A Bank Holiday apology

OK, here it is - we're sorry. We're sorry that it's raining today, and that it's going to piddle down tomorrow, but actually we're REALLY pleased that it's raining. We spent Friday and Saturday throwing down 220 kilos of grass seed, and 2 kilos of wild flower meadow seed. And now we need rain, followed by sunshine, which is exactly what is forecast. So for all of you gloomy that the Bank Holiday tomorrow is wet, just be happy in the knowledge that we are REALLY happy about it!

The seed instructions said to rake the soil level (er, clods are ok, right?) then scatter the seed using a seed dispenser (we don't have one and anyway it would have got stuck on said clods) and then gently cover the seeds with 5mm of soil. No mention of what to do if each clod is about 6 inches big.

So we just chucked it down at about the right rate.

One of us sat in the way and got covered in seeds...

She will soon be a black and green labrador...

So, what's been happening on the work front? It's weird - it's another of those weeks where we would have said very little happened, yet work has been galloping on.

The other pointy (oh ok then it's called a gable) end has been painted:

Both extension roofs are now felted and battened, so they're watertight (hooray).

The main roof is very nearly finished - just a bit around the chimney to go.

We have our second Velux window which shines some light on the upstairs landing (that's a good thing) and is very high up (that's a bad thing - it will be impossible to clean).

Plasterboarding is continuing inside so that we have a curved wall on the bathroom:

And an almost finished looking fireplace:

In the veg beds we have a peony just breaking the ground and STOP PRESS: Adam is coming to do the fence next weekend. Definitely. Absolutely. Guaranteed. Hmmm.

And that's about it, apart from first fix electrics being almost finished. Now we just have to buy light bulbs for all the fittings. Is it just me, or are lightbulbs now really complicated? I'm bracing myself to do it online tomorrow - when it's RAINING whoop whoop.

Purchases of the week:

Two huge planters for next to the porch. One of us got Senior Citizens discount. HOORAY!

No, of course I haven't mentioned it on a daily basis since...

A bathroom. Yes, really - a bath, loo and basin, with taps and fittings. We've had our eyes on this one bath set for nearly 18 months and today, at last (atlasta bathroom ho ho) we were able to go and order it. We're getting there.

Two sinks and a tap. One sink for the kitchen and the other for the utility room. I cheekily asked for discount - and got it! They delivered spectacularly quickly and were lovely to deal with so I'll happily give the company a plug: www.shipitappliances.com

Two exochordia plants. Very pretty. The rabbits will love them...

And my bargain of the week - 480 summer flowering bulbs and two roses for (drum roll) a total of £6.98. Seriously. Like we need 480 summer flowering bulbs, but I couldn't resist... Still, they'll arrive after we've recovered from the seed spreading...

Roofing felt nails, which I then put in my handbag and promptly forgot about. Well, everybody has a bag of nails in their handbags, don't they? We're doing another wood shed...

Dust and muck

This week we have mostly been mucky. Actually, most of the last however many weeks it is we have mostly been mucky. We are regularly the filthiest people in Monmouth, although this doesn't seem to stop the shops wanting to relieve us of our money...

The sitting room is currently looking like this:

Insulation is going in the walls, the electrics are in for the TV (yes, halfway up the wall), sockets, CAT6 (a good idea for the future, but we still don't really understand it) and a socket in the middle of the floor. That's because there will be a sofa there so that we can stretch our legs out in front of the fire, and a coffee table behind it (because we bought it and there's nowhere else it can go) which will have a lamp on it. So, socket in the middle of the floor.

As if the concrete dust and general filth wasn't enough, we're still filling our new log store. We needed to do chainsawing, the metal saw horse is currently propping up a giant axe in the shed and so we made a new one. Yes, MADE a new one. Commissions will be undertaken...

And then sawed one petrol tank's worth of logs.

Guy and I may be mucky, but somebody else is truly embracing the 'builder's dog' role...

She may need a bath sometime soon...

In some places the house looks very tidy - upstairs has been plaster boarded!

And the back roof is coming along a treat - look, there's a WINDOW!!

(Don't worry about the colour line on the tiles - the lighter ones are simply covered in, er, dust, and when they get rained on they'll all be the same colour. Oh yes they will).

This means that the teensy weensy en-suite, which was previously a dark pokey hole, is now a much lighter pokey hole.

And we've got all the scaffolding back - it's round the music room...

And across the extension at the other end...

And we've been boarded in the bathroom.

Does this look like it's missing something to you? I think it needs an Egyptian mummy in it...

We've been busy outside too - we have a nursery bed of heathers (we've got heathers, we can't plant them because we've got no flower beds yet, so we've bunged them in the raised veg beds - that's a nursery bed, right?)

The odd pansy is a bit, well, odd. We found it one day on a pile of the bricks outside where the builders are storing all their stuff. No idea where it came from. It's now been there three weeks so we reckon it's ours...

