Priceless Paintings from W7

It’s no work of beauty and, regrettably, not a piece of perfection. But, it’s unique, very unique: our very own greenhouse is ready, and catching the early morning sun on a chilly morning as we speak!

Some more work on the shelving and other finished touches are to be done soon, but over this cold weekend, we have already moved some of the vulnerable youngsters into the sheltered and warm inside.

The roof, made from a large single sheet of wire-enforced glass, opens upwards, and the window towards the shed opens outwards.

We’ll see how the greenhouse fares, with temperature and humidity changes. I expect some of the glass to crack as a result of movement in the timber structure, but hopefully not too much!

We certainly look forward to a cracking harvest.

home gardening, home

This was an exciting race! I am of course not referring to The Race, but our very private race. At times, we seemed to approach a tight finish between the cherries and the nectarines, but this Easter weekend brought a clear win for the nectarines.

The cherries will be next, but might take another couple of mild and sunny days. I can’t wait for those.

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A back-breaking Saturday later, and another 500kg or excavation are removed from the garden (to the tune of £70-something pounds), and 800kg of gravel and slate have been laid to rest in form of our new path.

As rain washes off the dust a little, I think it will turn a little darker – especially when wet, which it probably will be most of the time.

Anyway. Another thing done and ticked off the list. All we need now is nice and warm weather.

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I got quite a shock when the phone rung the other day: Charles Henderson Construction, the man who made our extension happen so brilliantly. After an exchange of pleasantries, he informs me that this is his six-months-after courtesy call…

WHAT? Six months already?

Gosh. Time flies.

I can’t believe its six months already, and have long forgotten how life was even possible without the extension, and our much beloved new kitchen.

Nice of him to call though. I am watching a similar project at a friend’s house right now. I assume they hope to pay a few pounds less in the end, but progress is nowhere near as swift as ours was; Charles’ logistics and steady flow of materials and manpower, let alone his six-month aftercare, was well worth the money for us.

In the same time frame, we also received five photos that he had made. Too bad he didn’t pay a professional to take them (I think it shows), but it is still nice to see photos showing the finished thing, including our day-in, day-out clutter: One, two, three, four and five. Enjoy.

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Approximately one metric ton of timber and a few days work later, and the frames for the raised beds are ready; all interlocked and screwed together with the brilliant Fastenmaster Timberlock screws (Britons note: screwed, not nailed

Very therapeutic work, undertaken during some of the finest days for this year, and completed with only minor injuries (and a bit of luck, given that I almost broke my foot at some stage).

Anyway, these frames look good already. Can’t wait until we have herbs and salads, and maybe some raspberries, in them.

Next thing now is to find a way to move 3 to 4 tons of topsoil from some roadside delivery place into those frames without breaking my back. Looks like I am in need of one or two strong young men for a day or so.

Thoughts, home gardening, home

I must warn you. Based on my own experience: Don’t get started unless you’re prepared to deal with the consequences.

It’s always humble beginnings at first. Let’s have the front garden tree taken out. Oh, and  wall and pavement rebuilt. A bicycle shed built in the front garden, a new patio and shed built in the back garden. A rabbit rage for the recyclables. A rear extension and new kitchen built, new furniture for the lounge. Install railway sleepers as splash guards.

Next, I shall be installing four additional railway sleepers in the garden instead of decking, and built the frames for our new raised beds.

The latest addition to the “to do” list is the construction of a greenhouse. Global warming come or go, we need a more short-term solution.

A lot of timber is being delivered today.

It’s all my own fault, I know. I suggested a trip to Wisley Gardens myself. Disastrously motivating.

Thoughts, home gardening, home

I lost count, and that in itself is a nice thing: I lost count of the many changes we finally managed to make to improve our home. It started with the outside granite paving in front and back, the new bicycle shed and the new tool shed, the rubbish shelter (also known as the bunny cage). We had built a rear extension, and we have now finally managed to complete the construction of our new shelves for the lounge.

I cut all the boards from nice redwood boards – some where slightly warped, but most were all right, beautifully smelling and looking.

The first challenge was to work out the height of all the boards so that it looks OK yet provides all the space and different heights required for CDs, DVDs, hundreds of books, electronics, and whatnots.

The second challenge was to cut all the boards without screwing-up too much. I am pleased to report just one systematic error (all needed a 3mm adjustment), which was easy to apply, but no cutting error otherwise. Given the large number of cuts and number of different boards, I am quite pleased with that.

