Windows!

Well we are meant to be watertight but the torrential rain over the last couple of days has taken it's toll.  The windows and doors are in but the velux window is leaking.  The electricians have also been in to do the 1st fix electrics so once the wood all dries out we are ready to insulate and plasterboard.  The slater and brickie will get going between Christmas and New Year so hopefully by the beginning of 2013 we will be watertight!

When we went to the house yesterday we had lunch at Deskford Garden Galleries.  It is a lovely tea room with an art gallery and antiques shop.  The furniture was very reasonably priced and I would love to have space for the beautiful linen press I saw. We did buy some lovely ceramic bothies, boats and lighthouses for the house.

Merry Christmas!

The ceramics in the boys bedroom!

Partition wall for the downstairs loo and utility area

All we need in here is the carpet!

More furniture!

I've spent the day between getting ready for Christmas and painting some more furniture!  This tray table was £11 in the sale at Argos.  All the other tray tables I saw online were between £80 and £100 each.  Now my one has been painted I think it looks just as good as them!  I have used Annie Sloan paint first in Old White then Duck Egg on top.

Before

After

Concrete, walls and power!

I can eventually upload some photos of the concrete floor being poured.  I have just spent an hour talking my dad through the process of downloading photos from my mum's phone!!

Last week the concrete floor was poured and this week the timber frame went up.  I could not get up to Cullen to do any work this week as we had around 6/7" of snow at Chapel and the road conditions were terrible.   There was no snow at all in Cullen and the joiners have managed to get the frame up and will be installing the windows and door on Wednesday.   The electricians have also been in and we now have power throughout the house - at last!  We have been working with only one socket for the last year so that will make a huge difference!

My dad borrowed a horsebox from a friend today and we moved out most of the furniture I've been restoring to make room for the 8' Christmas tree that was delivered on Friday!  Once all the furniture had been unpacked we had a lovely lunch at the Cullen Bay Hotel and then the boys saw Santa!

All quiet

Before

After in Annie Sloan Duck Egg and a layer of clear wax

My badge collection from 30 years ago!  It will become a piece of art!

Things have been a bit quiet over the past few weeks.  I have been busy making costumes and being a nun in the Sound of Music so the house has taken a back seat!  While I have been at home I have been treating some furniture for woodworm and refurbishing it.  I am really pleased with the results!

The carpets are ordered and all the appliances are ordered too - just need a kitchen to put them in!  The joiners are starting to build the frame for the kitchen this week so it shouldn't be too long now!

Foundations in

Over the past couple of weeks we have had the builder in digging out the foundations and filling them back up again for the new kitchen.  It is now ready for the joiner to put the frame up which should start in the next few weeks.  They have promised it will be wind and watertight by the end of the month!

Hole dug for foundations 

Drainage and blockwork done ready for timber frame to be built

Dining room floor finished

We are getting closer!

Another busy weekend and we have some flooring down, carpets chosen and hallway painted!  Things never run smoothly though as the concrete dining room floor has a huge dip in it and will need some extra underlay to stop it bouncing!

The stairs and landing have only had one coat of primer but it took 3 of us a whole day!  I think I will use the spray machine again to try and speed up the process.

Howard from Hyde-Owens delivered our slate hearth, it looks great.  It's not been laid properly yet but I think it will take 4 of us to lift it up again!

Tomorrow the builder will start to dig out the foundations for the new extension!  We may have a kitchen before Christmas after all!

Do you think we should keep the basketball lines?!

Finishings

View of the house and garden from the street!

Fab double doors, Michael spent ages getting them perfect!

I forgot my 'working' trainers this week so I improvised with the overboots that were ordered for protection from the astbestos!

My lovely cottage door in the bathroom, I love the hinges, I have latches to go on them too.

Main bedroom finished

En-suite door

Shabby chic beds for the boys

My able assistants!

The garden looks huge now that the kitchen is down!  We are a bit exposed to the rest of the street though as the whole wall had to come down so the builder can get in with his digger.  

The gas board arrive on Monday to move the gas main pipe then the builder comes in the following week to dig the foundations.

I'm really pleased with my shabby chic beds!  My morning at Rustiques was very worthwhile.  I'm off to another one in a couple of weeks.  This time I come home with a lamp and shade, can't wait!

Demolition day 2!

Day 2 involved demolishing the rest of the walls and disposing of all the rubble.  My father-in-law wanted to let you know that he did not just drink tea all day!  The 3 men even managed a trip to the Three Kings for a cider!

Tea drinking on day 1!

Going, going ...

...gone!

Will catch up with the builder this weekend, it's the gas board that's holding us up now.  We cannot get the foundations done until the gas board move the pipe.  Hoping to get the majority of the painting finished this weekend - oh and get a door on the bathroom!

Demolishing the extension - day 1!

I've not posted for a while because all I'm doing is painting and those photos would just get a bit boring!    Today was an exciting day!  The plan was just to remove the slates and roof but the walls were very unstable without the roof to hold them up so half of the walls came down too!  It is also sad to see this room coming down as it has been there almost as long as the house.  The bricks have had their day though and Michael didn't even need a hammer to get them down!

My dad was desperate to get up on the roof!

Drinking tea again!

Wood for the fire

Slate for the garden

Al fresco dining!

This was an old fireplace when it was the wash house

We are being eco-friendly too.  We are going to use the old slate from the roof on the garden, a neighbour is taking all the wood for their wood burning stove and we are trying to save as many bricks as we can for the fireplace.