Bank Holiday Washout

The terrible bank holiday weather meant that we weren't quite able to finish the bedroom.

We still have one wall without skirting board (needs to be cut outside). My wardrobe door needs to be trimmed down now that the floor has been laid (needs to be cut outside). The headboard needs some alterations so that we do t have to mount it on the wall (need to be cut outside).... Spotting the pattern here?

We were able to put up some pictures and our two floating shelves, build our ikea bed and change the door handles in the built in cupboards.

So until it is actually finished here are some more pictures...

Back to decorating...

I haven't posted for *ages* and if I am honest it is because I was just irritated with the whole house. After the loft insulation kept being delayed we just kind of lost motivation to get anything done.

The good news is that the loft is now insulated with lovely new, clean, fluffy insulation and we have boarded it out so my collection of Christmas ornaments can move out of the hallway!

The other good news is that our bedroom has been decorated - I feel terribly guilty to say that all I did was pick the colours and bought the paint. We paid someone to do the painting and papering (it feels terrible to have to admit that!).

Our reasons were twofold 1. We have never wallpapered anything, and weren't sure a ceiling was the best place to start... And 2. It had really become an issue not being able to do it, as we cleared it out months ago, but then because of the delay with the loft having a knock on effect with everything...

It does look good though!

More details when it is finished...

We are not planning on paying for any other rooms to be decorated - but the hallway and it's 15foot wall is another matter.

Storage wars

M and I have been waging war against our loft for several weeks now. Ever since our roof was finished....

...we have been trying to make our loft accessible and ready for our new insulation that is being fitted tomorrow.

Our first problem was finding a suitable ladder. We bought a lovely wooden 3 section ladder and hatch months ago, then found that it couldn't be fitted because of our joist locations, then I spent some time researching other options and we eventually settled on a lovely telesteps ladder, then when we wernt to fit that found out that the fixings don't work now that we are allowing for a higher floor level with the new insulation.

So after much huffing and pouting we have now ended up with exactly what I didn't want from the very beginning - just a freestanding ladder.

It is at least a telescopic ladder, so it takes up hardly any room and we have designed a makeshift safety system so I don't feel quite so terrified carrying stuff up it.

There are also some benefits though - we can use it elsewhere in the house, it was a little cheaper than our other loft ladder purchases and we can move it out of the hatch to fit really big boxes up there!

The second problem was trying to find enough 'loft stilts'. They are screwed onto the joist before the new insulation goes in to allow us to raise the boarding without squashing our new insulation. 

This 'simple' purchase involved an online reservation where it later transpired that there were only 15 in stock (we needed 70+) and then a last minute order so that M could collect and install on Monday night before he went away!

But eventually they are fitted - and ready for our insulation install tomorrow. Fingers crossed that all goes smoothly. I won't hold my breath though - the notorious Yodel (courier with a bad reputation) should be coming as well to pick up that telesteps loft ladder...

Bunting

I have thought about whether I want to post crafts on here as well or keep house projects separate. I have come to the conclusion that I struggle enough updating one blog, so it is not a good idea to start a second...

I recently finished some bunting commissioned by a friend to go alongside I made when her daughter was born.

The only requirements were to complement the John Lewis Farmyard bedding, green bedroom and the yellow and orange bunting that I had made before.

So I purchased a remnant of the John Lewis fabric, the fabric itself looks like this: 

http://m.johnlewis.com/mt/www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-farmyard-curtain-multi/p619490#page_loaded

I only had about 10cm x 1m so I only had a few animals that I could work with, but I am very pleased with the result:

Fireplace Progress

Easter was a washout projects wise as we both went down with some flu like illness that we are only just recovering from. However there has been progress on the house since my last post! 

Today I will just focus on our fireplace. It still needs quite a bit of work: painting the wall, mantelpiece, hearth, dado rail, spray paint the candlesticks and plant something in the 3 pots. In our house though, that counts as almost done...

Here is the before and after (well during):

The things that we really have done are:

- Gas fire disconnected and removed

- MDF cut to size to seal the hole and painted with a spare test pot

- Cut down a conifer that was in the way of our new shed's foundations

- Cut 1" slices of the trunk 

- Glue to the painted MDF

- Spend weeks looking for a mirror

- Then buy a discontinued bathroom cabinet and hang it on it's side!

I am really pleased with the mirror, it looks very retro. If you didn't know I don't think you would realise that it has secret storage (currently hiding any sweet treats in our house). It does look like there are twice as many though as the inside is mirrored as well.

