Today on "Glamorous Kitchens"

Our granite worktops arrived bang on time.

A bit of plumbing, some fridge and freezer moving, grouting and whole lot of dusting and we're done.

Not much else to report -- more painting in the places being painted, while plastering has begun in the back bedroom.


Meanwhile the bathroom looks like it's undergoing simultaneous demolition and reconstruction.


We've a meeting tomorrow and it looks like the riot act may remain unread for a change, which is nice.

Smashing and painting

As expected, the builders launched into the bedroom and have got as far as the dry lining on the first day.


Likewise in the bathroom -- most of it's stripped, though they've left us a nice avant garde metal sculpture.


The plumber, meanwhile, has fitted our towel rail in the en suite.


To get any heat into it we'll need a gas supply, and the pipework for that is going in now. This new stretch of pipe runs from where the meter will be at the corner to the outside wall near the boiler on the other side.

The gas company are adamant that they won't be hooking us up until near the end of next month.

Most of the rest of the house belongs to the painters, and every room except the two mentioned above now has some sort of paint on it, including the hall, stairs and landing.


Meanwhile in the kitchen, the electrician is moving one of our lights to the right.

It was originally in the dead centre of this section of the room, but with the units in place that no longer feels like the centre of the room. So we're moving it.

Tomorrow I hope these units will have granite on them, and that that sink will be out of the box and fitted.

Two caterpillars

It was a busy weekend for us. The master bedroom was handed over on Friday evening so we moved in on Saturday and spent today clearing the rest of our things from the back bedroom in which we've been living this last couple of months.

It's now ready for some serious transformation.


We also cleared out of the horrible main bathroom, now that the en suite is functional. The maroon fittings have a date with the skip at long last.


I'm guessing the builders will get stuck into these two rooms with gusto tomorrow. The decorator should be around as well so we should have more rooms handed over to us as the week progresses.

Send in the strippers

Yesterday, at long last, someone started doing something about the hideous textured wallpaper in the living room, i.e. getting it the hell off our walls:

It looks like it's not going to go without a fight.

The day belonged to the decorators with painting proceeding downstairs. Here's the TV room with its accent wall:


Outside, we have our side passage light, and the ground work for the sloping concrete side passage surface has begun:


What with the dry sunny weather, the builders decided our fridge, freezer and washing machine could do with some fresh air and dumped them in the garden for the night:

They won't be doing that again.

Word from the site today is that the new plumbing will be ready to run this afternoon, which means we will, as expected, be moving to the new wing over the weekend. The final coat has gone on the bedroom woodwork, leaving just the handles to be fitted to the doors:


And work has already started in the main bathroom, with the new lights in place:


Is it time for another glamour shot of the kitchen, with its new lights, door handles and all-important laptop socket in the island? Oh I think so.

The granite arrives on Tuesday.

Moving on

We had our meeting this morning, discussed some issues with the electrician, and relations are now professional, if not exactly cordial. Then I went to work and had a shower because the electricians deactivated the one in my house for the second time in the last few weeks.

The spray painters were back, doing the last bit of the extension.

The outside lights are now also installed, on the patio and at the apex of the big window.

No outside light in the side passage yet, but the black piping relating to the en suite is new.


And the en suite is coming along, with the shower enclosure fitted and two of the three lights in place.


The towel rail has arrived, but isn't fitted, and of course the plumbing still has to be commissioned. The plumber is under strict instructions to have at least the latter done by Friday, because this weekend is moving weekend. On Monday, work will begin in the main bathroom and the back bedroom in which we've been living this last couple of months. That, the builder says, is a two week job, which puts the finishing date at October 11th. No, I'm still not inclined to believe it.

On a more positive front, the plumber reckons the gas company bod we spoke to is wrong about the one-month lead time for our gas supply, and that once the skip and rubble is cleared from the front of the house they'll come and fit the meter almost immediately. Who should I believe? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Path to the whitehouse

The Monday buzz wore off and there wasn't nearly as much drama today. Mainly, they sprayed the first coat of exterior paint on the house:

If you look very closely you can see that the first exterior light is in place, over the door.

The same goes at the back, though they don't seem keen on painting the single-storey bit. We'll ask them tomorrow to do that.

Again, looking closely, on the wall under the side-facing window there's a grey box which houses our new external power socket.

These new fittings will not save the electricians from the reckoning to come at tomorrow's site meeting.

The real bit of bad news today came from the gas company who said it'll be a month or so before they can connect us. Here's hoping the cold snaps wait until November.

