And as if by magic; the kitchen now looks more like a finished room! Still lots of work to do here but the end’s just about now in sight.

Although we’re still a way of needing it, most of the various bits for the new bathroom arrived today – in the snow, to say the least. Shower screen, Sink, WC pan & cistern, sink/WC cabinets, tap, shower controls & shower head all arrived in one pallet-sized delivery which resulted in much slipping & sliding…

While we’re sorting out the bathroom upstairs, the new kitchen is steadily nearing completion. Cabinets are in along with the worktops & sink…

The new pre-lagged cylinder was first fitted with all the various bits and pieces needed to connect it up – new hard-water suitable immersion heater went in first: Followed by a specialised Salamander S-Flange for the domestic hot water take off & dedicated air-free supply to a pumped power shower, yet to be purchased or…

On inspecting the heating / hot water systems (DHW) when we first got the keys we’d noted that the hot water cylinder was getting a little tired, and would probably need to be replaced at some point relatively soon. What we weren’t quite expecting was to come into the house at around 3pm on a…

… Without a set of drains ! The old utility room was equipped with a water supply but unfortunately no drainage. As a result, during a rare break in the surprisingly snowy weather the focus switched to some outside works to lift most of the patio paving slabs & re-route underground drainage to accommodate the…

One of the distinguishing “features” installed by the previous owner was a wood-panelled ceiling.    Perhaps not quite to everyone’s taste… and definitely not to ours…! Unsurprisingly, this wasn’t particularly well attached and soon parted company with a little persuasion to reveal that it had simply been put up underneath the original plasterboard ceiling, which…

Next stop was obviously to make a start on ripping something else out! The house has two upstairs bathrooms, one that’s looking somewhat tired and needs replacing, and a larger “family” bathroom that is pretty new and perfectly usable in the condition it’s in. The smaller of the two is just the right size to…

After several weeks’ wait, another milestone’s arrived – what felt like a pallet’s worth of laminate flooring for the lounge, hall, entrance porch & old kitchen has finally turned up from B&Q..

The day has finally arrived…. Our new kitchen is in the building – in bits though! The new room is nearly ready to have the bits fitted and with luck, will acquire floor tiles & necessary plumbing tomorrow with the kitchen going in next week. All building work has now been completed; walls & ceiling…

Great progress is also being made in the new kitchen. The builders have demolished the old dividing wall, ripped down the ceilings, stripped off old plaster, sorted out the electrics & have nearly finished plasterboarding / drywalling the room ready to tape & skim the new walls.

With the onset of 2010, our builders have arrived in style on the first working day of the year. We’ve engaged a brilliant local firm called Upgrade Building Solutions (UBS) to demolish the dividing wall between the old Utility & Dining rooms, make good, tile the floor and supply/fit a new kitchen. The rooms started…

After spending most of today using one, I’m convinced chemical paint strippers should carry more of a health warning: “do not use if currently alive” or “full-body protective clothing & breathing apparatus must be worn before opening” might do the trick! We’ve been in the process of restoring the stair case back to more of…