We might be a little ahead of ourselves...

In the week when one of us has become a national TV star (Guy was on the Antiques Roadshow)* we also had a day out at Monmouth Show - the big agricultural event of the area. Mostly we were to be found in the food tent...

However, we did venture away from the coffee, cheese, wine and pierogi (Polish pasties) long enough to find a new piece of furniture. We measured it, we looked at it from every angle and we decided we actually didn't know if it would fit in the soon-to-be extended cottage.

But it was gorgeous, so we bought it anyway. It's so enormous (1.7m long!) it may well become Serious Storage for musical instruments. Or a coffee table.

We've also started talking to builders. Well, we've made a phone call and somebody is visiting on Friday. And on Thursday we're visiting the lovely people at Welsh Oak Frames to see the second 3D version of our new extensions. To say we are a little excited is an understatement. The first version was lovely but we all agreed we could add more oak rafters...

*Antiques Roadshow - Guy was 'on the telly' on Sunday 28th August at 8pm on BBC1. Not because he's ancient, but because we have a film script of The Third Man where his late mum was PA to the director, Carol Reed. During the week he was also interviewed by the Sunday Telegraph BBC Wales - both telly and radio - and photographed (seemingly from all angles) by the Telegraph. Phew. We haven't yet been besieged by paparazzi, but we've warned the neighbours...

Going green...

No, we're not turning into Eco-warriors, it's only paint...

It all started with the filing cabinet - we thought it looked a bit, well, beige, so we found a lovely green to cheer it up a bit.

So we painted the filing cabinet...

No it's not grey - it's green.

It looked so nice we then thought we'd do a couple of other things in the room to make it look more intended...

And then we looked round the kitchen....  there were things that could be PAINTED!

So we did...

Even the outside loo got a facelift:

Which at least matched the (still rubbish) gate:

And the bike shed...

And two planters...

Then we wondered if perhaps it was all a bit too much. So we began to rein ourselves in: in the bedroom we just painted a door handle. We can do 'restrained':

The really good news is that somewhere along the line we ran out of paint so we went back to B&Q for another tin. It was ON OFFER!  Yep, two for very nearly the price of one!

Would have been rude to not take them up on their kind offer....

Un-building

Is Un-building a word? It is now... This week we've been unbuilding a greenhouse, largely due to the fact that the old one had dangerous glass in it which when Storm Imogen passed through sent a large shard flying across the footpath to the other side. Not that we're worried about decapitating the locals or anything but...  So it has to go. We've already bought a nice new greenhouse which will arrive in September. It really is a green greenhouse - part wood, we'll paint it green (Ronseal Willow, since you asked) and it has toughened glass, which is the important bit.

So we started with this:

And just an hour and a half later, we had this:

Seems we're good at demolishing things!

Is there any other news this week? Just the little matter of OUR PLANNING APPLICATION HAS GONE IN!!!!!  We've only been waiting since March...  We had to have two bat surveys, then the report took a whole month and only appeared when our architect 'reminded' the ecologists to submit it. Good grief. Anyway, no matter, now OUR PLANNING APPLICATION HAS GONE IN!!!! Not for the shed (still waiting on that one) but for the house itself. And on 17th August we get to see Welsh Oak's 3D computer graphic of our new house.

To say we are a little excited would be an understatement...