A year on...

We have had a special week this week. It feels like finally things have come together. I can't believe it is almost exactly a year since "Day One" when the builders arrived to start knocking down the old kitchen.  Can you believe it?!  52 long weeks later...

For the first time yesterday we got to the point where every new or altered room was functioning.  Ok so its not "finished", there is still wallpaper to go up, skirting to paint, tiling to do... but every room is USABLE. I thought that day would never come!

Mum and Dad Baker kick started this phase with helping wallpaper a wall of our bedroom with the lovely "Summer Palace" wallpaper from Laura Ashley.  They are quite a dream team to behold when they start working together on things!  I absolutely love it and it has completely transformed our bedroom.  Then my lovely husband finally put together our crackle glazed french bed - which I had finally finished painting!!!  We did have a little hiccup when the mattress turned out to be too big but with a little bit of hacking (I couldn't watch!) we managed to squeeze it in.  Now I feel like a princess- the bed is so high I can just fall in and out of it- bliss!  Note the little wicker crib also that our neighbour has donated for Baby Burne... so now both the girls have their beds!

Then on Wed and Thurs of this week we had the most wonderful help from friends to get our lounge painted.  Yesterday was such a whirlwind it seemed like an episode of "60 second makeover"- somehow they got two coats on the walls and all the newspaper and dust sheets cleared away, even bringing up the furniture from the garage!  For the first time the room was functioning and you got a sense of how big and gorgeous it was!  Thank you team for going the extra mile for us!

We had some friends round for dinner last night and actually sat at our dining table and had coffee in the lounge afterwards- what a treat!

At one point I burst into tears and said "Well, for the first time I feel like if the baby arrived tomorrow, it would be alright!"

An all round update

I realise it is pretty tricky from this blog to figure out exactly what stage everything is at right now, so I thought I would do a little virtual tour.  Its 6 weeks till the baby arrives, and not one room is finished. But the builders have now gone and at least it is livable. Baby wont care and I'll have to count my blessings. Hey, some renovation projects take 10 years huh? and its only been 10 months...

This is the "dining room" that I am sitting in now. Ha Ha. It is actually a dumping ground for everything that has come out of the lounge.
We have done a U turn on this room and decided that for the next few years it will be the "play room" or informal day room lounge area.  Basically so miss muffet has somewhere to be while I'm cooking, scrubbing and washing after her in the kitchen.   Skirting needs painting and the doors need touching up. Its livable but a bit uninspiring and obviously all the furniture needs thinking about.

The kitchen! This is functioning well. Still a few handles to put on doors, a missing bit of cornice, windows need painting, shelves need putting up etc....  But it actually looks quite cute in the picture. The idea is to get a butchers block island eventually, but a table is sufficing right now.

The lounge-diner.  This is where we are concentrating our efforts in the next week or so.  I dont really have time to fuss about it or think too much, just want to slap some paint on the walls and buy a big squashy sofa. And wait until the sleepless nights are over and my inner Laurence Llewelyn Bowen returns...  Loving the big fat beam though!

I can't rotate pics in this stupid system, but this is the functioning, but hugely unfinished, downstairs loo.  Just closing the door and forgetting about this Morrocan dream for now...

This is the family bathroom that looks better in the photo somehow than in real life. It doesnt have a bath panel or tiles at the end of the bath. I stupidly started attacking this room a bit unnecessarily as something to do when the  builders hadn't started the lounge yet.  We are not really using it now we have our ensuite.   Sorry guests, you might just have to cope...  at least the bath looks nice and shiny now I have re-enamelled it :)

You probably all have neck ache now! This is our lovely bedroom. We even have curtains up. Mattress is on the floor and we are sleeping in here. The mess in the left corner is an huge mountain of Baby Burne donations and presents.  This room is basically done but would love to get the wallpaper up and of course the bed in the next week or so.

Our ensuite.  I love being in here as it is probable the most finished room in the house in terms of looking like I want it to. Looks weird in the pic cos the sink you see is a reflection in the mirror.  This is really the only room in the house where I occasionally relax without a mental to do list of all the things that need finishing.  Really pleased with how everything looks in here.

The attic room - oh dear.  This is still a dumping ground/ storage room at the minute. When baby moves out from our room to the "nursery" (blue bedroom) we will need to have this functioning as a guest room.  Who says you can't hold a baby and a paint brush at the same time....?

Mattresses, Beds and why do I have to do everything the hard way....

Ok, so I'm heading swiftly into my third trimester and we still havent properly moved into our new bedroom.  The main problem being a lack of bed.  So I drag Nick on a shopping  spree to cribs causeway. We tackle prams/pushchairs in the morning (exhausting!) and mattresses in the afternoon.  At about 5pm after a days shopping, we have been in 3 mattress shops already and I say, "Lets just try John Lewis"....  So we are wondering around the department half comatose and end up lying our weary bones on a particular pocket sprung delight.  "Arrrrrrrrhhh" we both groan, completely unable to return to the vertical. And that is the story of how we ended up spending twice our budget on a John Lewis mattress.

