Top Garden

Aghhhhh will my builder ever come to fit the bathroom?..............

Deep breath! In the meantime I have decided to focus my energies on the top garden. Its going to be a big job! But not as big a job as the bottom garden eh!

So what are we dealing with exactly?

Well this is how it looked when we moved in.....

We moved the greenhouse down to the allotment soon after we moved in to open up the space. The wall behind it turned out to be concrete panels from an old garage. They took a lot of smashing up and trips to the top. Once removed the wall looked like this.....

Spot the castelations! A bit of emptying and the wall once again looked as it should.....

 Briefly the garden looked quite respectable......

And last year Noah and I replaced the pathway with slabs left over from the terrace.....

However it didn't last long. The front garden always seems to be the casualty whenever there is building work elsewhere and the quest for the cold water mains caused devastation....

The challenge now is moving forward to create a garden. Now I have my lovely kitchen I want to be able to look out onto something respectable! There are a few tips to the trip in store but the scrap metal man called yesterday so the rusting land-rover roof-rack (dumped when the land-rover went), the old filing cabinet (abandoned by you-know-who) and the pile of scrap metal are all gone. Today Noah and I started clearing some of the old redundant bits of drain and I've re-rendered around the window with traditional lime render. Not the smoothest of finishes but I like to think of it as organic! I also plan to re-point the wall in an effort to cover some of that white paint and loose some of the snail hideaways! 

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15th May

Trying to repair the render round the window. In despair as to how to stop it cracking as it dries - impossible to get the wall wet enough when patching repairs. grrrrrrrr.

Mystery Wiring

I decided to swap my bedroom light fitting. Although I am no electrician, I can manage like for like - or so I thought! I manage to disconnect the old light fitting easily enough. However I was then left with 4 cables poking through the ceiling - four! Having perused wiring diagrams on google it seems to me there should be 2. I cam also see why there might ne 3 but am completely baffled as to why there would be 4! So I gave up and left I for my long suffering builder to sort out and went for a shower - hmmmm seems we have no bathroom light anymore. We habe the answer to the mystery 4th cable. Good thing we have plenty of lamps!

Kitchen Finished!

3rd May - Kitchen Finished!


Well we finally have a finished kitchen which includes a cooker and hob which actually cook food! Life is amazing!

All four walls have now been stripped and all holes filled. All walls painted the same colour too!
The dresser and housekeeper cupboard have been painted to match the rest of the kitchen and we even have a window sill. The only job outstanding is to replace the wooden dresser top with a slate block which is ready for cutting, just need the man with the mega-angle grinder now!

Before....

 Pink, purple and blue walls with random tiles and a web of pipework!

 A selection of tiles on the window sill....

 Walls being stripped......

Selection of tiles around the door....

And now.....

Might have to paint the front door tho now!

The sockets and lights have also been replaced meaning the kitchen has been completely re-wired and we have a new consumer unit in my electrics cupboard in the boiler room which will help to make the house safer. The old electrics were alarming to say the least. And as a tiny bonus we've had a socket fitted in the under-stairs cupboard which means we can plug a lamp in to see what we are doing. A small detail but one which will make a huge difference to the state of the cupboard.

Hattie's bathroom has been stripped of both wallpaper and sanitary-ware and ...... ta da.... all the sanitary-ware has been taken to the tip. There are no more toilets sitting in the garden. I've taken 4 toilets to the tip in the last year - sums up my life really!

Hopefully builder will return soon to fit Hattie's bathroom. Also have a new light for my bedroom waiting to be fitted and new lights for Noah's bedroom. Trying to choose lights for the stairs as those electrics really scare me! Once the bathroom is done the downpipe will be replaced outside and that means I will be free to create the garden. Life gets better all the time :)