Last week in the van?

We hope anyway! Got a momentous week ahead. Today was the chippy finishing all the doors, woodwork and sealing downstairs, and the carpet fitters laying the stairs and our bedroom. Tomorrow we are both off work and the removals firm is delivering our containers back - and yes, its forecast to rain. Wednesday I'll be at my friends house preparing the main course for a communal dinner party on Friday. Thursday we are both off again and will be putting together the beds, hanging curtains and finding clean sheets and duvets. Thursday evening we are have been invited to friends for dinner, and hope to sleep in the house for the first time. And Friday is this lovely dinner evening - 6 adults, 7 kids (who will watch films and eat popcorn while the grown ups eat and consume vast amounts of wine) and probably a hangover on Saturday.

Was nearly a tragic week for the house though. Discovered a leak in the utility room ceiling last week so faced a huge bill for reroofing or something similar. Thankfully our chippy removed the mouldy ceiling panel and discovered it was just a dripping pipe - and took him all of five minutes to fix it! He got a beer for his troubles and we breathed a huge sigh of relief.

And The Husband spent most of the weekend cleaning nicotine off window frames, hanging curtain poles, building a new bed for Mr Moo and scrubbing the fireplace in our bedroom. It came up a treat!

End of week 8 - getting there!

Well, finally feel like we are getting somewhere! Upstairs is nearly ready to move in; our chippy finished all the new doors, architraves and skirts in our room, decorators papered à stunning feature wall, and all the electrics are complete. Carpets are booked for Monday and our containers are returning on Tuesday. Will spend this weekend doing a final clean and hanging curtain poles, as well as making a final decision on the kitchen. Happy days!

Shop shop shopping!

Love me a bit of Ikea retail therapy! Spent the whole day there yesterday and enjoyed every minute of it, despite having the kids in tow. From a bargainous bacon ciabatta for brekkie (a whole quid!) and a free creche for the kids, to a bar stool trying-out session and juggling wardrobe storage bits. It was a successful day, and amazingly we only spent £4 over and above what was on our shopping list; for those of you who know Ikea, that is a minor miracle! Was fun getting everything in the car though, nearly had to take some drawers back before we left the carpark.

And as an added bonus, they had mocked up the cover of the new catalogue and had a photographer on site; this is the sort of thing that many organizations would charge for, but it was free!

Week 8ish...

It seems our plumber and sparky are on holiday, but the wonderful decorators are cracking in with our bedroom. Almost looks like a proper room now!

We have come to the nice bit of renovation at last - choosing colours, wallpaper, fittings and a kitchen! B&Q is seeing rather a lot of us, wish we could get a trade card. Sorted the feature wall in our bedroom, arranged a couple of kitchen designers to come round and are slowly cleaning things like windows and skirtings in readiness for dressing.

The Husband has found a problem though with plastered walls that won't take a rawlplug without collapsing, so need to ask advice from our trades on Monday. Also have a leaking tap in the bathroom so can't clean properly, and the shower has started to drain so slowly that we end up in 3 inches of water by the time we are clean. And seems the flat roof on the extension has a drainage issue so we are raiding our holiday find to sort that out.

House, week 8 and a half.

Got confused with the weeks a bit, they are running into each other now!

I had a half day off in Monday while The Husband went to a funeral. Decided to attack the mountain of nicotine-stained sealant on the window in my office. Below is the before and after photos, still not perfect but will attack the upvc with some vinegar to get rid of the last marks. And the lightbulb in the same room, similarly stained. We will be replacing them all as soon as the lightshades go on!

House, week 8.

Another disjointed week. Sacked the builder last Friday and he didn't take it well, kept sending nasty emails. Everyone who has seen his work agreed that at best it was a rushed job, at worst downright unprofessional. It made for a horrid weekend, worrying if he was going to return our spare key, but he did and we are now relieved that he's gone.

But that left the issue of finding someone else at short notice. It wouldn't have mattered so much had the plumber and decorator not been relying on it before they could continue. We found our knight on a white horse, in the guise of a chippy who we've used before and can fit us in between other jobs! He started today and his professionalism is a refreshing change. Luckily all the actual building work is done, the rest of the job is all woodwork.

In other news we sent the 4th and final skip back today, although still have lots to take to the tip. Rads should go in this week, along with plumbing for the utility room, outside tap and some of the downstairs shower room.

The kids have settled in back at school and we've gotten into a nice routine in the van. Would be nice to cook more than 1 pot meals though! Favourite so far is bacon and eggs, followed closely by pasta with pesto. Picked up curtain poles for 3 rooms at the weekend, all in the sale plus I had a 20% off voucher too! Its coming together, slowly but surely....

House, month 2!

We returned from a mediocre holiday to sad sad news of 2 family deaths, and a messy house. There's been a bit of a breakdown in communication with the builder and sparky now working to their wishes and timescales, so had to get tough with them this week and setting deadlines. We have also decided their work isn't up to our standards so will be letting them go once they've completed what they've started. And finances are depleting faster than anticipated so we aren't going to complete the en-suite this year.

On the upside we now have the walls for the en-suite and walk-in wardrobe completed, the downstairs shower room and utility room are ready to have the units installed, and our plumber has cracked on brilliantly. The kids rooms are carpeted, the bathroom has flooring and I've moved into my office.

This weekend will be spent shopping for curtain poles and blinds, and with some luck we may move out of the caravan next week!