Getting back to life continues.........

This week saw frantic activity to get the kitchen in a usable state. The kitchen fitters were pretty much there, but trying to tie the plumber down was a nightmare. It seems that everyone wants things finishing in time for Christmas!
Of course, without a plumber, we wouldn't have a sink, a washing machine, a dishwasher* nor a cooker. Still, Wednesday came and they managed to get it all done. Last night I did some home-cooking for the first time in about a fortnight - didn't half taste good!

Here's what the kitchen looks like now. Bits of finishing to be done, then the tiling, then the floor, then decorating!


* - Don't dishwashers need loads of stuff?!?! Salt, tablets, rinse aid etc



We were determined to have a tree as well. Bought one last Sunday and brought it in on Wednesday evening. Had to go and buy another stand because bits were missing from the old one - probably lost in the foundations somewhere!
WW made a start on decorating it last night. We had to get some new lights and she'd bought some from Tesco. Needless to say - these didn't work no matter how many spare bulbs I tried. So, back to Tesco this morning to exchange them - except they didn't have one set of lights in the whole store. Never mind, one of the local shops was able to povide where the multi-national failed.

Here's the tree (before & after)




Doesn't the blank plaster wall look lovely!!!

We got our lounge back!

Having lived solely in our bedroom for the past two months or so. It was fantastic to be able to move back into the lounge.

Quick reminder..........
This was at the end of October


This was last night, after a supreme effort by WW


Looking forward to getting the kitchen back this week, after two weeks without it!!!
Hopefully all the cabinets etc will be finished off tomorrow and the plumbing Tue or Wed (fingers crossed)

Kitchen Progress

View towards the sink and window.......






View towards the opposite corner...........

Garden & Kitchen

Quick photo update.
The Hedge was finally ripped out towards the end of the week.

As a reminder, this is what it used to look like........



And the same view yesterday morning.........



I also took advantage of not having a fence (yet) and got this view of the house.......




And a couple of "before" shots of the kitchen........

France........ more..........

Got a spare few minutes, so a bit of an explanation.

The place in France is Chillé. It's in the Charente region.
My parents moved there in August and have been having some renovations done on it all this year. Should be totally finished by Christmas.

This is what the main interior used to look like.......





And this was what it looked like the other day.........





Myself and WW flew out on Thursday and came back yesterday. A most relaxing few days with much good food, wine, and company.

A Few Days In France

Plenty of shots to share, but here's a few to get you started.........
More (and some words) when I get time.....

Friends & Pizza

A quick trip to Norwich last Sunday......

Before & After

Just a few shots while I've got a couple minutes










And a few of us getting plastered (yes, I know it's a poor joke)

Sorry It's Late

Yes, having said that I will try and update this every Saturday, the last one came and went.
Maybe the guilt was enought for me to make time for it now, maybe not.

We treated ourselves to a new digital camera last weekend too. No need to borrow the one from work anymore!
It's very tiny and more powerful than the one I've been using.
Got it from Ebay at a knock down price. Brand new shipped from the states. Well pleased with it.

So, it's gonna be a photo post this one. Things have moved inside.

Old living room/new dining room...........




Those french doors that you can see in the background only went in today. Look good, don't they?

This is what our kitchen bay window looked like yesterday.......



This is what it looks like today



And looking back the other way (those blocks are where our back door used to be!)



Short and sweet again.

Right, it's Saturday again and time for lots of photos.

A lot has been going on with the house which is great. We've had to make some very quick decisions and even this morning we went from having a tiny en-suite to having a big dressing room/walk-in-wardrobe!

Okay.......... here we go......
(once more, click photo to enlarge)

One from the front showing the fully completed roof (no guttering though) with a new dormer.


A couple of the back. Looks really good now that the scaffold is down.



This is one of the day room next to the shed to be. The roofs are going on this week. The french doors aren't to be fitted until we've removed the old bay window.


This is the usual view of the rear. Shows progress nicely.


I thought that I would add these to show the abomination of a hedge that we got free with the cottage. It really is awful. This week it goes! This pleases me greatly.
I spend getting on a week a year just keeping it in check. Not anymore!
Being replaced with a tidy 5' fence. Should give us a quite a bit of extra light too.



Finally, a couple of the inside of our new bedroom.

This second one has the en-suite now converted to a dressing room to the left hand side.


So all good. We're both very pleased today.


A PLACE IN THE SUN

Now for a couple of TOM's place in France




Very nice too eh?
Little chat today, sorry about that.