There has been progress since my last post but it’s been dusty and noisy and my patience has been tested. In my defence, I’ve been living in a building site for two months with a kitchen set-up on a folding table in the living room, which is also storing the new bathroom suite, tiles and radiator. Billy has down-graded his living experience on sniff-advisor from ‘glamping’ to ‘tramping’.

I’d naively thought that the worst of the work has been done when the steels went in and the walls came down but it turns out that digging out the kitchen floor to level it with the dining nook floor was much, much worse and there is still a bit more digging to do.

There was also some side entertainment when the plumber proposed fitting a new waterpipe as my current mains supply is still lead pipe. I’d already investigated this and knew about moling (get me!) so imagine my surprise when I opened the front door and saw this

After many calls to Thames Water and a half-hearted attempt to mole under the house, the trench was infilled. To be honest, it’s the plumber who is causing the most anxiety. Building control were unimpressed with his first attempt at grey water drainage so back he came to do it again and now the floor team have called him back again to lower the gas pipe so they can get a level floor down.

The extension has progressed well – the roof is on and the roof light fitted just in time for the low pressure systems that have delivered sustained heady downpours to thoroughly check the water-tightness of the roof light and lead flashing. The floor is in and plasterboard is attached ready for plastering.

The window will be delivered next Monday and the french doors the week after that, which means I can book a date for the kitchen to be delivered for the end of the month, which should give enough time to get the floor laid – herringbone LVT and the new plaster painted.

You may have noticed wallpaper samples on the wall that will be the dining side of the kitchen. Which do you like most? All will work with the kitchen cabinets – greige and white worktops. With my sensible head on, I lean towards the diamond pattern on the white background – it has a retro kitchen feel to it. BUT with my less sensible head on, I REALLY want palm fronds! It’s so bonkers, it will make me smile every time I walk into the kitchen. Yes, I spotted the rookie error of putting the print the wrong way up…

In researching wallpapers I discovered the website I love wallpaper, where I found all of these samples. So much better than leafing through endless sample books or aimlessly wandering around DIY sheds.

There has been progress with the bathroom too and with luck the tiler should be here this week and the bathroom installed soon after, although I need a conversation about who will be assigned to the fitting. I decided to go all in and replace the window with a slightly smaller size so it appears to be in the centre of the wall. That is also being fitted next Monday. There’s a good chance I could be enjoying a bubble bath by the following weekend and if that’s not tempting fate, I don’t know what is.

Staying with the theme of all in, the wall above the door has been knocked out. A new frame will be installed with glass above the door, to give some light to the hallway when the door is closed. I’ll do the same with the door to office at the other end of the hall. The picture rail here is also going and you know the more I look at the architrave the less I like it. There’s just too much going on, too many lines on a narrow piece of wood. I’d prefer something flatter, maybe even the very plain chamfered style. What do you think?

There has been progress at the allotment, but not a huge amount. I’ve transplanted the calabrese and cauliflowers to their winter abode in the polytunnel. This weekend, if I get a chance, I’ll rip out the tomatoes and cucumbers ready for the dahlias to take up winter residence.

Keep everything crossed that the weather stays mild until all doors and windows are fitted 🙂

Have a good week.