We are getting towards having rooms complete… very exciting! Our bedroom has been painted. White at the moment, while we live with it for a  while and work out what colours we can have where. Maddie bought some of those day light bulbs, but it felt much like what I imagine standing on the surface of the sun (possibly not as hot) – so we’ve replaced them with warm lights. But other than the carpet, which won’t be in until the staircase is fitted, our bedroom is pretty much there.

And the new feature in the view from our bedroom window – the flue is up and that can mean only one thing.

Yup – our new multi-fuel burner is in and it is fantastic – as is the chimney breast around it. Not sure about the pink – but that’s the colour of fireproof plasterboard… Mark Cunningham is the man who sourced and fitted the burner and built the chimney breast around it. All in one day!

And the installation of the burner coinciding with us finally getting all of the radiators fitted. So we have all the central heating up and running again. Did lead to a slightly eccentric Sunday afternoon though.

Few other rooms moving on – in the upstairs bathroom we gave up on the sinkless approach – the tap looked odd on its own… The loo is plumbed in and the guys are hoping to tile it in the coming week before fitting the shower and the towel rail next weekend. The downstairs loo is plumbed in. No lights and no door as yet – so still a bit of an adventure. And the utility room is set up. Hopefully second fix of electrics downstairs in the next week so we will have lights and sockets sorted for the whole house.

Finally, Maddie found a couple of photos of the builders and her new duster. Sometimes I don’t think they take everything seriously…  🙂

Plenty of space, not really any oddities – but this week it felt appropriate to take artistic licence with the Post title.

So we are entering the final few weeks of the project now (I think). There are probably fewer major changes now to see, so only a short post this week, but every little step moves us a bit closer and gives us a better of idea of what the new places is going to be like to live in. So the new third bedroom has had a lick of paint and its curtains put up – and even though it is just primer it is staring to look like a finished room. The bath is plumbed in to the new bathroom as is the tap for the sink – although in an interesting development in bathroom design, no sink as yet…

We have had the girls home for the weekend – a bit manic yesterday when plumbers and plasterers descended, but the guys have pulled out all the stops to clear space for us. So we have been able to use the lounge – ok only half of it and we had to share it with a mountain of plaster, but boy is it a light room!! The dining room space is also opened up and the final kitchen units put in around the fridge freezer. And finally, Gareth fabricated us some folding doors to hide the boiler and pipes in the utility room, even doing some simple router detailing.

It has been a while since we posted, but little happened with the build over the Christmas and New Year period. But the boys have been back with a vengeance in the past week. Not sure what happened over Christmas, but it seems they have taken rather a dislike to stairs if what they have done to ours is anything to go by…

Our new staircase is currently being built – should be in place by mid-February. Elsewhere upstairs, the new bathroom is taking shape. Gareth has built us a cabinet for the sink to sit on and the largest bath in the world has arrived…

Our bedroom is pretty much done other than carpets and a lick o’ paint. Curtain poles and curtains went up in the week; far more important than we had thought in a south facing bedroom with massive windows!

Downstairs things are also moving along. The extractor fan above the cooker is in, the breakfast bar is in, and all of the units are in place – we are just missing the door and drawer handles which are in a box somewhere… The guys have screeded the lounge floor so all of the floors downstairs are at a single level which makes a real difference to how it all feels. And Xander turned up yesterday to build us the brick hearth for the multi-fuel stove to sit on in the new lounge. He used bricks from the chimneys that came down elsewhere in the house and  the lack of uniformity in colour shape and size is a really lovely reminder of how the old house was  – exactly what we wanted.

And finally a bit of a surprise. We had thought that this was some sort of weird modern wall-hung art installation that the guys had given us:

But no. Over the weekend a miracle happened. It started giving out heat. Yup, that’s right, the plumbing has been switched over. Still the two big cast iron radiators to reconnect downstairs, but heating upstairs and hot water too. Loads of it. Probably even too much for Charlotte to use in one of her mega-showers. And just cos we are never satisfied, we had to open the windows in the bedroom today as it was too hot!!!

