Week 16 - Oak smoked undies

This week the plumbers have finally arrives- yay! Deck the halls with copper pipes and monkey wrenches! Three of them turned up on Monday and proceed to rip up all the floors, banging and crashing with an enthusiasm I'm not sure we've seen on site to date.

Unfortunately by Wednesday the day came when the building project really did break into our cosy reality- the plumbers stormed through the house, ripped out the boiler, the hot water tank and have left us with no heating or hot water... probably till the new year!

Of course, as you can can see by the beautiful picture take by my friend in Tetbury, this manoeuvre just happened to coincide with some festive weather... yes, you've guessed it, its snowing outside!!!

Well at least I feel I'm at last shaking off the dreadful bug that me and (according to my GP) most of England have had to endure for the last month. The log burner has struck up and I have a wheelbarrow full of little off cuts of wood from the building project to recycle as fuel! So at least one room in the house is warm. We only have to survive a week really, as we are flying to Marrakesh for Christmas, which hopefully will be a little bit warmer!

Drying washing is proving a bit of a challenge. I am currently surrounded by piles of it dangling everywhere. The undies are smouldering nicely on top of the log burner. Not sure it would pass health and safety. I should add a sprinkling of chestnuts really, shouldn't I?

Week 15 - Dreaming of bathrooms

Not much action on site again this week, but have been dreaming about my ensuite bathroom which I just couldn't get inspired about. Then I ended up buying a sandstone sink on ebay (yay!) which is ridiculously heavy but gorgeous. It is golds and reds and purples in swirls-

I love it... even if it is a little large for the room. So then I'm thinking I get James to inset it into the wall a bit, like a little alcove. Then I'm thinking sand and water = beach so I could do a sort of shell mirror grotto thing. Very Victorian apparently... (see right).

I found this awesome site called mydeco.com which allows you to do moodboards and things... so I had a go. I don't know why but Botticelli's Venus keeps popping into my head. So I've decided its going to be a Renaissance / classical revival bathroom. Ok a little OTT but who's going to see it apart from us? I promise to try and restrain my self in the rest of house... honest!

Ensuite bathroom by jaykaybee22

What's the general opinion on padded gold toilet seats?... ;)

So, anyways, I have order myself some brass taps to kick off the classical theme... inspired in part by our trip to Auntie Vikki's gorgeous villa in Zakynthos.

Weeks 13-14

I've majorly lost track of time... I think we are possibly in week 15 already!

Well, here is Justin finishing off the roof and you can see the oak beam in place.

As soon as the timbers were in James and Douggan were over to felt it and make it (sort of) watertight. Also the chipboard floors went down upstairs.

The immediate effect was to give it a sense of inside space. You get much more of an idea of a room and your

eyes are drawn to the french doors and (much needed) lightwells- I do hope it won't be too dark in there when we are done! Im sure some light paint on the walls will do wonders, fingers crossed, as it does feel a little like a basement at the minute.

Then all went quiet for a few more days, but I'm pleased to announce I have finally managed to find a plumber who is prepared to take on the job, albeit at twice the cost of what I originally anticipated. But he is allegedly the best in town, so I'm hoping the luxury macademia nuts I'm paying will ensure a highly

evolved primate! We are in essence putting in an entirely new pressurised system which will be future proofed for any number of showers and baths we want to plumb in at any altitude.

Last Friday James and Douggan were back to put in the stud partitioning in the problematic ensuite. I can't tell you what a headache this has been with the lower-than-expected ceiling height, but

by putting in a tiny door, stealing a foot from the bedroom, loosing some of the oak beam (sob!) and integrating the sink into the stud partition wall.... Nick might just be able to sit on the loo and stand up in the shower after all!!! Every centimetre counts mind you- we can only hope it all works out in the wash!

Plumbers supposed to be starting tomorrow, getting everything ready to move the boiler next week. Let's hope the snow holds off for a little while longer as we will be without heating while this goes on!!!