Thirdly, we had to put it all together straight, without wobble or other odd effects.

Well. Take a look yourself. I think it works out nice. It isn’t perfect (as everyone can see on close inspection), but it’s mine, custom built to huge satisfaction and low cost.

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I am sure some of you are waiting for those “really, really, almost done” photos. So am I, but right now, it’s really not a nice picture, with book and boxes and heaps of stuff just about everywhere.

I will need until Sunday for posting some of those “really, really, almost done” photos. They’re coming, but you’ve got to hang in there for another while.

The flooring is finished and I am in the process of moving back in. We have a through-lounge back, and it all looks great – if it wasn’t for the mess everywhere.

I’m a bit tired of it, but hang in there ‘till Saturday evening and you’ll see what I am so pleased about.

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I have commissioned the building work to my house. At some point in the now distant past, we emptied our kitchen, moved most of it into temporary storage (and the rest into temporary arrangements). We lived through it. With the builders nearing the finishing line with one last full-scale effort for maximum disaster (the re-flooring of the entire ground floor), we are gradually moving back into the kitchen. Step by step:

One box, labelled “herbs and spices.” Another box, labelled “spices and cooking ingredients.” Another one, labelled “spices” and, the scariest of all, one labelled “spices, etc.”

The same goes for cooking gear. One box labelled “knifes,” one with “spoons and ladles”, at least one more with a similar label, and again, the dreaded “spoons, etc.”

I also went through several boxes of provisions, pots and pans, bowls and dishes.

It’s always the same. One box. Oh, and another one. What? Three? OK. Then, the unavoidable discovery of etc. Some boxes contain nothing but etc, leaving my fingers black from unwrapping lots of newspaper, used to protect a wide variety of things, wide than I ever dared to consider my own.

I am surprised we don’t have a special, dedicated pen, designed for writing ‘ETC.’ I have not yet opened the box labelled “stationary, etc.”

It’s nice to be reminded of everything we have. It’s nice to know we have enough. It’s even nicer to know that we still have space remaining, but the nicest thing of all, of course, is to be moving back in.

That’s what I thought. Until I found another half-dozen of boxes. I haven’t dared check their labels yet.

Thoughts, home home, Kitchen

It’s time for another Friday progress report on Le South Wing. Although this week’s progress wasn’t as swift as we wanted it to be, a lot got done since last Friday nevertheless:

The kitchen wall tiles are fixed, grouted, sealed and cleaned. They are also much admired by everyone. Seems like we made the right choice.

All walls and ceilings have their first coat of paint, with the second coming on later today and tomorrow.

The nice, flat and level floor resembled a miniature version of the south England hillside. An attempt to fill the valleys has now been made, using a self-levelling compound. We can only hope that the corrections will be sufficient, and haven’t done more damage. The fix-up attempt has now cost us a four-day delay, one day for the fix, one for the drying out. Meanwhile, the joiner and tiler have both moved on to other jobs…

A few little bits here and there, such as the under-unit lights, have been sorted out.

Next steps include the kitchen floor tiles and the bamboo flooring, the moving in and the grand opening. Oh, and another four dozen little bits here and there. Next Friday’s progress report won’t be the last I am sure, but one of the last ones.

You can see the latest photos right here. All of them, actually. Most recent ones first.

home home, Kitchen

I promised not to bore you too much with kitchen details any more, but I admit complete and utter failure: Progress this week focussed on the kitchen and, by the time that you read this post, it should be almost complete. The kitchen, that is.

Tiling and heating will be done over the long May-Day weekend, and we will continue our decorating efforts. Come another week or two, and we should definitely see the end of it all.

The new kitchen is much loved already. Check out the recent photos, and I am sure you will agree it’s just great. Here’s why:

• Almost 6 sqm solid surface worktop.
• A Neff BW1674N top-of-the-range oven that has grown very close to my heart already – with the preparation of Pommes Dauphinoise, shown in the little picture here.
• A Neff CM5770N combination microwave oven (supporting combination with circulated heat, top and bottom heat or grill). I only reheated the Pommes Dauphinoise so far, but that was a delight, too.
• A Siemens LC957BC40 900mm four-gear chimney-extractor with nice halogen lights (which, as you will see on closer inspection, requires some adjustment from by British builder’s standards of kitchen extractor installation to mine…).
• A Siemens ET675MG11E Ceran cooking field with 6.6kW power rating for quick heat-up, two adjustable zones, and a touch-and-slide control. I made Halibut and Tuna a la Greque in my new Le Creuset toughened non-stick frying pan (served alongside the aforementioned pommes), and it was just great.
• A Hotpoint G3201LIX two-flame gas cooker for those stir-fry meals.
• A Siemens SN26M290 dishwasher, which is wonderfully silent and extraordinary flexible.
• A Brita ‘Titanium’ water tap, supplying hot water, cold water, and Brita-filtered drinking water without the mess with filtering jugs.

