Sanding ...

We have spent a lovely Bank Holiday weekend sanding. We had two broken sanders (the first blew up at 5pm on Saturday, the second was collected at 8am on Monday and never worked at all...) On Sunday we tried to do the entire upstairs with just an edge sander and two hand held devices, but frankly it was never going to happen. We did what we could then went to the pub until Monday when we could get another floor sander. And take it back again. By the time we had a working floor sander it was almost noon and then it was pretty feeble....  It's now 8pm on Bank Holiday Monday and we've yet to go back to the cottage to put a second coat of varnish on the floor.

So this week you're just going to get a list of what's been done, and some pics. (Phew, I hear you say, she could witter for Wales...)

Did I mention we did sanding? We're now very proud of it. We think we are, anyway, coherent thought ceased many hours ago...

As you can also see, we got doors upstairs too. One of them even has a door handle. The others we have to grip the edges with our fingertips to move. We'd prefer handles.

The front of the house got painted.

The porch wall also got painted. Which was a shame as it wasn't meant to be. So then it got power washed. Sorted.

The fence got put up around the veg patch. So now we can have rabbit free vegetables. Hooray! No it wasn't Adam the Idiot who did it - Tom the Fence instead. And Adam is being chased by debt collectors...

Stairs got put in - lovely! Painted risers and oak treads, which are now protected by ply for the rest of the build. You're right, that is Mopsi with a bandage. She cut her leg chasing rabbits and had to go to the vets, bless her. £100 and a few bandages later she's absolutely fine.

Painting has started inside - the music room is painted between the rafters, but we didn't take a photo.

Drains are being dug and placed outside. No photo but, frankly, they look like drains.

And I think that's about it! 

My fingers are so sanded, full of dust or varnished that my iPhone fingertip ID no longer recognises me. Having caught sight of myself in a mirror, I'm not surprised...

Lazy weekend...

I know we say it every week these days but, really, it's been quite a week.

On Monday the underfloor heating went down - how the plumber didn't get giddy going round in endless circles is anybody's guess.

Before he started Guy and I used a big marker pen to draw all the units and cupboards onto the green plastic so that the UFH (as us in the building trade call it) didn't go under those bits. We could finally see how big our kitchen is going to be - it's ok!

We also gained front and back door frames. All we need now is the doors...

We're getting to the 'almost habitable' bits of the build, this week we got BT to reconnect the phone line. Bearing in mind we had actually physically cut the cable and taken it back to the last telegraph pole it was actually very kind of them to label it as 'a fault on the line' and reconnect it for free. We'd actually go so far as to say that BT were brilliant.

And that's a down pipe attached to the wall too...

On Thursday the floor was laid. This was astonishing to watch - two young men wheelbarrowed about 12 tons of a dry sand and cement mix through the house, leaving it in piles. Then the boss levelled it at the sides using a laser, and then through the floors BY EYE. Really remarkable to watch - and we did watch too. Very skilled.

So what else this week? A lot! In brief:

Front porch almost finished:

A flower bed dug. I know - an actual flower bed!

Chimney on the extension nearly finished - none of us are sure what to put on the top so we're leaving it like this until the log burner is installed. We're hoping the log burner people will have some ideas...

The rain and sunshine means the grass seed is growing - look, GREEN!!

This is one of our favourite views - it's a bench in front of the shed looking across the veg beds to the newly green paddock. Sadly today we have realised that when the veg plot gets fenced what we'll actually have in front of us is, er, fence. We may have to move the bench...

And in case you were wondering, no, Adam The Idiot didn't get in touch and didn't give us our money back. A new chap is starting the fence tomorrow (at twice the cost) and we'll sue The Idiot for our money. Prat.

The scaffolding came DOWN on Friday - that's the last of the scaffolding. Hooray!! Such a relief to get it gone, although we all find we're still ducking when we walk round the back.

At the music room end of the house, wall building has begun - it will be wall up to the window (to where it's reached, then) and oak cladding above. Gorgeous!

The extension at the other end will be oak clad - battens are being put on ready, that should start this week.

Mopsi searched for rabbits in the sand pile. Or sandpit as she likes to think of it...

It's a mucky job, but somebody has to do it.

For the record, no she didn't find a rabbit. But Guy and I watched two run out of the sand pile... She missed them both.

And we had a lazy weekend. We went to dog training, did food shopping, went to B&Q for paint and varnish, mowed the rental grass, sorted out rubbish in the big barn and re-upholstered the wing back chair. 

Don't be fooled by the photo - it is absolutely atrocious! Those large cushions are VERY strategically placed. I thought upholstery would be fun. Pah! Three stab wounds, two broken staple guns and a lot of swear words later we have a hideous green chair very badly covered. We were aiming for 'cool funky lime' and thought we had bought lovely fabric. What we actually have is 'care home green'. It will be upholstered again when we have the energy. By a professional.

On Sunday of last week we had visited what may well become our New Favourite Place, Warehouse 701 in Hereford. It's a salvage yard. Forget M&S, John Lewis and designer clothes shops, THIS is my kind of shopping...  We fell in love with a table, the perfect size, industrial underneath and scrubbed pine on top. It was already reserved... We left our details at the office just in case the woman who'd reserved it didn't want it and, hey presto, on Tuesday we were phoned to say she wasn't contactable so it was ours if we wanted it. Oh yes! Sometimes these things are just meant to be. Warehouse 701 have kindly said they'll hang on to it until we actually have a house to put it in...

An honourable mention this week to my pal Alison, who is helping to re-colour the world in Ronseal Willow, starting with this beautiful bench:

She says she has also painted her garage door and back door.  As she says, "I'm doing Herefordshire one item at a time."  You and me both!

