Easter Sunday and, other than eating half a large chocolate egg for breakfast, it was like any other Sunday for us. Unfortunately no time off for us! Sam is also here to fit more of the electrics, starting with the mass of messy cables in the corner of the attic.
This is where all the cables come into the house and where the main internet hub will be located.
Sam is 6ft3 and I have no idea how he has folded himself up to get into this corner.
TV aerial and Cat 6 cable tidied up and we have ordered a new BT box as this one has been utterly trashed during the building work. We are going to build a cupboard around these so they aren’t on display, hence the plain white socket too.
Sam holding the new spotlights in place so we can get them in the right position, but also just realised he looks very like he is being crucified. Very appropriate.
“Crucifixion? Good. Out of the door. Line on the left. One cross each…” – Life of Brian, Monty Python.
Another spotlight being fitted in the chimney breast on the landing outside the bathroom. These spotlights from Rowen & Wren are very small with tiny back plates and are being fitted to either stone walls or old beams, both of which cannot have holes dug into them for the wiring. Our solution here is to attach the light to the oak pattress that we bought where there is room within the back of the pattress for all the wiring.
The denim blue wall in the dining room as seen from outside. We love it.
Cat forgot to do a second coat inside the chimney breast yesterday.
Now the walls are all painted, Sam can fit our posh new lights in the dining room. Crossing fingers and toes this light in the lime plaster will fix to the wall without the plaster exploding…
Success! And doesn’t it look fabulous! We have two more lights to go onto the stone wall. These are Soho Wall Lights in Teal Blue from The Wall Lighting Company Ltd.
The electric cables for the lights on the stone wall have been run through the wall in Cat’s bedroom above and down into the garage the other side of this wall. Sam needs to drill holes through for the cables, in the correct place for the light but also without drilling through the main water pipes in the garage next door… This requires some accurate measurements from the existing holes for the electric sockets as the ground levels and ceiling levels are not the same in each room.
Measuring the garage wall to check we are not going to hit the pipes.
Phew! Close!
The other side.
This is the thickness of the wall, 420mm or 17 inches, nearly a foot and a half thick in old money!
Sam has had to resin the fixings into the stone wall for the lights as the lime pointing is not strong enough to hold. Squint and it looks like a Gremlin is trapped inside the wall.
Beautiful! We are super pleased with these lights and cannot wait to see how they look when we have electricity again.
Suitably sophisticated. This room has been totally transformed in 2 days!
Sam has now fitted the light switch next to the front door. More Corston bronze deliciousness. This looks so cool on the blue wall.
Cat’s bedroom, which has had no significant work done in this phase, is looking pretty dreadful but we want to tart it up a bit so it looks okay and is useable for now. There is one double socket in the room so Sam has fitted another one, along with a cable for an overhead light (once we have painted the walls and ceiling).
Cat’s bedroom ceiling where the plasterers have patched up the dodgy roof and ceiling. There is no insulation in this roof, just plasterboard then roof tiles! It’s like sleeping in a tent, hot in the summer and freezing in the winter. This roof will be replaced in phase 2.
Metal protective casing has been fitted over the electric cables that run behind the hot water pipes on the wall in Cat’s bedroom.
We should be getting the staircase fitted this week (how exciting!!!) so Cat has cleared the landing of everything so they will have room to work. The stairs will arrive partially built and will be custom fitted on site.
Cat finishing painting the bathroom ceiling.
Everything has either been moved to the garage or tidied into boxes in the dining room. Here are all our tools, paints and brushes etc. This is the tidiest the house has been since we moved out!
Jasper cannot wait to move back in either, although he will definitely not be showered in here… This bathroom is not for dogs!