Well as reported in my DPT entry I am spending the morning in my kitchen. I have the man here replacing the hearth. I am quite excited. Not to mention really pleased that he is here. I had a feeling that he wasn't going to come. I don't know why. The fire place shop did ring me back yesterday and said he would be here at 8.30am. Strangely the man there never mentioned that we haven't paid the second half of the granite yet! It all just seemed a bit odd. He did assure me that the granite was in though.
At 9am this morning I had convinced myself that he wasn't going to show. He turned up at 9.10. He is only a young man. I would guess about 25. He seems to know what he is doing and he already has the old hearth out and has got the granite out of his van. Would you believe that when he removed the old blue tiles they had been laid on top of some old red slate ones! No wonder it was so high. Talk about a bodge job.
Here are some photos showing the progress........
With this being done this morning we will definitely be able to go and order the carpet tomorrow. We have chosen what we want but had put off the ordering until the hearth was done. The man at the carpet shop said it should only be a few days to get it in so hopefully we can have it laid next week some time. We have decided to do the halls, stairs and landing at the same time as the living room. It will all be the same carpet. The stairs and halls are not as bad as the living room but they are over 10 years old so we figured it would be best to get it all done while we have the money. Remember we will have less money coming in from September. Best to get stuff done while we can. Not sure how we are going to be able to save anything in the future.
Alfie and Loulou are not happy about being shut in the utility room! Alf is crying. He has a nasty red eye that looks like conjunctivitis. Simon stopped at Pet Smart on the way home yesterday and got some eye wash! It's just bloody purified water. We had been bathing it with warm water and a tiny pinch of salt. It is looking better today so hopefully it will clear up without a visit to the vet.
Simon has ordered the wood for the built in wardrobes. He has decided after looking at various options that he will build them himself. He is going to do it more or less the same as we had in our bedroom in the old house. I was happy with them. We need to order the sliding doors soon as they are 10% off at the moment and delivery is 4 weeks I am not sure if we will have 4 mirror ones like before or 2 mirror and 2 wood. Decisions, decisions!
Actually, I am just sitting here thinking that if the carpet is possibly going to be next week then I really should at least get the gloss paint work done. That will be skirting boards, door frame, door, window sill, picture rail and radiator. Hmmm.....masses of sanding down to do on that awful bright yellow radiator and picture rail. Why on earth did they think bright yellow looked good with blue stripes?
So, I suppose we need to get plenty of sand paper in and then I can get started over the weekend. Simon will be busy making further temporary repairs to the back garden fence. We are still waiting for the quote from the fence man. I'm really hoping that it will be less than I fear.
I was asked the other day for some photos of what the outside looks like and the garden. I have a few photos but they have been taken from my bedroom window. Mainly because it was easier to show you what lies beyond the garden........fields. Lots of lovely fields edged with trees. Somewhere in those trees or an old barn somewhere is a pair of owls. We haven't seen them yet but we hear them when we go out with the dogs before bed time. One calls and the other replies. At least that is what it sounds like. I seem to remember someone telling me that owls do not actually say Twit Twoo. The male says Twit and the female replies Twoo! Not sure if that is true, must look it up. Sue will know for sure.
Here are some photos.
You can see the size of the garden....sort of..... The back fence is going to be moved back by about 5 feet. See the fields behind?
Here you can see what appear to be 3 new fence panels. The 2 on either side were replaced by the previous people. Simon has just done the one 2nd from the left. You can see the broken ones laying on the floor. We had to get whatever panels we could just to mend it but we are going to have the whole lot done in overlap fencing as it is much stronger. Any high wind will blow theses fence panels out again.
Views of the fields behind us.
My man has been here about an hour and twenty minutes and the granite is in! Well it is laid in front of the fire anyway. He is now using the outside tap to mix up whatever it is that he needs to cement it down and grout it. Forgot to say that the granite has been done in 3 pieces because it turned out that our fireplace is bigger than standard and although it could have been cut to that size in 1 piece it would have cost twice as much. IE over £700!!!! We went with having it done in 3 pieces. This fire place is costing a fortune. Oh, going to try some coal at the weekend. One or two people said that we may find it helps to burn coal as well as logs.
OK, I am making bread this morning and I need to go get it in the tin for the second rising. I am not doing it in the bread maker like I normally do I'm doing it the traditional way. Actually I even cheat at that as I don't knead it by hand, I do it in my Kenwoood! My wrists would not be strong enough to knead bread dough for twenty minutes.
I will be back later to show you what the fireplace looks like with it's new hearth.
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