I've planted bulbs on the basis that the rabbits can't see them so won't eat them. Dahlias, peonies, astrantia, freesias and anemones. They'll be very pretty if they flower.

We also had 'flower plugs' by post (ordered online) which were really small. They've been potted up in peat pots - all 42 of them. 18 Lavender plants and 24 Sweet William.  Rabbits don't like lavender. I bet they like Sweet Williams though... we're still waiting to get the veg beds fenced, but it's OK, Adam is coming to do it two weeks ago...

And that's about it for this week.

No 'Purchases of the Week' this week because well, frankly, it's been a bit hectic and I can't remember if we've bought anything or not. Although I am in negotiation about some frighteningly expensive floor sockets...

And... breathe....

After the frenzy of last week, it seems we have hardly moved forward at all this week, but in fact it's just that the speed of build has returned to normal. The Polish team stayed with us on Monday and Tuesday to finish off bits and pieces then they left, so we were down to around 6 on site instead of 16.

So what has been done this week?

Painting has started...

And now the end of the house is painted - we LOVE it.

We've had lots of neighbours walking past over this weekend and they've all admired the colour. It's called Feldspar White, it's from Ty Mawr in Brecon and it's been discontinued. Madness when everybody likes it so much.

The chimney has also started.

It's rather fabulous - a bit like Lego!

There are sections that fit together (with cement) and it just goes up and up and up and up.

We are a little worried that with still two more sections to go on it could be so high that it becomes a local landmark. Maybe we'll paint it with red and white stripes and pretend it's a lighthouse...

On the inside we have a beautiful oak mantelpiece to set off the plastered and painted chimney breast.  It looks a bit high at the moment because the floor is still 9 inches below where it should be.

Landscaping has continued outside - there really is only a little bit left with mounds of earth. Oh, and there's a huge pile of stone and a fire pit too. So not really very nearly landscaped then...

The front porch is ready for tiling - if you look up as you stand outside the front door (when there is one) you'll see tongue and groove oak boarding, it's really beautiful.

A wall has been built near the outside loo, giving a pathway round the back of the music room to the back door. Or it will be a path when the scaffolding has gone - it's a bit of a slalom at the moment.

The scaffolders returned on Wednesday and we now have scaffold at both ends of the house again. And all round the back. This means that we can't open any of the new patio doors. At the moment if the builders want to get into the music room from outside they simply climb through the open space where there will be a window. Honestly - those walls really get in the way of walking round the site.

The shower tray has been wedged into the teensy weensy en-suite upstairs. Once the loo and basin are in place it's going to be, um, tight. Or 'bijou' as we prefer to call it...

And of course it's been Easter. We made the builders an Easter Nest cake (chocolate cake covered in Matchmakers and little eggs) and also did them an egg hunt in the barn where they have their rest breaks. We did wonder if we were being a little childish, hiding a dozen Creme Eggs around the rafters and building supplies, but apparently they were all rushing round like kids trying to find them. Yay!

Blimey, when we think back over all that's happened this week, it's really a LOT!

So what did Guy and I do over the Easter break? Take it easy? Nah - we built a log store.

Here's the before:

And the after:

Purchases:

220 kgs of grass seed. We went for the ‘economy’ seed given the enormous quantity…
Also some wild flower seeds for round the edges. Pretty flowers for the bees we're still planning to keep (if the hives ever turn up) and less mowing - result!
Two HDMI cables. The electrician said he needed them. Something to do with Sky?
Two plants for next to the front doors - Viburnum (dead easy to look after apparently). We should also have the pots but because Guy is now so ancient we’ll get 10% off when he gets his OAP card from the garden centre. Worth waiting for!
A new rake. We sort of wore out the old one.

O.M.G.

What a week! On Monday there were 16 (yes, SIXTEEN) labourers on site, not counting us, and the build moved on at a rate that DIY SOS would have been delighted with.

At 8am the vertical posts went in...

Then at 10am the A Frames started to be craned into place,

By the end of Monday we had a sitting room extension - and it's utterly gorgeous.

We also had the upper windows. And they're utterly gorgeous too.

By early Tuesday we had rafters

By late Tuesday we had a porch and all the front windows were completed.

On Wednesday it was the other extension

All the oak was cleaned off - this means dousing it in oxalic acid then pressure hosing it clean. Yes, it does make the house rather wet inside...

Guy and I stayed behind after everyone had gone and bailed out the kitchen...

The Music Room is looking lovely - and LARGE. Sadly there is a LOT of room for even more melodeons...

Oh, and we also have all of the first fix plumbing done, first fix electrics upstairs, en-suite basin and loo on site and ready to fit, plaster boarded upstairs and tarpaulins on both new extensions.

And scaffolding round the music room.

All the big paddock has been landscaped, we need it to be raining before we seed. Right now we're VERY happy with the dry weather as we have two more roofs to be done, so the seed can wait.