The bed was another story.  I had really wanted an antique upholstered one, but figured that baby dribble and worse all over the unwashable padded bits would soon look a bit grim. So I picked up a victorian carved one on ebay for what I thought was a song with the intention of painting it.  4 coats later, and some nailbiting attempts to "crackle glaze" some of the frame, I'm starting to think Dad was right when he said I should have gone to IKEA....  I really need to give up on doing things the hard way when we just need to get practical before the 25th September!

As yet still sleeping on the floor...

Patio for my Precious

Probably to do with a few weeks in the South of France, but, on returning, my beloved had a bit of a (justified) meltdown about the view from our patio doors which consisted of a pile of rubbish left over from tiling the kitchen floor, general rubble and more bindweed than you can possibly imagine.

So, although we have a zillion other priorities, I agreed to get someone in to do the patio, in the vain hope we might actually have an indian summer and a bit of sunshine that we can sit out there and enjoy. Somewhat inspired by Auntie Vikkis garden path, and the general theme of recycling that grows stronger as the dream of sticking to any sort of budget fades into the distance, we decided to reuse what slabs, bricks and tiles we had left over and laying around the garden to create a patchwork patio.  I say "we"... actually a nice chap called Mike.

Its not finished yet but there's enough there to get a table and chairs and a beverage out!

The Jericho moment

Well, after our big push and three lovely weeks in France, our builders were supposed to be promptly back on site to tackle taking down the wall between the two front rooms.

In reality it took them two months to actually show up.  In the meantime we pottered, doing little jobs, while I got fatter and fatter and less and less able to do stuff.  Also the weather has been terrible- it has rained virtually every day throughout the summer, so little hope of getting any outside jobs / painting done.

Finally they arrived to take the walls down.

This happened while Nick was in Asia and I was on my own, pregnant with only 12 hours notice to pack up two rooms. Joy!

But as soon as the wall came down I knew we had made the right decision.  What a lovely big room! The next challenge was what to do with it!

The big push!

The first few weeks of May were a whirlwind. We decided to do a big push before our holiday to France as Katy was coming to stay. Kitchen in, kitchen worktops on, and carpets down on the last Friday!  It was exhausting but we did it.  No bed yet though...

Tiled Bathroom!

The Bakers come to the rescue again with the ensuite tiling. What an amazing job! My renaissance bathroom is on its way...

Tiled floor!

Finally the tiles arrived! Unfortunately a lot of them were broken on delivery but we got replacements delivered. Nick and I had a long conversation about which way the tiles should be laid, and Nick won!  As his prize he got to seal the floor with linseed oil.  And then wipe it all off with turps when it went all sticky. Unfortunately we left a sponge soaked in linseed oil overnight in the kitchen.  Would you believe it - it spontaneously combusted in the early hours of the morning! Luckily we smelled it before the house set on fire!

 At last we were nearing the stage where we could move into the kitchen.

Mum and Dad come over and Dad fits the utility sink!

We have decided to paint the wall a bright orange colour.
This is going to be a sort of 50's mid century modern weird throw back room with nostalgia from my early childhood and pop art tin can folk decoupage decor...  hummm.

Painting party

Hurrah for my lovely church friends who turned up to help get a base coat on the kitchen-diner!

Bedroom ideas

"Fresh and Pretty" is what I'm trying to go for.....

Master Bedroom by jaykaybee22Explore home design ideas

Scaffolding down, plaster up!

Wow, it really does feel like we are coming in to land (finally!!!!)

The scaffolding came down this week! The railings are up and you get to see what we have built in all its glory!

Also the upstairs is plastered, and we are starting to paint!

The ensuite has been the priority this week. We bought some paint and after spending a fortune on tester pots I thought I had what I wanted. Then when we bought £40 worth of paint we started rollering on the walls and Nick said "Oh my goodness it is pink". Now my dear husband is colour blind and not normally a reliable judge... but in this case he was absolutely right. So I had to reach for my acrylic artists paints and started adding "yellow ochre".... oh dear we could end up a real pickle! Fortunately we managed to coax the colour towards the peachy end of the spectrum, which isn't quite what I was going for, but I think we will get away with it.

The plumber has been here the last few days and now the towel rail and bath are in! They are even operational. Nick and I had our first bath in the new extension tonight!!! Ok we did have to tiptoe round the power tools but it was so exciting. We are actually using our new extension!

Wrought iron railings... one for you dad!

Dad, mum says you love all this blacksmithing stuff... get a load of these then! My new railings for upstairs! I didn't just want straight bars because it would feel like we were in a prison or something. The guys doing it were nervous wrecks by the time I popped by- apparently it was really hard because they cant have any gap that is more than 10cms because of building regs. I think they have done a really good job. The only thing I asked them to change was the final bar on the left- to upend it so that the outline was symmetrical. Otherwise it looks a bit drunk.