In place of 'Purchases Of The Week' you can have 'The Week Coming Up' instead:

Monday - Oak cladding starts, veg fencing starts, porch roof gets finished (we have beer for the topping out ceremony. None of us knows what it is other than that beer should be involved).

Tuesday - Utility room units from IKEA arrive, staircase and external doors arrive. Plasterers start downstairs, painting outside or upstairs too maybe?

Wednesday - stairs get fitted, everything else continues

Thursday - Western Power visit about putting electric into the house, we go to a forge to talk stair handrail and curtain poles.

Friday - er, not sure. Breathe, maybe?

We've agreed a moving out date on the rental. End of June. Gulp.

Stressed?

It's been, yet again, quite a week.  The underfloor heating starts going in tomorrow which means that the floor has to be, like, TOTALLY prepared. Seriously, we have never seen builders work so fast. As of today, not only is the floor 6 inches higher (which weirdly makes all the rooms seem a different shape) but it's covered in a lovely green plastic carpet...

On Monday (that's tomorrow, then) the underfloor heating pipes start to be laid and we need to be there at 8am to point out that they don't go under (a) the kitchen units (b) the music room instrument storage (c) the utility room units and (d) the possible log store in the sitting room.  This 8am start would be fine if either of us were sleeping properly, but we're not because we're awake at 4am thinking about pipes, decoration, floor finishes and oak damage.

Ah, the oak. Very beautiful, but oddly susceptible to the weather. It rained on Thursday. And very possibly Friday too. Which turned our beautiful oak black...

Not a good look. I spoke to Welsh Oak who thought it was down to the lack of a gutter and the continuing presence of scaffolding. 

It can be repaired. A gentle painting of oxalic acid and, hey presto:

No more black. Maybe that's one less thing to keep us awake at night then...

So what else this week? Ah, yes, plastering. We got plastered. Probably more than once, but let's get back to the house...

The plastering is absolutely beautiful. We've done a bit (shed at the old house) and it's a real art - this time all the corners are being kept rounded to get the 'old' feel into the cottage

At the base of each corner the shape changes from curved to square to allow the skirting board to join up seamlessly. Quality or what? We hate to think what it's costing - best not to ask, really...

Outside, spacing panels were applied before the wall on the music room started. These are ingenious plastic panels, a bit like the things you get from garden centres to put pots in, that keep the stone a bit away from the boarding, allowing for an insulating air gap. These were put on to the wall before everybody got sent inside to concentrate on preparing the floors and now, sadly, most of them have fallen off the wall. Sigh.

Outside was tidied magnificently. This is the first time in months that we have been able to take a photo of the front of the house without any insulation panels in the way. Well, ok, only a few...

And there's a new front door. A bit crafty, granted, but it's progress.

We also have a new back door. It's a stable door, as requested...

Although we could do without the ladder to keep it closed. Maybe room for improvement, eh?

This coming week is momentous - we get the floor base laid on Thursday. WOO HOO! Already with 6 inches of insulation inside the cottage feels different... Higher, obviously, which makes the rooms different shapes. No, really, it does!

Purchases of the week:

Bathroom

Utility room units

All the tiles for the teensy weensy en suite and the bathroom. And extra in case we want to tile more.

Almost a dining room table. We went to Warehouse 701 in Hereford (very exciting) and found the perfect table. Except somebody else has reserved it. Pooh. We hope she changes her mind...

Idiot of the week:

The fencing numpty, Adam Alderson (yes I am going to name and shame) who took our money to 'buy the wood' and has since failed to either turn up or deliver the wood. We now have someone else to build a fence to protect the veg beds (but not this week) and we will pursue Adam The Ass through the courts to get our money back. Stressed?  Moi?  Oh yes...

More STUFF happens...

Did I mention that we're now getting to the really exciting bits? It's been another bonkers week:

We have pipes for water and oil:

We have major plaster boarding nearly everywhere:

We have windows at the back of the house

And almost a roof (together with a window) on the music room:

First fix electrics is now finished. It's a small cottage, with just lighting and switches, the usual washing machine, fridge and freezer, and various (unwanted) extractor fans to comply with building regs. We've see the miles of multicoloured cabling for lighting and sound systems on Grand Designs, and ours resembles a small version of it - we're just glad it's not us doing it all!

We've been busy building another wood shed. Well, more of a store - this time we simply piled up all the long lengths of wood then built a cover over it. Seems to work...

The front of the house is yet to be painted, apart from a bit of it where John the Paint was obviously using up what he had left over...

By this time next week all that insulation will have gone. At least, we think it will be gone by this time next week but we became a bit hazy on the plan for the coming week because so much is happening. We remember that tomorrow the music room scaffolding comes down, the front porch gets felted and battened, the side wall begins to be built and the plaster boarding is finished.

On Tuesday we have been promised that we will get plastered. Yay!

Purchases of the week:

A bath. With taps (good) and a basin and loo. That's the bathroom sorted then.

Vegetable plants for the raised veg beds. In the veg garden which has now been fenced by Adam the world's most unreliable fencer. Oh no it hasn't. Yes, quite remarkably, he failed to turn up for the FIFTH weekend in a row, despite saying on the phone at 8.30 yesterday morning that he would be with us by 12. He has now been sacked, or he would have been if he would answer his bloody phone. 

Paint. We've been playing with the 'paint matcher' machine at Robert Price and we now have an internal match for Feldspar White, together with a pleasant shade of raspberry for the bathrooms (trust us, it will be lovely). We have warned Robert Price that we need a LOT of paint. They seemed quite pleased and we got a discount. Hooray!

Pressies of the week (well, it is almost my birthday)

Gin and the Ladybird Book of The Shed (hilarious) from my lovely brother and his gorgeous wife.

I can't have my present from Guy until we actually move in, but I do know about it. Half of it is called Ruby and the smaller half doesn't yet have a name...