Our 4th set of workmen, Our Fitter Men ❗ , turned up on Thursday morning to attempt our 163-piece 3D jigsaw that should end up being our kitchen cabinets. Fitter B set about assembling the jigsaw while Fitter A started…

Yesterday late afternoon I got a message from Builder Men to say that Francine’s replacement kitchen window was in and they’d be here at 08:30 to fit it. The weather forecast did not look particularly favourable for ripping out an…

I think we’ve both lost track of the colours that we have (temporarily) settled on for the walls. Holding a tiny colour swatch up against a cupboard door just doesn’t do it. Neither, it seems, does painting a piece of…

… or is that mist overall? If I said I’d never had to deal with raw plaster walls before it would be a bit of a porky. Many years ago, when we moved into our house, the end wall of…

Sparky was back again, this time mainly to tackle our fuse box. The house is c. 1980 but the electrical system seems to have been c. 1960 – we are equipped with real wire fuses [no nails or paper clips,…

… the return of Sparky. Plaster drying nicely, our serenading electrician returned for his round #2. Our newly embedded cabling and pattress boxes got dressed in sockets and switches. This man is so precise; he first went around the area…

No huge visible change yesterday (day #11 , incidentally): the main work was a final skimming of plaster so its ready for painting – or it will be when the plaster has dried out properly. The main trenches in the…

This morning was quite busy once more with our jolly Plumbers Mates in to test their new underfloor pipework. A damn good idea before burying it in flooring compound, I thought. That meant them filing the system and then firing…

We will be having three large vertical radiators fitted: one in the dining area, one in the kitchen area and the third in the hallway, where it will replace two smaller conventional radiators. The two larger ones weigh 40kg so…

I frequently refer to plastering as what I consider to be the most skilful job in the building trade [and I just learnt that all my life I’ve been misspelling skilful with a double “L” – live and learn]. So,…