So the plan is to move back in next weekend! One week shy of 12 months to the day that we moved out! There is still a great deal to do when we have moved back in but we are rationalising it to the things that must be done before then. There is, however, still a tonne to do this weekend and it’s going to be exhausting…
Sam is back and fits all the electrics back onto the blue wall in the attic. To repaint the wall these all had to be removed. There was a lot of pressure on him to do this without putting even the tiniest of marks on the wall. Thankfully he managed it.
Cat has the weekend to clean up and oil the new balustrade before the carpet fitters arrive on Monday.
She starts by scraping off any excess glue that is visible on the oak with a blade, then sands off any further residue.
Sam is using the laser to line up and fit the last of the sockets in the new cupboard walls in the attic.
Sam is also using Henry hoover as he cuts into the plasterboard thereby minimising dust. He’s learning.
The lovely sockets from Corston are fitted, just the face plates to fit. We have just realised that we have 10 plug sockets in this one room! Not sure how this happened, maybe a slight reaction to only having one double socket in each room in the house for over 3 years (we have boxes and boxes of extension cables now).
Sam can now fit the last of the lights onto the new staircase walls. This is the Astro Thurso Round wall light from Ocean Lighting and is solid brass and of amazing quality. We love it.
Cat scraping and cleaning her way around the balustrade.
The last brass spotlight has been fitted on the new landing wall, another Single Curtis Spotlight from Jim Lawrence.
And this spotlight was refitted inside the stairwell (it was removed for the plastering and painting).
Cat painting the tiny bit of filler with wood stain so it will be the same colour as the oak once the oak is oiled.
It’s all about attention to detail!
Our ancient electric board with our new fuse box on the kitchen wall. Ultimately this will all be boxed in but until phase 2 this will stay as it is.
Our awful old kitchen lights are showing their run in with the orange dust monster during the build. We will be replacing this light as it never was bright enough for our dark kitchen anyway.
I scrubbed the bird poo from our front door step as it is utterly fowl (see what I did there?)
Literally within the hour our family of Starlings had already started to cover it again. By the end of the day it was back to how it had looked before I cleaned it. I can see this is going to be a daily task for a while.
Jasper loves Saturdays as it means that not only are his mummy and BFF here but he gets to eat bacon rolls for lunch (I am holding a plate of bacon rolls here).
Cat has started oiling the balustrade, this could take her most of the day…
At least she is smiling (this is very unusual at the moment!)
It’s awkward as hell to reach every side of the balustrade.
Colin is fitting the bathroom blind to the window recess, not an easy task, plus there is also a lot of pressure on him to not damage the walls in the process…
We are quite excited about this blind going up as it is the final thing to do in the bathroom. We selected a moisture resistant blind from Blinds Direct that looks just like wood but is in fact PVC. It is very convincing.
I have been cleaning up the kitchen so it is ready for us to use next weekend. Our kitchen has been somewhat neglected during the renovation and was disappearing under a layer of orange dust.
It has cleaned up okay though, some of the oak worktop will need a sand and oil to remove some marks and stains but this can wait.
Cat is still oiling.
Dad thinks the new balustrade looks like a giant children’s cot. He’s got a point.
Really bloody awkward. Cat is no longer smiling.
Colin trying super hard not to let the drill mark the walls, an impossibility it turned out (but he did paint over the marks).
The blind is up and working, just needs the cover strip fitted.
Cutting the cover strip down to size.
Finally the first coat of oil on the balustrade is finished (yep, second coat goes on tomorrow!) so Cat moves onto painting the first top coat of Farrow & Ball’s Purbeck Stone on the wooden stringers down the side of the stairs.
The stairs are also being carpeted on Monday, so the stringers need to be painted before then.
Our lovely blind is fitted, so the bathroom is finished! OMG this is the first room to be completely finished and if we weren’t so busy and knackered we would do something to celebrate.
We now have a private loo 🙂
Bathroom finished 🎉 xx
I am dreaming about my first bath….. xxx
This is looking so very amazing – can’t wait to come and see it all properly! x