All Done

It's taken me a long time to come back here, I hope I can be forgiven for that because I've been having fun cleaning, tidying and fighting with the dust. The building site has disappeared and replaced by this:

Kitchen pics this used to outside (ex patio)

Hahaa old kitchen now bedroom(better than moving into the attic I tell you)

Now work is starting upstairs to update the bedrooms and enlarge the bathroom.  Boys' room finished, just waiting for their wall pics to be hung when they arrive on Tuesday then they can move in (shh, they don't know about the canvases yet so don't tell them). I'll be glad when this is all over.

What building site?

So we have enjoyed enjoyed 23days in our new kitchen and 4weeks in our newly done living room. This is enduring almost 12weeks of living in dust and rubble and a micro managed environment.

I had delayed posting the update because I wanted everything to be utterly completed but I've been waiting for my proving drawers for over a week now. So here we go; situation so far:

I will post the rest of the house soon as we are in the process of planning the bedroom furniture.

My kitchen, if you can see the empty space next to the microwave there, that's were the two proving drawers will be going. No more running my tumble dryer to warm it for proving douogh.

Living and dining room, tried to make something easy to clean as we have our super active young kids.

Situation so far

Current situation of the building site is: I have 8 men in the house (1plumbing, 1 heating engineer plus his apprentice, 2 guys working on the patio, 1 laying the floor, 1 builder/supervisor and a labourer. Oh I missed out my husband, so that's nine.

There is absolutely nowhere for me to sit, all I've managed to do is shower (before the team came up) and have a naked cup of tea. My living room is swamped with building and electrical stuff, there kitchen is almost invisible and I AM HUNGRY! The only decent rooms in the entire house are the (only toilet we have left in the house) and the au-pair's room. I feel sorry for the poor girl (she has only been with us for about half an hour), she walked into the mess and she is already talking about helping me with cleaning. 

Anywhere, "one more week" my husband says although I'm less optimistic than he is (feels like this has been going on for ever and will never ever ever end). I can not take all the pics now as men are working and I do not want to trip on their tools and make a fool of myself but here is what I managed to snap earlier.

Kitchen floor being laid, patio being finished off, radiators going up and new boiler sorted.

Kitchen progress so far.

When the chips are down

Today I feel rottenly depressed, so much so I just want to cry and curl up somewhere. Trouble is, there is nowhere to curl up, my house is not a home let alone a house. Work is still undergoing so much so that there is not a single finished project with everything semi-finished. The builders seem to be starting on jobs and not seeing them through just so they can stay on the job and this is beginning to piss me off.

I must apologise sincerely for the language usage but I hope you understand that there are times when one needs to let rip, this is the time for me. Writing this is to try and help myself to calm down or maybe not jump on the builders' throats because I am ANGRYYYY. My husband ended up doing some of the work himself last night and only slept this morning at three o'clock. That ain't fishing healthy but he feels this is the only way to get some of the things done.

To help you understand my frustration I will tell you the current situation; the entrance hall has only been plastered one side, the wooden floor has only been laid in the playroom and on the stairs making    the whole place look even more awkward ugly. The bedroom has been plastered only one wall (which my husband did) and the kitchen still requires plastering and the floor still needs to be finished before the wooden floor can be laid. My husband has had to insulate our bedroom because this has not been done when it was required to be. All theses snags are delaying other teams from either starting or completing their jobs. The plumber is waiting to finish off the plumbing, the engineers are waiting to finish off the heating installation, they need walls to be plastered before they can put up the radiators and electrical work needs to be completed. All these jobs are riding on one team who seems to be dragging their feet and draining our purse at the same time. Don't get me wrong, they are not utterly and completely incompetent, they just lack the completion skills for the little they do they do well (just not all of it). So if you think this is not good enough to be pissed off please educate me on what is.

I can't clean my house because there is nowhere to clean but there is nothing that is clean. Am I making sense? Yes the guys are nice enough but nice ain't fishing cutting it anymore and I want my home back, no; I FISHING NEED MY HOME BACK! Today is Sunday, it's normally my resting day, kids go swimming, I clean the house and do some ironing and then cook with the children; normally. Nothing is normal anymore, I'm waiting for Waitrose to deliver my food, the builders have decided to turn up so they can catch up on some of the work (it's effing Sunday and I live here I need some normality) you may say I'm just throwing my toys out of the pram and still wanting them right? Wrong, I'm not throwing tantrums, this is because they were supposed to be here yesterday and they weren't, apparently the builder had an upset tummy from a curry he had on Friday "bull manure" that is. Bottom line is I want my life back and the builders out of my house or they might as well move in with their families.

Ask me one day when all is well and I may recommend them to you but at this present time it's a NO. I apologise to the one friend I have recommended them to so far I hope they prove me wrong when they come to you. If you haven't called them yet then please to hang on.

View From Above

So this week saw the erection of the roof, the flooring of the kitchen and the laying of the patio, oh and the enlargement to the living room door, porch insulation and revamp of the stair case 💃🏾💃🏾💃🏾💃🏾. I'm doing a jig with happiness, seems like I can finally see the dusty days over. I've even been up the roof and can honestly say I will be sneaking up some deck chairs and using the roof as my sun lounger with a few glasses of Pimms. Trouble is, I am scared of climbing down the ladder (which is why I've practising to be a robber) 😂😂.

My son up the roof, finishing touches to the sun lounge being put

Too scared to go down the ladder so I decided to use the window instead

Newly laid patio with the kitchen flooring underway

I look forward to my cooking days in this kitchen

Dust, what dust?

Many special thanks to my three non-diva, no tantrum throwing gorgeous children for not crying or complaining about dust and mess as we have collectively watched the building continue. This week we have seen the chimney being brought down, the bedroom floor and electrical work, the kitchen roof all go up. Just thirty minutes ago, we had the patio stones all the way from India (hahaha no, we did not order them from India) but they are Indian stones they are natural and authentically beautiful. 

Now the fight and arguments continue about what appliances, I have now decided I want a biiig oven with a proving tray, a separate oven with a dish warmer, double ovens are too small for my cooking so two separate ovens will ideal. We are also arguing on the colours to get (just remember a few weeks ago this is the guy that said I can get whatever I wanted, now he is doing the manly thing of trying to guide me to his own ideas and choices). So I'm a girl I think I will end up doing the crying thing to get what I want. I will win I know that. 

My bedroom (floor to be laid, electrics done roof insulated already)

Bedroom (en-suite at the far end)

My kitchen

Insulation plus patio stones 

Thank you so very much

Dear Builders

As I watched Arsenal v Hull this evening, I decided to make these cakes to have with your teas tomorrow. This is my way of saying thank you for the good job and also to say I am grateful of your marvellous job so far. thank you for your dedication that led you to working on Saturday putting up the timber for my roof. 

Enjoy the brownies, and the Victoria sponge cake, they were made with love and appreciation. 

Tabie

Milk and white chocolate brownies

 Victoria sponge with clotted cream and fresh raspberries