Happy customer :)

Week 25 - Knock throughs and the dust of doom

They have knocked through. It has happened! The building projected has burst out of its neat little hiding place and is now invading our lives!!! It's a bit like some weird Dr. Who phenomenon where you open a door to another dimension and then shut it again totally confused about where you are!!!

This is downstairs...

This is upstairs.... what a hike to get up to the new bedroom!

Now people warned me about the dust. I thought I could cope with a bit of dust- but its the smell that I wasn't prepared for- the breathing it in- this musty dry peppery smell. Its driving me up the wall and hoovering just seems to make it worse!

Of course we are only at the beginning of the craziness- in a few weeks time they will be knocking walls down in here. I think we may abandon ship for that part...

Week 24 - Shades of Yellow and the Roof is On!

Well, winter has arrived, (-4 tonight) fashionably late, and we have made it by the skin of our teeth. The guys are out there now putting the final lick of paint to the barge boards and most of the scaffolding will come down tomorrow.

The slate is Welsh, and the ridge tiles reclaimed. The Velux stream light into the building, especially in the ensuite upstairs which I'm now feeling really positive about! Our bath and shower has arrived and Nick and I did various exp

eriments at the weekend and I think there will be plenty of room in there after all - joy! :)

My friend Joe Woodcock turned the finials for me- don't they look fab? Here is a picture of one, alongside the block of wood he turned them from, and the old rotten thing we replaced.

I had to get some more yellow paint to match the existing woodwork. Our yellow bargeboards are a love or hate it thing, I know a lot of people cringe a bit as it is hardly subtle, but if I'm honest I love it- I think it was subconsciously one of the reasons we bought the house. The colour is quite close to custard powder - I found an old tin in the garage- it is called "Golden Rambler". Its been quite a yellow week :)

Moroccan Inspiration

Some of the goodies that survived the journey back from a Christmas in Marrakech!

The lantern and mirror and lantern opposite are for the downstairs cloak room.

This is definitely taking on a bit of a Moroccan theme... I have even challenged James to do some coloured plaster work! Whats the worst that could happen? I can always paint over it!

This is to accompany the copper sink I bought and the lovely chunky wall mounted taps.

Moroccan cloakroom by jaykaybee22

I'm afraid the Renaissance ensuite bathroom didn't escape either! I have bought the most lovely plasterwork done by a chap called "Yesi" in front of my eyes... and a Saharan wooden door (from a royal palace no less... ;) that weighed a tonne - I can't believe we were under our luggage allowance!

Dodgy doors and a theology of forgiveness.

"So watch yourselves. If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them," Jesus

So my long debated, long awaited french doors arrived yesterday, and it was immediately apparent that they were not what I had ordered at all. Made bespoke by a local joiner, and I had had 3 face to face meetings, various telephone conversations, about 25 emails and a drawing, to scale, of what I wanted. Where did it all go wrong? There is no denying that they are beautiful and incredibly well made, but that is somewhat irrelevant.

I blew my top, went nuts at the joiner, followed by a detailed stroppy email to them showing how I couldn't have been clearer about what I wanted and it was all their fault. I threatened to get them to take the doors away and I never wanted to see them again. They wouldn't be getting a penny off me. (That's the last time anyone tries to take me for a ride.).

Then last night, irritatingly, it was our churches monthly worship meeting. God gently reminded me that I'm not perfect, that He might have had to forgive me for the odd thing in the past, and it had cost Him quite dearly.

My joiner rang me this morning to apologize. I ranted. He didn't make any excuse. He understood why I was unhappy. He sounded completely gutted. He had hoped I would be over the moon with his work. He agreed to do whatever I wanted- he would take them away, or alter them or I could have them at a discounted rate...

Grace is a word that makes me smile inside.

I agreed to keep the doors. I said I could think of a few carpentry jobs he could do for me to make it up to me. His tone instantly changed and he got excited about the new work, offering to go above and beyond what I asked for... getting creative about ways he could go the extra mile and impress me.

Before I put down the phone he

was commenting how he was thinking about going to church with his wife...

You win some, you lose some ;)

Week 20 - Doors and Roof tiles

Happy new year everyone!

Well the plumbers worked right up to Christmas eve apparently whilst we were in Marrakech having a wonderful, inspirational Christmas holidays. Will post on my purchases later!!

We got back and opened the door with trepidation thinking there was probably an 80% chance that the heating would still not be on, but joy! It was warm and snug! A nice big new water tank installed, heating back on and hot water pressure that positively gushes! Sometimes I turn on the hot tap just for fun!!!

Things are starting to swing here again - finally James is on site and apparently here now till the bitter end- which he seems to think is only 5 weeks away (!!) - that would be amazing, but I'm not getting my hopes up too much.

The windows and doors have started to go in with the french doors finally arriving today. There are roofers on the roof and slates arriving tomorrow. Justin is doing the barge boards now.

All very exciting... will post some updated pics asap!

Love to all, xxx