We had a fab weekend with Dom's sister and family in Northampton. We hired bikes at Pitsford Water and went for a lovely bike ride in the blazing heat. Then back to Clare's for a gorgeous barbecue. No photos I'm afraid.

While we were away we had Rob the plasterer skim all the remaining upstairs ceilings: the landing and two of the bedrooms. This meant that Friday night was a late one dismantling the old fitted wardrobes, moving out the bed and other furniture, taking off the coving, then cleaning up the mess.

It was all worth it though as we returned tonight to a big job finished. Skimming over the Artex was a big first step towards modernisation. The remaining work upstairs now is mainly cosmetic - filling, sanding and painting, then laying carpets throughout. Although this is not to be underestimated and will still take some time, it feels like we are making real progress. As you can see from the pics, the previous owners had bad taste in borders and carpets, so the sooner we get rid the better.

Labels: d.i.y.

We have been blessed with glorious weather this bank holiday weekend, but we can't really appreciate it as, as usual, it's been all go with the house renovations. I wouldn't have it any other way though. Well, I would, I'd rather we were finished, but that isn't going to happen unless we stick at it, so I'd rather put the effort in and lose a sunny day or two now than spend a day in the sun putting off the inevitable.

My achievements so far have been painting the downstairs skirting boards, and the front windowsill which have been bare and exposed since July 2007, when we had our last big push on DIY for Dom's 30th birthday party. It doesn't sound like much, but filling, letting it dry, sanding, and the drying time in between coats meant that it has taken up most of my time. I haven't enjoyed painting with enamel at all. I used Dulux One Coat Satinwood and it looks acceptable now, but it was so tricky to get a good finish without the brushstrokes being visible.

We picked up our new bath yesterday morning, having finally rid ourselves of the Ideal Standard rubbish. We chose a Carronite Matrix bath and the difference in quality was immediately apparent. We are very pleased with it. Dom has spent today plumbing it in and although we are still surrounded by plastic sheeting the bath itself is in full working order. It makes a big difference seeing white rather than the old yukky peach.

We now have lighting, extractor, towel radiator and tiling to do to reach the end of our bathroom project. Nearly there!

Labels: d.i.y.

We got back into working on the house this weekend. Dom fitted the wooden worktop in the bathroom (which will be tiled) into which the sink fits, and then plumbed in the new sink.

I painted the small room. First giving the walls and ceiling a mist coat (roughly 50% emulsion 50% water) as it was going on to fresh plaster, then painting the ceiling with two coats of white. We used an old tub of magnolia for the mist coat, and after seeing how nice it looks we have decided to use this colour for the proper coat.

Labels: d.i.y.

When I was little I used to watch an adorable little animated show called Pigeon Street and one of my favourite characters was Long Distance Clara . She was a lorry driver. She even had her own song, and I was singing it in my head yesterday while driving first to Basildon in Essex to the TNT depot to pick up our radiator.

Back just in time for a sandwich, I was off again on the two hour round trip to Hounslow to return our faulty Ideal Standard bath to Doble Bathrooms. I drove back just in time to make it to the tile shop in Welling to pick up the bathroom tiles before it closed, they loaded me up and I was on my way home.

Meanwhile, Dom had been plumbing in the new shower valve.


On Sunday, Dom continued building the frame around the shower which will take the plaster board and eventually be tiled with mosaics, concealing the pipework. He is very proud of his neat plumbing. It's almost a shame to hide it away!


While he was doing this I weeded the garden, laid bark chips in the borders, baked a new batch of granola and did about ten loads of washing.

Together we went to B&Q to pick up plywood and also took all the bathroom rubble to the local tip (or Household Waste Recycling Centre as it is now called).

We are both exhausted. Work tomorrow!

Labels: d.i.y.

I got a call from our neighbour today to say that our fence had been hit by a car. Sure enough, when I got back, a good 18ft of our front fence had been smashed to pieces. I remembered just how much work we put into erecting this fence over the first summer we moved in, and to see it in splinters was really quite sad.

I reported it to the police, as it was technically a hit and run, although some of the neighbours had seen a young lad changing his tire next to the fence not long after some other neighbours had heard the crash, but nobody actually saw it happen.

Later that night a nervous teen knocked on our door and apologised for what, he explained, had been a genuine accident. The poor soul. He could barely get his words out. I was so pleased that he had come to face the music. Bless.

Labels: d.i.y., seeing_doing

We are not having a good time of things at the moment with the bathroom. It feels like the world is against us.

On our return from skiing we noted that the replacement bath leg still hadn't arrived from Ideal Standard, three weeks after we had called and complained and they had promised to send within 2-3 days.