Bit of a cheeky mid-week post, but with the festivities hurtling our way who knows when I will emerge from my impending food coma to write another update. Big news is that the kitchen is taking shape in time for Christmas. We had an incredibly kind offer from my wonderful sister and her lovely family to spend Christmas at their house but we always wanted to try and stay at home and enjoy our new house. Well with a sterling final push from the plumber and electrician today it looks like we will make it. We should have a functioning kitchen, lights and electrical sockets upstairs, running water and heating. As always the quality of work, and the sheer determination to give us a working home before Christmas set from Alex, Zander, Gareth, Chris, Shaun, Kevin and Charlie and all of the sub-contractors has been great has been fabulous.

And even the front of the house has had a makeover – apologies for the dark photo (I’ll replace it with a better one in the next day or so) – but its night time whenever I get to see the place at the moment. But we can now park on the front of the house!

A few weeks ago we borrowed a Vicar of Dibley catchphrase, but events this week mean there is only one possible source of inspiration for our update post. So with many thanks to Matt Lucas and his Marjorie Dawes creation, this week we shall be talking about 

But before we get on to the week’s main theme. Do you remember how excited we were when our new house sign turned up back in September? Well imagine how fabulous it was to see the sign actually fixed in place – especially when it was coupled with the return of the front door! The front really is starting to take shape now. And it didn’t take Maddie too long to pop out and get a Christmas wreath. The sign really sets off the front of the house, so we are even more grateful to Angharad and Stonesign.

The guys have spent much of the week demolishing the central chimney and the dining room wall. As a result 2 Westcroft Cottages is now the world’s fourth biggest dust producer after the deserts of Kazakhstan, the arid regions of Bhutan and Charlie Brown’s friend Pig Pen* .

It gets everywhere, no matter how careful the guys are, nor how liberally the dust sheets are scattered.

But the chimneys on the landing and in the dining room have gone. Its amazing how wide the landing looks now. And we are starting to see the kitchen/dining room space opened up, with the chimney coming down and the removal of the old external walls of the dining room and the kitchen. And yes that means a new steel going in next week and Acrow props everywhere to support the first floor..

But the progress is really happening quickly too. The master bedroom is almost completely plasterboarded, ready for actual plastering next week. And the new master bathroom and third bedroom are taking shape.

And the existing bathroom (which will become our ensuite) is much warmer now. Still a couple of holes, but much smaller and bathing and showering is slightly more pleasant. And best of all we can get a great idea of how great it is going to be lying in the bath looking up through the skylight.

The maze of plumbing piping is filling up the space between the ground floor ceiling and the first floor. And the screed for the downstairs loo has been laid.

But unfortunately the pipes haven’t been fully connected yet, which means we are still without central heating, and also explains why a lot of the photos are dark. We have some innovative solutions to keep warm from propping up sheets of insulation against every window and external opening we can find to the use of an industrial gas heater which is more usually used to warm sports halls. We don’t have it on for very long!!

*I may have made some of this up…. 

A few big milestones this week. First, the scaffolding has gone. So we can finally get an uninterrupted view of how the final building will look.

And even more exciting, the roof lantern is in place. Still surrounded by building material – but the first bit of glass has been fitted.

And the first fixes have started, we’ve had visits from both the electrician and the plumber.

So heating is disconnected and we are relying on open fires, electric heaters and big duvets. The major push is on the master bedroom at the back. So the floor has gone in, which has enabled the kitchen ceiling to wave bye bye and move on to pastures new.

And we’ve had our first go at landscaping the back garden (more boys toys required)

No??? Probably not looking its best at the moment – but ready for a deck to be installed in the New Year.

So things starting to move quickly now – just hope that the guys can seal up the bathroom in the next week. Showering and bathing is a little chilly at the moment…