It's finally happened!.... We have heating and hot water!!! I think it was sometime back in November when we disconnected the old boiler and started to plumb in the new system. I'm told it's been a mild winter, maybe so! I don't know what we would have done without the trusty wood burner and the electric shower. But hey, lets not dwell on the past, it is now working!!!

In all it was a very busy bank holiday weekend, M's parents came down, M'd dad was working with him on getting the heating and hot water finished and M's mum did a sterling job of painting anything that didn't move, while I spent more happy hours in the greenhouse with mini-C avoiding the nasty old VOCs.

The kitchen people arrive properly on site today and it looks like the carpet will be going down upstairs next week, so there is much to celebrate... perhaps with a long soak in the tub...finally...!

sorry, been a bit slack about keeping the blog up to date, as usual - lots going on...

plasterers have been and gone and the front wall of the front bedroom and two walls in the back bedroom have been replastered and the mess around the window openings have been repaired.

they also plastered the porch walls...

so that is looking much neater, but it will probably be a while before much else happens in there aside from a clean round.

Have now got a date for the carpet going in - early in May, and in the same week the kitchen people will start, so we have been pressing ahead with finishing off the heating system and the painting upstairs. M's parents have just been here helping out which is great to give M a boost.

Just before I finish, time for an update on the front door, which has been painted it's final colour and we are very chuffed with it. It has also recieved good comments from both neighbours - which is lovely.

Busy Easter weekend, M was doing the hard graft as usual and I was bannished to the garden due to the large amount of painting and therefore VOCs. M's sister came along to help which was great, so we did make progress getting the woodwork glossed upstairs and on the porch and getting radiators hung. The nursery and master bedroom are pretty much ready to go for carpet, but a discovery in the back bedroom has set us back by a few weeks as we will need to get the plasterers in again.

As I said, I spent most of the long sunny weekend in the garden which was a real pleasure and so I think it is about time for a gardening update. Things are kicking off in both the greenhouse and in the garden. Growing lots of seedlings in the greenhouse, tomatoes, marigolds, sweetpeas and cucumber seedlings are all coming up and looking so full of life.

In the garden, M's fig is looking really healthy after being repotted, the blueberries are in blossom, stuff is coming up in the beds, peas, beans, garlic, its all so full of promise.

Making good progress every day now. This week, Jackson the carpenter is back and so we now have a new front door on the porch...

and then inside, he is also hanging internal doors and fixing the skirting and architrave. The nursery is done already and looks great, it is almost a completed room!!!

My parents are here helping us out at the moment, so great progress is being made.

The garage door is now on, which is great as it means we can move some of the tools and wood from out of the bedrooms and also will stop the bloody cats using the garage as a toilet. It wont stop them from finding other parts of our garden to foul, but at least we'll be less likely to tread in it and will stop the garage from smelling so bad. So hurrah to that...

Started sanding down and painting the porch, parents have been priming the skirting boards ready for the carpenter, finishing the painting of walls and priming the new front door. M has been getting on with second fix electrics. Potatoes have been planted, there is a plan to take the rubish from our front garden to the tip. And we received our newly stripped doors back and these have all been rehung, which along with a general clean up of the floors and surfaces has certainly brightened the place up further. Plan is that we get as much done as possible before Monday, when the carpenter comes back to put in skirting boards, hang "new" doors (ie loo, utility, nursery and front door) and finish off the window boards. We can then get the radiators hung and the heating system going and then we can get carpet in upstairs!!!

Wow! It's finally gone!!!

the scaffolding has gone!!

Only 5 months late, but it looks like the builders may finally be finished and out of our lives - dont want to speak too soon. But they have been in to finish the jobs they should have done and got rid of the scaffolding. The architect comes next week to check it over and sign off the builder's work.

More painting this weekend...

it is really starting to look good.

Also, now the scaffolding is down at the back there is free acess to the garden from the back doors, (so did manage to keep up with a few necessary garden tasks)which is a real pleasure... not having to remember to take a key, go out the front, through the scaffolding, through the garage (avoiding the builers junk and the latest cat poo) and then ending up approximately where you started from.

Managed to get the first coat of paint on the nursery last night. There is a lot more to go though....

Bloody hell!!! We were hoping to see less scaffolding not more!!!

This was the scene that greated us on Friday morning. We had of course had a glimps of the hellish vision when we arrived home in the dark on Thursday but in the cold morning light, the sight of the cold metal structure, spreading across the whole of our house and impinging now on BOTH our neighbours did turn my stomach.

But I didn't have long to consider it before scaffolders turned up to add more (!) metal to their creation, swiftly followed by renderers crawling all over it and then the plasterers ready for their last day.

