All 29 entries tagged New House

New project: The garden

Writing about web page http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/kieranshaw/gallery/garden_make_over/

So, after finishing the bathroom project and the kitchen renovation, it was time for the garden.

We'd always planned on doing this last because we felt it more urgent to do the kitchen, bathroom and general decorating, but now with summer on the way…it's garden time.

Originally it was a really boring piece of grass with an old childs swing in it and falling down fences, but not for long. The new plan is this:

In other words, very little grass and lots of low maintenance patio and gravel borders.

Here are a few before pictures:

: 31 May 2005 01:19 |  Tags: New House |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Finished!

Follow-up to Worktops! from Kieran's blog

Well, it's finished!

After 3 weeks (1 week demolishing/ripping and 2 weeks of rebuilding), we've finally finished. Not much more to say really, except that we're really happy with it and it's a vast improvement over the old one!

: 12 May 2005 22:23 |  Tags: New House |  Comments (4) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Worktops!

Follow-up to Worktop not on! Arghhh from Kieran's blog

After 6 hours of work, the two carpenters finally fitted the worktops (god I'm glad I didn't try it!). However, they wanted to charge an extra £90 just to cut holes for the hob and sink, so I'm doing that tomorrow instead…and that'll be it!

: 08 May 2005 18:37 |  Tags: New House |  Comments (6) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Worktop not on! Arghhh

Follow-up to So close, so close from Kieran's blog

A bit disappointing today. The electrician came and finished off and got all of the power live in the kitchen and garage, but the worktop guy got delayed and will have to come tomorrow now :(

On the plus side, it's all looking really nice now (especially with our remote control lights above the units!)

: 07 May 2005 21:49 |  Tags: New House |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

So close, so close

Follow-up to Almost there from Kieran's blog

Good day today, we are just so close now.

We got straight onto doing the floor this morning and had it all laid in about 3 hours. The aluminium plinth and heater followed. After a nice long lunch and shopping break to buy far far too many kitchen goodies and gadgets, I swapped around the kitchen door to open into the hallway which has given more space on the right as you walk in.

We're starting to get really excited now and with a bit of luck will be cooking our first meal at home for 2 weeks on Saturday night! Yay!

: 05 May 2005 22:56 |  Tags: New House |  Comments (5) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Almost there

Follow-up to Kitchen progress from Kieran's blog

Kitchen is so close now.

Unfortunately the electrician had his assistant go off sick and couldn't finish today. He did finish off all of the sockets in the kitchen though, but still not changed the consumer unit :(

Dishwasher and sink plumbing is finally all ready and base units are all fixed together and nice and tight. Unsurprisingly we didn't get chance to start the floor. It's amazing just how hard it is to make progress sometimes though. Now that most of the big things are done, the little things that you can't really see are taking up time and making me looked really unproductive.

Big jobs left:

• Worktops being fitted on Saturday
• New electrics going live on Saturday
• Floor going down tomorrow
• Shopping spree for lots of new kitchen goodies on Friday!!

: 04 May 2005 22:56 |  Tags: New House |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Kitchen progress

Follow-up to Kitchen units looking good from Kieran's blog

Monday was a complete wash out in terms of kitchen work, we deserved a day off, but we were back to work today.

Not too much to show (not worth taking photos).

• Handles now on all the doors/drawers
• New window sill in and painted
• New arcitrave around fridge enclosure
• Boxed in pipes
• Prepared dishwasher

Tomorrow:

• The electrician comes back to finish off
• Plumb in the dishwasher and sink
• Attach base units to the walls
• Lay the new flooring
• MOW THE LAWN!

: 03 May 2005 21:56 |  Tags: New House |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Kitchen units looking good

Follow-up to Better kitchen days from Kieran's blog

Had a good day today!

We put the second coat of paint on the walls this morning, followed by lots of unit building.

The tall appliance housing for the double oven and microwave and all of the wall units are attached properly now. The base units are all in position, but not fixed in position yet.

The nice big glass/steel chimney was a bit of a bitch to put in, but is looking nice now too. We can really feel it coming together now, it just feels so close now. Yay!

: 01 May 2005 21:43 |  Tags: New House |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Better kitchen days

Follow-up to Bad news from Kieran's blog

Well, after the disappointment of Thursday, we've had a better couple of days.

We've got all of the units built now (if not yet in the kitchen) and the first layer of paint on the ceiling and walls. Of course I'd rather be out in the sunshine as the lazy dog Maggie has been :(

Next couple of days:

• More painting
• Finishing and fixing units
• Laying floor
• Skirting board

: 30 Apr 2005 23:02 |  Tags: New House |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Bad news

Follow-up to Plastering and kitchen units arriving from Kieran's blog

Not the best day today unfortunately :(

Plastering went just fine and is looking really great…however…building regs was not so good.

We had been lead to believe by our architect that if we left in the external door from the kitchen to the back of the garage, we would not have to stick to the strict building regulations that we'd have to if we'd knocked the wall out into the garage. So, based on that we went ahead and planned for the utility room. Unfortunately that was not the case. The building regs guy came in and said that recently the laws have changed and even though it is not really part of the house, if you intend to turn the back of the garage into a utility room, then it does then become part of the house and has to meet the same level of building regulations as any other part of a house.

So, what does this mean for our plans? Well, we could either continue and build the full blown utility room in the garage for literally £1000's, or we could say 'screw it'. Looks like we're going to go for option 2. We can still put our washing machine/dryer/fridge out in the garage, but we can't put in a new partition wall, plasterboard up the walls, raise the floor and put in the new ceiling. *Sigh*

That's life though. Lesson of the day: Always get a second opinion. Always

Kitchen goes ahead as usual though! We're starting to put units in now and they're looking really nice, so that's cheered me up a bit :)

Tomorrow for once I've actually not got any workers in, so it's just me and the flat pack…bring it on!

: 28 Apr 2005 22:57 |  Tags: New House |  Comments (3) |  Close comments |  Report a problem