When we watch Grand Designs, everybody always says how many decisions need to be made. They're not kidding. At some point this week (don't ask me what day) the plumber needed to know the height for the shower rose in the en-suite. Guy wasn't around, so it was down to me. How do I know? He held it up, I asked him how tall he was (6 feet) and we agreed that if he could stand underneath it that would do nicely. Where do you want the basin? How do I know? It's either further into the room (so that you bang it when going to the loo) or nearer the door (so that you knock into it every time you go into the room). We ended up somewhere between the two. How thick are your tiles? YAY - we have one of those already.... (bumpy white 8" square from Topps Tiles since you ask).

And so it goes on...

As if all that wasn't enough, the cottage that we are renting went on the market on Saturday at 10am (with our consent - they did ask!) and by 1pm they'd booked 3 viewings for tomorrow, Monday. So now we have to have it clean and nice...

We are, perhaps not unreasonably, knackered.

Unfair division of labour of the week (1) - We got a further 2 tons of gravel to put in the pathways of our veggie patch. Guy says that he was shifting all of it while I was arranging a lunch date by text. Yes, I was but, to be fair, I helped shift the first ton...

Unfair division of labour of the week (2) - All the old joists and various other bits of wood that might make valuable firewood were put out on the lawn so that we could de-nail them. De-nailing duly done, we had a large pile of usable firewood which Guy asked the builders to put 'next to the shed'. What he should have said was 'next to the BARN'. I moved it all myself while Guy was at the 'dentist'. I think he just went out for a leisurely coffee...

This week has been epic, really it has. But the cottage is looking GORGEOUS. We are soooo delighted with it...

Purchases?

A new rake for smoothing the paddock. Just as Simon the Digger brought over a huge landscape rake that attaches to his JCB and does the work in about a quarter of the time.
Some plants for the garden. Random lavender, two things called Daphne, dahlias and some sweet Williams so at least we'll have flowers to cut even if there isn't really a garden.
9 down lighters for the bathroom and en-suite. Yes, I know I said I wouldn't have any (I think the exact words were 'over my dead body') but we lack space, we can't think of anything else and, well, I found them online. Mind you, they weren't delivered as promised on Friday, so to say they're an actual purchase is currently pushing it a bit.

Villains of the week:

Still Plumbs Upholstery. They had a massive two page advert in our weekend TV listings. Apparently they give a 3 year satisfaction guarantee. Seems a bit rum when we haven't even made it to 3 weeks and they've stopped talking to us. Still unhappy, but rapidly becoming past caring. Until they ask for the balance of the payment at which point I will become Very Angry Very Quickly. Plumbs, you have been warned...

About to be epic...

It might be a slightly short blog this week because next week will be EPIC!! Just to get you excited, this is what is happening tomorrow:

• Sitting room extension goes up
• Music room extension goes up
• Porch gets added
• Front windows get put in
• First fix electrics upstairs
• First fix plumbing everywhere

Exciting or what? We are like very excited people just before a very exciting event.

Anyway, back to this week:

We have a roof at the front, and the scaffolding has GONE:

Well, yes, there's still a bit at the back, but it's mostly gone. It will return when the extensions have gone up.

While the scaffolding was still up, Mike the Tile cracked on with the tiling. He's finished all of the front, and half the back:

When he'd got this far on the back there was a long discussion about the way forward. What we really need is for the music room (to the left on this photo) to be completed before the back roof gets finished - it seems the two separate roofs are closer together than we had thought. So, sensible option, Mike the Tile goes off to do other work, and the back waits for the music room roof to be finished. I would have played a bigger part in the discussions but once it got technical about 'lead valleys', frankly they lost me...

On Monday we visited Joe the Joiner to see our windows. They look like windows - hooray!

And at the weekend he sends us a further photo - with paint, fittings and glass. They're GORGEOUS!

In the house itself, we have floorboards throughout upstairs and we also have tin foil. 

BOB says we'll be able to grow marvellous marijuana. Apparently it's lovely in chocolate brownies - what's not to like?

Outside the landscaping is coming along nicely. So nicely, in fact, that Guy and I have spent the weekend raking the paddock. Yes, raking the paddock. You're right, it's enormous - it really was knackering. Adam the Fence has been to talk rabbit proofing the veggie patch, and he's coming to put the fence up next weekend.

And we have a front door. Not quite as we thought it would be but, hey, it's a front door.

Purchases of the week:

3 more lights for upstairs. Well, we are heading for FIRST FIX!!

6 more slabs for the patio steps.  Look - they're gorgeous!

Lousy Customer Service of the Week:

Plumbs upholstery - now they say we never sent the back cushions to them. Oh Yes We Did. They seem to think they're doing us a favour by doing anything to put it right. The cushions they sent last week aren't right, and aren't particularly comfortable, and they don't care. But it's ok, we haven't paid them yet...

And a last thought - somebody asked me this week if I'd been doing some painting at the cottage as I looked like I had emulsion in my hair. No, love, that's just me going grey...

I've absolutely no idea why, but Prosecco is helping...