What a weekend! I’m writing (most of) this on Saturday evening (well technically Sunday morning) because boy do we know how to rock a weekend!!

Friday

Matt has been doing some final work on the walls and probably some other things.

I still have my weekly call with the Prof Sir and then a Manchester, after we have a quick measure up of the sink and plumbing bits and some terrible drawing, Matt is off down to Luchon to the Brico. I did manage to put a wash on but was still working when he gets back of course, but I’m not going to get away with it much longer while we are ‘on leave’.

Next job was to get the ply layer done for the ‘lounge’ area of the kitchen to level it up to new floor we’d stripped back to the joists – Thanks again for that task Mr Ward. [We will need somewhere to hunker down in the winter once the weather closes in again and at least it has the old fire and it’s the only room with insulation so better used as a relaxing area of an evening than anything else.] Matt also got a cheeky double socket added when I wasn’t looking which was appreciated.

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It took a lot longer than planned, as does everything in this house. I was rather hoping we would also have the underlay down but since nothing (especially the walls) are straight in this house I don’t really know why on reflection. As such some of the gaps are pretty big and need wood filler so going to have to wait till tomorrow when it’s dry before we can start on the underlay.

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Am I the only one that puts on washing thinking they’ll surprise their other half with some lovely clean PJs before bed only to find that you forgot to transfer them to the dryer?! Matt was pleased to be allowed to wear ‘his’ Star Wars PJs again though after Lucy and I ‘borrowed’ them a few years back.

[10 September 2021]

Saturday

Ok, today is the day. We have a lot to do but we’ve got this. Matt is off to the Brico again to get something, I got a short respite therefore but really should be using it to work. Instead I decided it was time to get the sheets washed after our visitors and throw ours in. Somehow however we now have all (3) of our base sheets in the washing machine. So today, I will definitely remember to put them in the dryer as soon as the washing machine is finished.

Matt is back from the Brico so we’d best get on with this underlay – after yet another hoover. [I’ve done this at least 6 times already in the last 24 hours (and 5x more than the last 9 months) but knowing how badly this has gone under the temporary pool I’m not going to make the same mistake with the floor as there is no removing them later.]

A bit more consideration, taping and by lunch we are half way there.. maybe.

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Time for another trip to the Brico though. Seems we don’t have enough (of the rather expensive) double sided tape and this is not the time to take a risk. While Matt found tape and sand for to make more concrete, I distracted myself looking at paint colours and what we might use for all the woodwork in the kitchen. I am keen that we keep the current colour as we still have no idea what the flooring actually looks like ‘in person’ and the units are very dark, at least it is a very bright room. Yes, ok, big white box right now but soon.. soonish. Also looking at a couple of other things, sand is only interesting if it’s for gardening.

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Back to work on the underlay. It was more fun than the ply. Well, at the start it was. By the end it was a pain in the backside. Glad Matt had watched a few videos though as not having straight walls gives lots of annoying gaps and he’d (almost) worked out how to fix it. I was very happy when I put the last strip in. Then lots of taping to hold it all together.

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Now for another big job, clearing the hallway so that we can move the flooring into the kitchen.

For the last 9 months I’d wondered why the entrance hallway was so small and always like running a gauntlet. Turns out that actually it is much bigger than we thought, it was just full of cr*p. As demonstrated by the fact that the front door is now blocked but you can ignore that – look how big it is! [No, he’s not swearing at me, he’s showing me something]

Going to need to have a break for an early (7:30) snack dinner [leftovers and bread] before we take it on though. No need to add to the stress of what comes next.

At least the flooring wasn’t ‘quite’ as heavy as we remembered, that or we have become very strong in the last few months – quite possible too. Turned our we didn’t need to try to find a trolley to move it into the kitchen. Time to find our whether a) We received the right thing, b) I actually like it, c) we are any good at fitting it – straight.

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First thoughts as we rolled it out (apart from how heavy and annoying it was) was that it was ‘bold’. Not sure it is what everyone would have chosen. Each time I looked at it however (and maybe because it got darker – I’ll tell you tomorrow), the more I liked it.

Lots of faffing about but finally it’s in. And, I love it.

It is bold, but that’s what I loved about the house when I met it, it needs to be; it gives a nod to the past and the tiles in the hallway but it feels fresh and new [and it is lino not tiles, but it’s warm and soft to walk on]; and, hopefully, it is straight.

As we got to the last section, which will be under the units, I went a bit ‘artsy’ as best to use up the off cuts.

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Right, almost midnight but finally the job is done and time to celebrate with some champagne and a call to Muma Camp.

Time for a short bit of relaxation, posting an old blog and writing a new one – just need to get round to writing all the ones in between. And now, well bed of course. Night all xx

[11 September 2021]

Sunday

One very significant task for today – fitting the new sink. What a luxury it will be to have a sink that you can actually fit a plate in and not to have our washing up in the bathroom. Hopefully sights like the below will soon be a thing of the past.

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The first job of the day was to start bringing all the various units into the kitchen to work out what bits we are going to need.

As with any job in this house it took a lot longer than planned. In fact I believe it took over 7 hours all up..

Delay 1: Matt had thought the sink to be sunken below the worktop so that you can drain/wipe into it. While it wasn’t necessarily what I had been thinking that argument certainly made sense. Seems however that the kitchen designers had the same idea as me that it would sit a bit above the work surface. I had a good look around in both France and the UK but seems that they don’t do units in a size that would make that possible and if we dropped it the line up of the bottom of the doors would be off so that’s a no go.

Delay 2: It’s pretty disgusting having sat around for a very long time and clearly hadn’t been given a thorough clean before we bought it from the previous owners. This was a much bigger and longer job than I had anticipated. I was resolute however that before it went into place and you couldn’t get to all parts of it that I’d clean them up good as new. The front could wait though as we’ll be able to get to that once it’s in as I was sick of it.

Delay 3: We weren’t exactly sure how to fit it and which sides of the unit bits went. We worked it out though. The old o-ring under the drain had basically disintegrated so having just fitted them instead with a bit of sealant Matt showed me the new drain unit so we took one of the old ones out again and replaced it. No point having the new one sitting on the side. I also gave the old pipework a good clean, it looked like it needed it and easier to do it before Matt’s put the whole thing together.

Delay 4: Weather is too good so need to have a pool break for a little while – well it is Sunday!

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Matt did a great job cutting the worktop to go around it. He even managed to do the nice curves the front that make it look like it’s being cuddled which I very much appreciate. I know that many people have their butler sink sat out but I can’t bear the idea of smacking my hip on it every time I walk past.

With the cold water plumbed in it’s time for the big test to see if it leaks. Good news, only the slightest of drips, probably going to need a bit of plumbers tape at some point to make it 100% but a bit of tightening dealt with the worst of it. Matt had missed one thing though. When you plumb in a mixer tap you need to connect both the hot and cold. If you don’t connect them both then when you turn the tap off the water drains down the easiest hole (that’s not connected) and drains into your basement – oops!

With the hot now attached it seems to be working well and a great relief. I think it looks great, if a little far back but we don’t have the tool to move it as (yet) as would need us to drill into the sink itself.

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Here’s a quick lowdown of the last couple of days – we’re quicker than you think…

Finally time to get some work done, I need it ready for the team to review when they get to the office in the morning and I’m never going to be a morning person so no choice but to get it done so working late into the night again. Not sure Meow was helping.

[12 September 2021]