So there you go, we have been doing something and in truth we have mainly been doing little bits and pieces around the house, but eventually all those bits will add up to a finished house. Or that is what I am telling myself anyway.

Swings and roundabouts

The house is still very much a work in progress. And true to previous form as soon as we make one improvement we find another problem.

On the positive side, I have made a new stag picture, we have finally had the shed roof replaced, I have unpacked 4 boxes over the past week and I have just realised that since my last post we have actually finished a room! Sneak peek below:

However on the negative side neither of our toilets are working correctly (one is leaking into the hallway ceiling and the other has to be refilled manually), we still can't put anything in the shed because it is so mouldy and finally although we have moved a few boxes out of storage there is still a very long way to go:

That is a very scary sight!

Gallery Wall (1st of many)

We have made loads of progress on the front /dining room over the past few weeks. However we have been too busy working on it for me to take photos or update you!

One area that I do have photos of is our stag gallery wall in the front room. Although we have not yet finished painting the bottom half of the wall we decided a great way to tidy away this box of stag artwork/frames was to just get it up on the wall.

We have planned this project since February 2012 when we bought a large hand printed stag artwork while we were on our 'mini-moon' in Brighton. Those few days away we sat down and discussed general themes for our future house - so that we could focus only buying things that worked in one of those rooms.

After that we have slowly collected a group of brown frames, and a couple of 'stag heads' (fake ones) to put together as a gallery wall as well as making some items to go in the frames as we really wanted these to be handmade (and only a couple not by us!).

First of all we laid them all out on our floor and I shuffled them around until we were happy with the arrangement.

Then Martin hung them on the wall - they look great! They will look even better once we finish making the rest of the stags to go in the frames. Since we took this photo we have already completed 2 more pictures (I am aiming for 1 per week) so we don't end up with the empty frames forever!

I will update this post when all of the stags are complete....

Progress

We finally had a really productive weekend last week. Which started off with the fitting of our new door, which has gone from this:

Which although it does not look terrible in this photograph did not open/close or lock (none of which do I consider out of the normal remit for a door). 

But now it looks like this:

And we love it - the old rotten frame is gone, the room feels warmer already and you can see that the new centralised door actually opens out onto our centralised step, so there is a reduced risk of tripping down it!

M spent hours on our beautiful shelves, they look amazing, from the covered over back boiler, which you can just about see in the side of the chimney of this photo we took when we first viewed the property: 

To this: 

They need filling and painting, but they look great already. And finally in this other view you can see that we actually have some paint on a wall and a set up curtains up!

110 days

110 days ago we completed on our house (yes I know my planned post of a 100 days would have been better, but I have been busy!).

We have learnt a lot in that time and have  probably grown up quite a bit as well. The main thing that I have learnt is that I am terrible at estimating! I tend to underestimate how much time something will take, but would rather err way on the side of caution (I admit it I am a bulk buyer) rather than risk underestimating paint/wallpaper/fabric.

The jobs that we have done I am really pleased with and I think I have learnt that I need to reduce my very high standards or nothing is ever going to get finished.

This weekend we put in our new bathroom tap, I was a little worried about it as we are in a hard water area and I think it will get marked very quickly, but I can't deny that it looks great at the minute!

We have also bought the paint for my craft room - I am very excited to get started, but here is a quick sneak peek...

Finally (for today anyway) I have been watching 'The Great Interior Design Challenge' and I am loving it! It is funny to see so many of the things we have already bought in their rooms, button handles/ wallpaper roller / penny tabletop. And I love the architectural history also included in the programmes (also who doesn't like to be nosey about other peoples houses!). Great programme - I always agree with more craft on TV!

We have the technology and a 'water feature'

We have the internet, YouView and a phone line!

I am struggling to think about why we need the internet and I guess the answer is that we could live without it if we had to, but it really is a nice to have. 

Especially with our new YouView box where we can pause and record live tv (yes I know we are very behind the times, but it was still nice that M could pause Sherlock when I poured hot noodle soup down my hand in the rush to see it).

So far so good with the wifi, I am hoping we do not end up with any repeated problems like we had in our last house where the cable connection box was such a mess that every time they fixed someone else's connection they removed ours...

The other exciting house news this week is that M has replaced the broken flush system in the toilet. So now not only does it flush, but it also stops flushing (that was the issue with the old one). 

I don't really have any exciting photos of our router or the toilet flush, so instead here is a picture of our new 'water feature' in the back garden. I should note, this was caused by flooding, not by our old toilet flush failing to stop!