Not yet there...

This begins with apologies - I've had complaints that I've not been updating, and people want to know the progress - well, so do I! Because I'm a couple of hundred miles away, I don't really have that much of a clue what is going on on a day to day basis at the moment.  There's also a feeling that I don't know how much people actually WANT to know - but the complaints have shown me that you want to know more than I've been telling you!

So, we've filled up a fourth skip, and are on to our fifth.  The kitchen has been gutted, and the downstairs loo has been knocked out to make the kitchen bigger. The walls have gone up for a hallway, and the understair cupboard will be turned into a new downstairs loo - complete with basin, but that probably won't be finished by the time we move in.  We're moving the front door to the side of the house, and door prices are being sorted.

The bathroom has been gutted and replastered. We've been trying to choose a bath, and boy are there complications with that. We've been trying to find one as deep as possible, so that Matt can actually get in and relax, rather than, having water only up to his sides. The trouble is that different companies give their measurements differently, so comparing between them is proving rather frustrating. Is 5cm depth worth an extra £200, or is the overflow hole actually only 2cm higher, and therefore we still wouldn't get a deep enough bath?

But it is a first world problem, ultimately. We will have a roof over our heads - although I need a roofer, as there's a hole in the roof(!), we should have windows (must ring the glazier about repairing the broken two), and we will have doors to keep out the weather (although the guy who was supposed to be replacing the front door - through which you can see daylight - appears to have disappeared off the face of the planet).

Next week should see the repairing of the wooden floors, including the big hole in the staircase, a laying of a base for a shed (so we have somewhere to store all the stuff from the garage!), and hopefully the electrics completed and maybe a bathroom fitted - if we can give the poor builder a final decision on the bath!

Photos will be up for all of this, later today :)

Day 16 (I think...)

This morning has mostly been taken up with trying to get essays out of the way for uni work - deadline next week.

However, in the midst of that, I have had news that ANOTHER skip is full. More from the garden pile and more wood from the walls and ceilings.  To those who are wondering, none of the wood is safe to be burned in a wood burner or open fire, due to the chemicals used on it.  There have been suggestions that some should have been kept, and used to build a playhouse. It's a lovely idea, but I don't think I have the energy or the room for it at the moment.  However, all the laminate flooring that we've taken up has now gone to a good home (hoorah!), and the chipboard is going to be used for boarding the attic.  As much as possible from the midden will be recycled, and I've kept all the plant pots which will hopefully be nicely planted by the time we arrive.

Remotely, we've chosen a bath and taps, decided where we want plumbing and electrics to go, and are in the process of choosing curtains and working out where bookshelves will go. A new skip has been ordered for next week (they can't deliver before Tuesday am), and we've just been told that the kitchen units are falling apart, so we'll work out where to get some new ones from, and whether we want to change any designs - I'm not certain how long it will take to build a new kitchen though....