If I didn't work full time, I'd love to have spent 3 months lovingly restoring the bindweed overgrown herbaceous borders that dominate the back garden - but sadly, we really don't have the time.
Given our rat issue, we decided that living with the overgrown beds until we could find the time was not a great idea - so we've called in a landscape gardener who started today.
The guys have done lots today - all the plants are out although I think there is some work to do still on getting the roots out.
Boulders have appeared that were buried in the undergrowth - not entirely sure what to do with them, but I'm hoping that the gardener has some ideas...
We entertained our second visitor on Sunday - and this time, we managed to feed our guest! James came over for lunch in between fishing and cycling - loved his ideas about using glass bricks, but I don't think that they are Husband's taste!
Box City still occupies the conservatory - but is a bit better organised. We went to North Devon last weekend without any cycling routes as we couldn't find the right box - and I wanted to track down some key kitchen items - shoe polish for example.
It took a morning to examine each box, relabel and sort into 3 areas: Books/CDs/DVDs, Kitchen, Other. I wasn't aiming to empty boxes, but did manage to release 4 by sorting stuff out.
Found my most beautiful shoes!
Husband applied his latest purchase to the front garden - an electric hedge trimmer - and it's looking much smarter.
I've also cleaned out the food recycling bin that appears to have been used as a compost holder so we can start to get our landfill contribution down.
Previous owners of this house had good taste in tiles - as already mentioned, I quite like the 70s style red ones currently in the kitchen. The main bathroom has blue tiles that I can't get excited about - but equally, can certainly live with.
The ensuite bathroom's tiles are tricky - we like them and they aren't broken so would like to keep them. However, we plan to replace the corner bath with a shower enclosure & the loo & basin with white versions. This means spaces that will be tile free.
A box and a half had been left behind - not quite enough.
It seems nuts to re tile a bathroom when we like the current ones for the sake of a couple of boxes, so we've been looking for them online.
No match anywhere for the barcode or any of the information on the box - but on the back of the tiles, it says "Novabell White Collection". Much more success!
No UK stockists nearby (that I could find anyway), but there is a store in High Wycombe that deals with Novabell so we are going to pop in on the way to Baby Sister's on Saturday to double check & place the order.
It's not going to be cheap to have them shipped from Italy - but much cheaper than re tiling!
Not quite the 3 week lead time I was expecting, but as it's not due until the 19th November, at least we'll be able to get the room ready!
We had to choose the tiles and flooring in minutes in order to add them to the interest free credit deal - which was surprisingly amenable and squabble free. For both, we ended up switching from what we'd chosen from the brochures.
I have also decided that I'm going to salvage what I can from the current tiles - I do like them in a very 70s way but there really aren't enough in good condition to keep as the main kitchen tiles. I do have some ideas though.
We have a possible home for the worktops - a friend has been eying them up for his workshop.
The current flooring though is beyond recycling - much as I approve of cork!
Kitchen was measured up yesterday by Mark from B&Q. I haven't seen the latest iteration of the kitchen CAD software and it's impressive! He took minutes whereas I would have taken hours to measure & plot the units and the finished visuals are very helpful.
I've put up the "before" photos here so you can see what we are working with. It's a good sized room with a u shaped layout that we are not planning to change significantly. We are reducing the number of wall units on the left side to give a more open look.
Quote was predictably more than I'd budgeted for - but there is an IFC deal at the moment which will certainly help!
Now this may not look like a milestone, but it is an important ingredient to the house-home project! I struggle to do housework, DIY, unpacking, laundry, cooking, gardening and many more things without Radio 4 keeping me company.
I can't find my little portable anywhere - but as the aerial had snapped halfway down & the battery was failing to hold charge, I decided to invest in a replacement today. I'm not nice to the radios in my life - they get dropped regularly & have been spattered with paint.
Hence this really basic purchase that's hopefully me-proof!
Broadband went live on the 3rd September but we were on holiday so only got to set it up last night. The biggest challenge was finding the wireless router in the box city in the conservatory, but Husband succeeded where I had failed.
It does keep cutting out - not sure if it's the router or the line. I suspect the former as it wasn't perfectly behaved in the old house. But still so much better than squabbling over the (v.useful) PAYG dongle!
A housewarming card that's inspired me!
Mouse levels in loft above back bedroom & rat levels at the bottom of the back garden. Still no internal rat bait take which is fantastic - and none in the front garden! I'm not overly worried about the garden take as it's not unreasonable & exactly where we would expect to find the lovely furry animals.
If I didn't work full time, I'd love to have spent 3 months lovingly restoring the bindweed overgrown herbaceous borders that dominate the back garden - but sadly, we really don't have the time. 