I do like Mondays

Mondays are great. Everyone comes back to the site full of purpose and enthusiasm, having spent the weekend thinking of how they really need to bring Project 265 to a conclusion, and most of it is going to happen early in the week.

So, as a result of the Monday buzz, our en suite is now looking much more plausible:


It even has a shower too, though no enclosure just yet:

The heated towel rail is still a major piece of wall-punching work needing done here.

The electricians were back, fitting those controversial sockets. I've decided that the sparks are not, in fact, just careless. No-one can be that careless. Instead, what they're doing is comedic performance art. Have a look at today's hilarious overlapping sockets in the utility room:

Oh, my sides.

And the other thing that happened today was this:

Coming up with the goods

Yesterday's big non-event was the arrival of the kitchen units, which didn't happen. Monday, they said.

Today, however, we did get our appliances:


Yesterday, the electrician installed our sensor for the sensor lights:


And the render people pebbledashed the last bit of exterior wall:


As I write this, the plumber is in the attic following an emergency call from us after I detected a smell of burning plastic in the attic. Turns out our friends the electricians disconnected the pump on the solar heating system and the panels were overheating. So far, it looks like the lagging on the pipes has melted and there might be a bit of a leak from the tubes, but it's too early to assess if there's been any real damage to the system.

For the sparks, the coming week won't be any more fun than the last one.

Moving on

Yesterday we went along to the socket shop to discuss our alternatives with the management there. After much deliberation we have decided that the option most likely to leave our house finished soonest is to live with the accursed white inserts on the sockets. A serious compromise, and we've informed the electrician just how not-happy with the whole thing we are.

Meanwhile, decoration continues apace, with what I'm guessing is the final coat on the bedroom wall:

Once the en suite sanitaryware and dressing room radiator are put in by the plumber, this will be habitable at long last.

The plumber, meanwhile, has been busy in the attic installing our new water tank:


Out back, the scratch coating has gone on the last section of wall to be rendered, so pebbledashing is imminent.


They've also been building up the levels for the side passage, and the path under the kitchen window:


The new section of garden wall has finally been rendered:

With the addition of a painted white rectangle and a projector, this'd make for a great outdoor cinema, I reckon.

In the living room they've begun tidying up the fireplace:

However, there are bits of the back boiler still in there. I'd really like someone to get rid of that.

Finally, the kitchen has been cleared once more:

Today, we expect to go home to find it full of the component parts of kitchen units.

Pouting and grouting

Mr Electrician wasn't too pleased about the whole sockets issue. We're thinking about the next step. We'll work something out.

Meanwhile, the grouting on the en suite walls was done and it looks great.

Not long to go with this.

Other stuff today included more wooden flooring -- more or less done now, except the hall -- and some outside rendering, but nothing more dramatic than that.

The kitchen people are planning to deliver the units on Friday. That's the day after tomorrow. Crikey!

The look of the thing

Today was mostly about decoration, with many a ceiling painted, including the one on the landing:

I wonder when someone will get around to stripping that terrible wallpaper above the stairs.

The kitchen has even more stuff in it, since the library has been cleared for flooring:


Finally, the electrician has begun installing the sockets and lightswitches. Lovely aren't they?

Those are special order, satin chrome with a polished chrome border. Not cheap.

Just a shame they all have to go back to the shop since we ordered black plastic, not white.

A glazed look

The weekend away had been planned at a time when the project was due to be finished by the end of August. I suppose the timing could have been worse: when last Friday was given as the concluding day it probably wouldn't have been a good idea to be away for it.

Anyway, we got back to find the glazier had been, and the front door looks great, with lots of light now coming into the hall:


The two upstairs doors have also been glazed. Here's the bathroom:


Painting started today. The master bedroom is done and only one wall remains to be painted in the dressing room:


Downstairs the kitchen floor has been fully tiled and the room is providing refuge for our beleaguered living room furniture:


This is because the living room is well on its way to being floored, with the fireplace removed and the space around it ready to be tidied up:


Outside, the side passage dashing has been completed:

I wonder why we're still looking at bare blocks above, around the bedroom window. That'll be next, I'd imagine

Catching rays

The plumber was working here until after 7.30 this evening. The reason for the late-nighter is that the last of the scaffolding is coming down tomorrow, so he was keen to get the solar array in place while it was convenient.

So here are our tubes soaking up the last of the evening sun:


This in turn meant lots of work with the below-stairs mechanics, so our hotpress is now very elaborate, with fancy dials and everything.


The tiler was also here late, having more-or-less finished the en suite:


And having done quite a bit on the kitchen too:


One more bit of wood flooring today as well. The TV room:


Full steam ahead! Solar powered, of course.