So Dom rang Doble Bathrooms yesterday(the place where we bought our bathroom suite from) to be told that he needed to get a returns number from Ideal Standard to be able to replace/ refund us.

He then duly rang Ideal Standard and spent 37 minutes on the phone trying to get his message across to a couple of different customer services attendants. Their response was very poor. They argued that we should have checked the items for damage. Well, of course we checked for damage, but it's not until you fit something that you find out that screw-holes are in the wrong place.

It was then that Dom mentioned the second issue with the bolt holes not being deep enough on the toilet pan and they started to show some sympathy. They checked and found that multiple toilet pans had the same problem. However, their suggestion for the toilet was to saw the bolt down to make it fit the hole! The cheek!

We are now buying another bath because we can't wait for the issue with this one to be resolved and at the end of the call they were asking to see proof of purchase of our new bath before they would authorise the return but this is irrelevant and none of their business!

We checked our statutory rights last night and we are entitled to a refund as the goods are clearly not of satisfactory quality. We informed them in good time, and they recorded on their system "leg failed". Why is this such a battle? Whatever happened to the customer being right or at least being treated with courtesy?

We have emailed them again today, but have severely lost any shred of respect for them that we might have had. Now the thought of seeing their logo emblazoned on our sanitaryware really infuriates me. Grr!

As if that wasn't enough, we called yesterday to chase the new towel radiator I ordered from radiatorfactory.net. I purposely ordered one from their 'stock items' so that it would be with us quickly, and three weeks on, no sign. When we called yesterday they told us that the goods are sent out directly from the manufacturer and they just assume they have been sent until a customer complains! Surely a responsible trader would expect a dispatch note to say when goods have been delivered. Clearly all they are interested in is taking our money and anything else after that is superfluous.

I'm starting to wonder whether we should stop ordering from these small suppliers on the internet. If it works it is OK, but if something goes wrong it is much more difficult to get things sorted.

Labels: buying, d.i.y.

It was business as usual at the Grace abode this weekend. Dom got stuck into the bathroom almost as soon as we got back on Saturday, bless him. He plumbed in the new Grohe shower valve.

I made some lemon cup-cakes to keep him going.

On Sunday we got up early and went for a run, then after another tour of the local DIY stores Dom worked right through until 10pm plumbing in the bath and sink waste.

We have changed our minds about having a bath spout coming out of the wall and are swapping it for a discreet Grohe Talentofill inlet and overflow within the bath. We are also going to send the whole bath back to Ideal Standard. They still haven't sent us a new leg almost three weeks after we complained and their fancy compact waste system looks like it would block up in an instant, and because it is all sealed there is no way of unblocking like a normal waste system. We are seriously regretting giving them our business.

Labels: cooking, d.i.y.

Lie in? What lie-in? Up at 7am this morning to try and make up for the lost time yesterday.

Dom spent the whole day installing the new Grohe cistern and frame, which will be concealed behind tiles. There was a fair bit of fiddly plumbing to do, and a lot of levelling out, compensating for crappy building work and walls that aren't straight.

The Grohe kit itself was as you would expect from German manufacture: every little detail had been well thought out and exquisitely crafted. I think Dom quite enjoyed putting it all together.

The Ideal Standard wall hung pan however, was a different story. It was exactly what we're coming to expect from British manufacturing: shoddy. When we came to put the seat and lid on we found that the screw holes were not even. One went right through the ceramic, while the other was filled in, and it wasn't clear whether you are supposed to knock this out. First the bath leg, now this. Ideal it is not.

Anyway, by 9pm we had a working toilet - a very productive day.

Labels: d.i.y.

Up early today for Rob the plasterer, who this week has done the ceiling and walls of our third bedroom plus the walls on the landing and down the stairs. It looks great and makes such a difference.

Unfortunately Dom got caught up early on removing the radiator, skirting, light fitting in the bedroom before Rob could plaster, and then he went out for plumbing supplies, so progress on the bathroom in the morning was slow.

In the meantime, I chose and ordered a towel radiator and blinds. We are going for white powder coated aluminum venetian blinds for the bathroom window which should be waterproof enough to cope with the shower spray. We always order our blinds from web-blinds.com which is the web arm of Hilary's Blinds. Any size you want, good range of colours and styles to choose from, quick to deliver and very reasonably priced.

At around lunch time we made the fatal error of 'popping out' to B&Q, Wickes, Tilemates and Screwfix and even though all these shops are in probably no more than a 10 mile radius, the traffic was so bad it took us 3 hours to get round. Very frustrating.

We did order our tiles, shown below, but as we were due to go out with friends in the evening, Dom had little over an hour to get any work done.

