies etc but the REAL show Must Go On, or we'll still be living in this shed in 2012.
The last couple of weeks have seen loads of progress, with plasterers working their way round the house, closely followed by Ian (and sometimes me) with the paint roller, sprayer or brush. UFH (underfloor heating) and floor screed are all down so now we're just 'finishing off'....
This is a challenging time for me. Not the most decisive person at the best of times, I am even driving myself up the proverbial off-white wall.
Whether to have Lichen or Skimming Stone on the woodwork, or White Mist, Elephants Breath or Churlish Green on a feature wall is only just the beginning. What about mosaics in the shower, but do they match the travertine on the floor (incidentally when buying stone tiles they are a fraction of the price if you buy them on line...) and how far up the wall do the tiles go?? Do you HAVE to have tiles behind the loo? Does the freestanding bath HAVE to have freestanding taps, how thick is the acrylic it's made from and will it wobble when you get in?
Do we really care? I suspect once I'm ensconced up to my neck in bubbles, red wine in one hand and book in the other, I won't even notice that the off white wall is a different off-white to the ceiling.
Actually, it's positively thrilling to see the finished colour on the bedroom walls. "Blackened", a cool version of - yup - off-white, conjures up images of sunny mornings, breeze gently blowing the soft white curtains whilst lounging, coffee in hand, gazing at the distant views.... Reality quickly kicks in however as the rain drums on the shed roof, and for the first time this evening I could see my own breath in the air.
Credit where credit is due - it is truly a joy to watch this man, Andy, plastering our walls - it is as smooth as a baby's bottom when he's finished. He's even managed to round off the edges to make some bits look 'old'.
And I think I'm in love with Kevin the carpenter. He's here every day, fixing everything, making it all fit together like a big jigsaw, and most important, being NICE at the same time despite having a bad back. Here he is putting plasterboard on the kitchen ceiling.
And here are the stairs which he's now put in. They fit perfectly much to my relief, despite having to cut off a piece of oak beam to get them in.
Since the last-but-one post we are pleased to say we have now ordered a kitchen. It is hilarious really - it's the same one we ordered a year ago and cancelled two days later. We've only been through 5 or 6 other kitchen firms since then. Classic. Roll on those happy days of filling the dishwasher and scrubbing out the sink.
