Thanks Mum & Dad

I couldn't get the tallest of these 3 blue vases in our local IKEA - but my parents managed to find it in their's - so we now have the full set.  I wanted a little bit of colour for the room & blue glass on the windowsill delivers this nicely.

Kitchen - Progress

Thought a few update photos on our kitchen's progress were due.  As you can see, it really is looking less like a ubiquitous room in a state of being done & more like an unfinished kitchen!
We do now have use of the oven which is making a positive difference to the quality of our diet!
And yes, the lighting is LED not energy hungry, light-fitting-heating halogen...
Still to do:

• Tiles - completion
• Flooring
• Plinths
• Painting the whitework (my least favourite painting job!)

Bedroom - all done bar the wardrobes

All that's left to do in our bedroom now is to buy & put up the fitted wardrobes & iron the curtains.  The former task won't happen until after Christmas & I'm not sure when I'm going to feel like the latter - anything that need ironing in my wardrobe is rarely worn!


The oak effect laminate made a big improvement when it went down - I'm hoping that this will be our default flooring for most other rooms in the house.


Really pleased with the new bedside cabinets.  I have been trying fruitlessly to get hold of the same Habitat series cabinets as the bed, but admitted defeat.  These are John Lewis ones - but they go rather well with our bed.


The walls are more grey than I hoped - but the shade seems to go well with the oak wood colour.


We now each have a bedside lamp - something we never had at Edward Avenue!  Tried to keep to the vaguely 70s retro thing going on with our bed - and the house!


The thing I'm most pleased with is the pendant lampshade - chosen by Husband.  Plain hessian kind of thing when unlit, but has a fabulous bamboo design when lit.

Kitchen - getting there. Kind of.

Well, the kitchen is progressing.  Not finished - or anything like finished, but at least it's starting to look a bit less like a gutted shell & more like a room.
A few hiccups - a broken elbow, electrical shuffling & a predictable amount of glaring at the plans vs reality!
The oven does work - but we've been too chicken to try it out.

En Suite Bathroom Finished

Drum roll......


En Suite is finished!  Our first finished room.


We removed the old suite - which included a corner bath too short to stretch out in and a leaky loo.  The carpet and a goldfish shower curtain were also consigned to the household recycling centre.


We kept the tiles - and managed to find a very close match to add in where needed.  The light, mirrors, towel rail, radiator & shelves were all good - so we kept them too.


Additions were:

• Large shower cubicle with a low profile tray and sliding doors.
• Thermostatic mixer shower, that thanks to the megaflow has a decent level of oomph.
• Oak vanity unit 
• Tile Loc flooring
• Non-leaking loo! 

It all works and it is so much more enjoyable to use than the blue, daylight free bathroom.

We moved into the main bedroom this week as we welcomed our very first overnight guests - my Fabulous In Laws en route home to Torquay after a long birthday weekend in Vienna (many, many thanks to Xis!).   Really good to be sleeping in a nearly finished room, but I'm so looking forward to having a kitchen so that we can be proper hosts.

Temporary Kitchen

I am very lucky - no need to do the washing up in the bath!
Fridge is in the hall, crockery & coffee machine & cutlery in the dining room, food & microwave & slow cooker are in the utility room - which also boasts an operational sink.
Our most luxurious temporary kitchen to date!
Actual kitchen is being plastered & having sockets shunted around at present.

Heating Upgraded

We had our heating upgraded this week - so I've been very grateful for:

• Lack of cold weather
• Having an electric shower at present
• Gym membership
• My sofa blanket
• The kettle!  

The boiler worked fine, but was of an age where replacing would make sense for our heating bills.


Husband describes our new unvented cylinder as a "luxury" - I think I've been spoiled as I regard mains pressure hot water as a requirement, not a luxury.  The Megaflo we've chosen will deliver that and will also help to keep heating bills under control.   It means that we don't have to install shower pumps - so it will make more financial sense as the house-to-home project progresses!

We don't have solar thermal - but we are intending to next year when the RHI kicks in.  It wasn't much more to go for a Megaflo that can cope with 2 heat sources - so it will be appropriate for when we do go for solar hot water and will reduce the installation cost for that change.


Radiators downstairs have been replaced - but the vertical rad that will release some wall space in the lounge is still outstanding (the one the plumbers ordered arrived dented).  The new rads that have been installed do look much smarter, albeit nothing designery! In the cloakroom, we've now got a chrome finish heated towel rail.


A radiator in the hall's been moved - again, to free up a wall.  There's a dark corner that's been evolving into our bag & gym stuff storage area.  Moving the rad means that we can shelve this properly.  

There was a room thermostat already - but the numbers had rubbed off so we've had it replaced with a basic but legible version!  I can now practice what I advocate at work and set up our heating to suit us - which hopefully will keep the bills down.


The programmer remains unchanged - and even the timings are unchanged.


It's odd that Husband and I both baulk at spending money on furniture and decoration, but we are happy to spend on electrics and heating!