With just one week til we move back in, is it ambitious to think that there might be a room that was ready? Apparently, yes! To be fair, one room (the en-suite) is completed it’s just that the heating/water/something needs to be turned on before it can all be used. And Eloise’s room is very very close to being finished. The excitement is mounting now as we’re looking forward to going home so much!
The top two floors are now the proud owners of doors and skirting boards. The decorating is well underway. The plumbing and electrics are still very close to being completed. I’m hoping that I won’t be around when the plumbers are trying to move the bath into the bathroom – watching them manoeuvring the shower screen wasn’t much fun and I can’t imagine the bath will be easier despite reassurances from all and sundry.
The kitchen worktop has now been installed and has transformed the kitchen already. When the tap goes in and the dishwasher is plumbed in we will have a fully functional kitchen – albeit that there is a counter-top unit to be fitted and tiling to be done before we move back in, both due to happen in the next couple of days. The kitchen units will be painted the week after we’ve moved back in and we’ve been dithering between two almost identical colours but think we’ve made our final decision (fog, in case you were wondering!).
The plasterers have been back this week to finish the last bits of “making good” in the lounge and guest bedroom. Extra scaffolding has gone up so that all is now ready for them to start the rendering.
The only set back was when the gas pipe was tested yesterday to make sure there would be no leaks when the gas was connected to the boiler. The test did not go as we would have hoped had we known it was happening! Unfortunately the tests showed the pipe to have a leak. Which meant that the new flooring in the hall had to come up so that the pipe could be fixed. The broken bit of pipe has been found and fixed so it’s good to know that we can have confidence in not having a gas leak now! It does mean that the hallway won’t be as flawless as it would have been though and that the plumbers weren’t able to get on with the other tasks for the day. Running water is still only available underneath the sink in the kitchen as a result!
Tomorrow we also have people coming to find out what the problem is with the chimney flue too – it’s taken about two years to get somebody to actually come and do this. If anyone is looking for a business idea, I would suggest fixing flues in our area. Definitely a gap in the market over here!
Next week the carpets will arrive and we will have some serious cleaning action going on before our move in day. There will still be some decorating and carpentry to be done once we’re back in. A lot of the decorating will be down to us at this point and the lounge, spare bedroom and study are all looking pretty destroyed by the building work. They are the three rooms that have been “least affected” by the building work but are all still covered in building mess and large patches of bare plaster. At least when we’re back in we’ll be able to do some decorating in the evening/at weekends without having to go out to do it. I doubt that all of this decoration will be completed by the time we have our first guests come to stay but who doesn’t love a feature wall??