Around it all is, of course, the IKEA-supplied kitchen (Faktum, with Ädel Birch fronts and Lansa door handles). I already told you about the beginnings of the journey to an IKEA kitchen; this deserves a separate post, some time soon.

Click here for the latest photos.

home appliance, home, ikea, Kitchen

Buy any one appliance anywhere these days, and you’ll be pestered with numerous attempts to make you sign up for an extended warranty or appliance insurance of some sort. Do as I do, and buy multiple appliances from multiple places at the same time, and you’ll get a flood of those calls.

Just in case you’re reading this and aren’t sure about these schemes: forget it. It goes like so:

I buy a new dishwasher today for £400. They’d like to sign me up for their lifetime warranty scheme at £6 per month, claiming an average expected life of 3 to 5 years.

I’d have made a poor purchase decision if my new dishwasher indeed breaks down after 3 to 5 years already, but even if it does, I’d have paid almost the equivalent of a new unit in “insurance premium” by then.

If my dishwasher lives more than 6 years, I’d be wasting my insurance money. The merchant gets a better price than I do, so he has a nice little constant earner from 2 to 3 years lifetime onwards, plus a guaranteed return customer. If the merchant goes under meanwhile, he’s in no obligation to me.

This doesn’t even include the many causes of dishwasher death which would, presumably, be exempt from the policy by way of fine print.

I am a great big old fool, but not big enough a fool for them.

Thoughts, home home, robbery

It’s Friday again already, and the end of my blog posting pause. As promised, here’s an update on the state of affairs:

The electrical work is done, as you can see from the nice light shining out of the windows.

The walls in and around the kitchen have been forced to admit an IKEA kitchen, by making even what wasn’t even, and making right angles right. All floor and wall units are now in place, the solid surface (artificial stone) worktop is cut and glued, the kitchen island (a peninsular, actually) is being build, and the remaining units are arriving.

The dishwasher is here, and the ovens should be here by the time you read this post. 

Next steps include sanding and polishing the worktop – a job in itself, given we are talking about almost 6 sqm, fitting hobs, sinks, tap, drawers, doors, shelves, … I assume the kitchen alone will take another week. Add the tiling and laying of the bamboo floor, and you’ll see the same light as we do. It’s there, somewhere, but still a month or so away.

home home, ikea

No posts this week until Friday, my lovelies. My bones are aching from carrying, cutting and laying the railway sleepers. My head is full with kitchen details and not much else besides regular work, but I wouldn’t want to bore you with either.

So, bear with me, browse the archives, or do something useful.

Will be back this Friday with a new progress report.

Thoughts, home home

It’s only been a four-day week, but it’s one of those that feels longer than most. Progress on site continues to be steady:

We are now in the process of getting the kitchen installed, along with a plethora of big and small decisions, and along with a number of small and severe fix-ups to make the kitchen units fit:

Some of the pipe work had to be re-run. This change caused another problem because one of the stop cocks would no longer work. I replaced it myself – but not without very narrowly escaping a mid-sized domestic catastrophe. My adrenaline is still coming down to normal levels as I write these words.

The boys were also busy hacking away some of the plaster that other boys put on only a few days ago, and adjusting to some other truths. Maybe I should have made it very clear from the very beginning that there will be a kitchen installed, and that kitchen will rely on standard measurements, will prefer right angles, will come with a floor, …

Why thinking ahead if we can fix it later? The mind boggles.

Now that we begin to look into the finishing touches, we begin to see those ‘issues’ that weren’t visible before. In a way, these weeks are the moment of truth, when we see how, or if, things come together as envisioned. And not all of it is as envisioned.

On the upside, we are well on track and making progress throughout. The kitchen units are going in, the worktop has been chosen, ordered and is due for delivery. The dishwasher is on order, and all the other five hundred smaller things are also coming together now. It begins to be our home again, although it doesn’t currently look that way.

Click here for the latest images.

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