Labels: d.i.y.

Our Grohe goodies arrived today. Well they arrived yesterday in fact, but the neighbours had them. Great service. We ordered from www.h-i-e.co.uk. Best prices on the web for what we wanted and our local plumbing supplier couldn't price match anywhere near. It's a shame, as we'd like to support local businesses, but when the difference is hundreds, the web makes too much sense.

Labels: d.i.y.

We are definitely aiming for a premium look to the bathroom and we're not afraid to splash the cash to achieve it. Yesterday we ordered our Grohe brassware comprising bath/shower thermostatic mixer valve, basin mixer tap, bath spout (to come out of the wall rather than having conventional bath taps), cistern unit, flush button wall plate and a shower hose and rail.

Grohe is an award winning brand and their Tenso range is our favourite - clean lines, slight curvature - very tasty indeed.

Labels: d.i.y.

First job this morning was to get the new bath in place so Dom could accurately measure up the boxed-out area at the tap end of the bath where the shower pipes were going to be hidden.

Bath was carefully removed from packaging, legs unscrewed from their packaging position, plastic housing for legs screwed into wooden frame, metal leg put into housing at tap end of bath, metal leg put into housing at bottom end of bath… wait a minute, leg has been pushed in as far as it will go and screw hole in leg does not line up with screw hole in plastic housing, therefore screw cannot be secured and leg is useless.

Cue lots of swearing.

We’ll have to ring the bathroom showroom first thing tomorrow and they’ll probably refer us to Ideal Standard. What a shower.

Anyway, not wanting to be held back Dom carried on regardless and started building the boxed-out frame. First he needed to move the bath pipes to the side so he could get the frame in position and re-plumb them so they could still be used for the shower.

Then he started constructing the frame.

So far so good.

Labels: d.i.y.

Rob the plasterer came round this morning. Three cups of tea and a beef sandwich later, the ceiling was smooth and the window reveals were neatly boarded.

While Rob was here, Dom went off to Gurney and White for plumbing supplies, then I went to Tilemates and brought back four tile samples to muse over.

During our Friday evening bathroom planning session we had made some more design decisions and realised that we needed the new bath to be able to move forward with the job this weekend. The suite was not being delivered until Monday, but as the showroom was in Hounslow we could make the hour long drive round there today to pick it up. So that's what we did.

Two and a half hours later it was 5pm(these things take so long!) and Dom carried on working until late in the evening: removing the old bath; moving the sink out of the way and re-plumbing it for use; and getting out the angle grinder to take off the last of the tiles that had been behind the sink pipes. It was now a blank canvas for the morning.

Labels: d.i.y.

This morning we did MORE thinking and re-thinking about the bathroom: planning, drawing, measuring and agonising over how we could overcome our furniture problem... then finally we had a breakthrough.

We are now abandoning the idea of using furniture to conceal the sink pipes and cistern and will instead conceal them by fully tiling that area. We had become hung-up on using furniture because of the storage, but in considering alternatives, we realised that the pain wasn't worth the gain, as we wouldn't actually achieve much useful storage space.

As well as the tiled toilet and basin area, the new plan involves boxing out the length of the wall above the sink and toilet and behind the shower. At one end this will conceal the shower pipes, then in the middle over the sink and loo we will put a large mirror (with room behind for heating if desired), and at the other end we will build a flush door in the mirror to give a cabinet just deep enough to house all our bathroom utensils.

Once we had this plan clear, it was as if we had pushed the big red start button. Dom could now get on and do some of these jobs straight away, so it was time to get cracking (literally).

First it was off to B&Q to buy plasterboard, board adhesive, wood for batoning the boxed out wall, a dust mask, protective clothing, buckets, plaster stirrer and as we saw it, a combined shower extractor and light.

Then it was back home to destroy the evil peach room.

Dom put on his protective gear, armed himself with his mini angle grinder, shut the door and went in for the kill.

A few hours later and the toilet is gone, the carpet is out, the sink and bath are loosened and the necessary tiles have been sawn off from the wall complete with their plasterboard backing. It is now pretty much a blank canvas, ready for us to make progress in the evenings this week.

Labels: d.i.y.

We spent a wonderful Valentine's day trawling the local bathroom and tile shops - it was so romantic!

No seriously, it had to be done, and with our end of March target at the forefront of our minds, we knew that we needed to make decisions on supplies and quick.

Bathstore proved fruitless, Wickes also. At B&Q we bought wood stain and a piece of wood for testing (in case our search for dark, almost black furniture is not successful and Dom has to make it bespoke). Then onto Tilemates in Crayford where we found a gorgeous marble mosaic tile for our feature wall and took a sample board away of a large oblong travertine-look tile - I'm aiming for a natural stone spa look.