Well after a relaxing weekend away, we returned to find that indeed the plasterers have finished all their work, on time and to a fantastic standard. And that the renderers are indeed on track to be finished on Monday. And, that the scaffolding from the neighbours garage had finally been removed - woo-hooo!

This morning was interesting, we have long managed to be rather stoic about the lack of heating and hot water, by saying, but at least we have our nice electric shower. Last night we had left some electric heaters and the dehumidifier on - in order to help the plaster to dry - when Mr C started his shower, the house cried "enough!" and the main fuse blew. Not a case of flicking a switch back - but proper - in the darkness - have to call the electricity board! Mmm, no hot water and heating - I can manage - no electricity - I cannot. Hopefully it should be fixed this evening, but we went to buy some candles at lunch just to be on the safe side!

Plasterers are making great progress, they have now finished the master bedroom, ensuite, nursery and utility room....

We have been working very hard to keep up with their pace,

but we are managing it just... good job there are 3 of us to help now...

Lots has been happening here, we have had Nick and Jackson the carpenters round to put in window boards, door frames and stud walls in preparation for the plasterers.

They were both nice chaps - recomendations from a work colleague, infact, before building the stud wall you see here ( this wall will separate the kitchen and dining room, you'll be able to see over it, but the hob and such will be behind on the kitchen side) . Jackson even leveled up all the floor joists in the kitchen and put in additional insulation, where the builders had done their usual half arsed job.

And then the plasterers arrived and have been cracking on with the master bedroom, en-suite and nursery.

If only we were rid of the builders from our lives we could really feel like we were on the home straight, but no, still the same old jobs not finished and no indication of how we will solve the rendering impasse...

Renderers have finished all the new bits, waiting to see how long it is before they get on with the existing parts...

been away in Bulgaria last weekend, but good progress made this weekend with the battoning being finished and knocking out the back fireplace, in preparation for the plasterer.

Despite the dreadful weather...



(image for illustration only...not actual veiw from our front garden...)

the renderers have started already with the final render coat!! This is great news as it means the scaffolding will be coming down from next door's roof very soon and we not have to be worrying so much about what a pain we must be causing them.

Progress from the renderers - the first layer of rendering has gone on the new parts of the building...

And in other news, the snowdrops planted last year are coming up!!

M and I have been chipping away at the work to be done - well mainly M really! But this weekend we had a burst of activity in anticipation of being ready for the plasterer at the start of February. We had Mr TC working on the heating system...

The newport connection arrived also to help with battoning the ceilings... (this is vital preparation for preparing the ceilings for the plasters not that we want to go for the mock tudor look)...
and had a fiddle with our TV arial (we have been in black and white fuzz for a while now)...

So all around progress was made, I even got to do some essential maintenance on the veg bed and garden and planted a lovely jasmine that we were given at Christmas.

Added to all this joy and excitement - the renderers arrived this morning!!!! Joy to the world!

There has been no news from the garden for a while, I have to say that it has been a bit more neglected than I would like, but I guess it is winter, however we did lift some delicious parsnips and took them back to my parents for Christmas day lunch, which M did a super job of cooking...roasting with parmesan. And of course as allways there are still those indestructable turnips available, unfortunately our kitchen doesn't lend itself to doing anything particularly creative with them!!

The Christmas period has meant a quite time for the builders, no they are still not finished, but at least they haven't been here over the festive season!! On the last Friday before Christmas they turned up, dismantled the porch roof and rebuilt it at a different pitch - they didn't quite finish so we are hoping to see them early in the new year. And of course there was no sign of the renderers.

However, we have continued to make progress, mainly on the plumbing and central heating. Most of the pipes are now laid out, v. exciting picture....

Today we managed to get the pipework in for the radiators for the front room and dining room which did necessitate M heading under the floorboards - urgh... filthy and a bit scary really, but he seemed to be having fun....

Hot off the press...

The boiler has gone in!!! Still alot to do, before we are near firing it up, but it is an encouraging sight!

Builders have pretty much finished, we are waiting patiently for the renderers to arrive. Had this week off and have been making a start on the central heating system. The old tank is out, the new one just waiting to go in and we have been taking out old pipes and radiators and installing the new.

velux windows went in, on the dining room roof yesterday...

and the builders are really starting to tidy round and clear out from the inside of the house, so just a bit more work on the roof and the rendering and they should be out-a-here!!!!

The back walls are now down in the kitchen...

There is such a lot of space! We couldn't quite beleive it the first evening we came back. It's pretty grubby in there, so pizza for tea? - I think so!!

Going to be making a start on plumbing and electrics, had a good planning session with M's dad this weekend so raring to go.