The Kitchen is finished!

Hooray!  The last week has seen wonderful progress, as the floor tiles were completed and grouted, the sideboard and sinks were fitted, and Leon in particular has done wonders to make everything fit and look as if it was designed to go just here.  Lizzie helped save me from a run-of-the-mill IKEA kitchen by realising we could re-use all the old furniture, and the guys have been fabulous in bringing it all together.
So while they worked, I slowly cleaned up the mess and removed the dust.  And with worktops oiled and sealed, and shelves fitted and drawers running, I have at last been able to reclaim the new kitchen as my own.  Everything has a home, just about, and there is lots of lovely workspace, and plenty of space for just sitting and talking too.  The big old sofa has moved into the room, and the AGA provides constant warmth and welcome.  I am sooo happy!

The only glitch is that the main folding glass doors have been horribly held up and won;'t be in place until the end of January - so in the meantime we have a temporary wall, helpfully and festively decorated by the urban art painters who hang out at weekends in the yard behind the house.

Here are some happy snaps, starting, as is only right and proper, with one of Lizzie test-sleeping the big, saggy, old sofa, which is newly installed in the kitchen and in due course will have a fine view of the minuscule but soon-to-be-beautiful back garden.....

Life, Builders, Muddle, 3rd December

This week I have been struggling to keep up with my project work alongside continuing chaos arising from work on the kitchen.

Thee are constant requests from Duncan for decisions about things, such as the floor covering (slate tiles or oak boards?  the slate tiles won although I have had a several sleepless nights worrying about icy feet in the future), the location of electric sockets; the kitchen units, etc, etc, etc.

There have been various alarms, including poor Duncan having his truck stolen (disaster!) to appalling mistakes (by them, not us) over the sliding/folding/concertina glass doors to the garden - which have been horribly delayed, thanks to a mega-muddle by Magnet in Avonmouth.  I am to be walled in, literally, for the Christmas holiday until they can be fitted, hopefully not too long into the New Year.

In the meantime, we continue to camp in the sitting room with the kettle, toaster and microwave, and - sometimes - a sink and tap in the soon-to-be-utility space.

The fridge and freezer tuck neatly under the stairs...

Kettle balanced on top of microwave, on top of currently redundant piano stool, with copious amounts of dust to help keep everything level...

This week-end's temporary kitchen sink (thank you, Benjie) in what will, next week, be the utility space,  with matching sinks either side of the internal (formerly external) kitchen window.

The kitchen tiles, sans grout and sealant, which will bring out the rich dark polished slate.  I am worried that the overall effect may be too dark and sombre, but it is too late now, and I am sure it will be glorious when all is complete.  And anyway, it is only a floor....

Next week, this is where the new kitchen sink will be...

So for the time being, this is what the former outside space, soon to be the utility space, looks like.... Open to the elements, of course, but relatively warm and dry nevertheless.

LIfe still gets in the way

We are now into week 5 of the great kitchen extension project.  The dust levels grow, and the chaos in the kitchen is about to get considerably worse, as the focus moves form the outside, inside today. The guys (Duncan, the boss, Benjie, and Leon) are brilliant, work hard, stay late, have good ideas, and drink endless amounts of tea and coffee.  But inevitably the noise and grime at times has been unappealing, to say the least. 

 This is the back half of the sitting room, currently our dining space, kitchen and bike store.

This is the gap in the kitchen where the gas stove used to be, and where, by next week, an AGA will be installed...

The guys built a temporary wooden wall across the kitchen to keep the worst of the mess outside until now, complete with Hobbit-style door, cut on Friday, /  My old kitchen dresser has been wrapped in heavy-duty plastic and remained on the outside, servings a useful tool store...

This is going to be the new utility room, but the glass panels for the roof have still not yet arrived.

There will be big glass doors right across the bad of the kitchen, but they haven't arrived yet.... IN the meantime, we have great ventilation.  The guys here are, from the left, Leon, Benj and Duncan's back.

Duncan fixing the electric saw.  you can tell he's the boss from the pencil behind his right ear...

It will be brilliant when it is all done, and I shall have a house warming party after Christmas.   Duncan etc are top of the list of invitees.   It is not quite a year since I got the keys to this house, and I only moved in in January after these same wonderful guys had done a whole load of improvement work from re-wiring and re-pumbing to re-plastering throughout.  I must be slightly mad, but the house will see me out, I hope.