On our travels we came across a bathroom showroom called Raymac, and investigated furniture there to no avail. Then we made it to Beautiful Bathrooms in Welling where we found the perfect coloured furniture, perfect fit, but wrong matching sink and no way of adapting it. We did spot a sink and loo we liked though, and have since come home and placed the order for an Ideal Standard Concept Sphere basin, wall hung WC with soft close seat, and a matching bath.

Our final stop of the day was Sidcup Tile King, where we think we have found a better travertine-look tile and have ordered a sample to be in on Tuesday.

Seven hours later, back at home we've tried out our wood dye, ordered the full bathroom suite and Dom is now carrying on with the kitchen tiling - cleaning the tiles of excess cement, before being able to grout.

Labels: d.i.y.

Tonight we began planning the bathroom. The impetus is my family coming to stay for my birthday at the end of March. Can we tear out the whole bathroom and finish it in less than 6 weeks (taking into account we are away skiing for a week somewhere in between)?

This is as good a time as any, and we can't leave it much longer, it is now 20 years old with the most disgusting peach suite and tiles, and a grimy peach carpet! YUK!

Things to do? Well...

- first we need to have a plasterer come in and skim over the Artex on the ceiling
- we will tile over the tiles rather than rip them out, (apart from around the window where we will need to completely remove to stop encroachment)
- we need to choose wall and floor tiles and a new suite, (I'm thinking a calming limestone spa effect and a white suite)
- we already have a fantastically powerful shower, but we need to conceal the pipes so the wall will have to be boxed out here
- then we're keen on a concealed toilet cistern and concealed sink pipes so we are planning to build a frame to house a wall hung toilet and a semi-recessed sink (if we could find a ready-made unit to fit the space we would use one)
- toilet and sink need plumbing in
- bath needs to be plumbed in, tiled and sealed over a weekend so we don't lose the ability to shower for more than a day or so
- wall and floor tiling needs to be completed
- towel radiators need to be re-hung and re-connected to central heating
- not to mention accessories, shaving sockets, mirror, extractor fan, lighting...

We have approximately 108 hours if we work 12 hour days at the weekends and 144 hours if we can manage 2 hours a night after work for an average of 4 nights a week!

We are not averse to getting people in such as tilers and cabinet makers, but organising and briefing these people also takes time.

Some inspiration...

Labels: d.i.y.

Good progress on the kitchen tiles made this weekend. They are on, all but a handful, so the next job is cleaning, then grouting. Let's hope this is the start of a DIY roll!

I spent the weekend sewing three curtain panels into one. It was good to get back on the sewing machine.

Labels: d.i.y.

Our back fence has been on its last legs for a while and although we did a repair of the side panels about a year ago, the wood warped because the wrong fixings were used. So the first few weekends after we got back from honeymoon it was time to re-do the side length and also replace the one at the bottom.

With the bottom fence, we needed to use something stronger than gravel boards to contain the soil because it backs onto a path that is lower than the soil. We toyed with the idea of building a wall (too much work), then thought about railway sleepers (too thick), then spotted some thick stair boards used for decking at the garden centre - perfect.

So, the first weekend after we were back from honeymoon we set about rebuilding the bottom fence. On Saturday we pulled down the old one, dug away the soil, dug out deep holes for the posts (very difficult job), put each post in level, fixed one stair board in place, stabilised with props, filled the holes with dry concrete, watered the concrete mix and left to set over night.

On Sunday Dom put the stair boards in, one on top of the other,

then attached the arris rails,

then screwed on the individual feathered edge boards. Sunday night it was done, all bar the paint job.

The next weekend we only had a day free and worked on the side fence. My job was to take each individual feathered edge board off with a crowbar and take out the nails with the back of the hammer. There were about 70 of these to do. Dom screwed them back on, then I touched up the paint. I also painted the back fence.

The final weekend was for building a trellis for three of the panels on the side fence. Dom built, I painted, and Dom attached. We had to build them ourselves rather than buy them because the posts were set a bit further apart than the length of the trellis you can buy. Anyway, homemade is more sturdy.

It looks good!

Labels: d.i.y., gardening

Well, after a few days of solid working and very little sleep for both of us, we have reached a point with the house that we are happy with. Not everything is finished, but the place still looks lovely compared with before.

Now all we have to do is prepare for a good party. The weather forecasts are encouraging thank goodness. All we have to do is get the gazebo up, buy in the beer and wait for the hog to roast. Bring it on!

Labels: d.i.y.

The weather is going to be crap. What a bummer.

[METCHECK.COM STICKY REMOVED]

Labels: d.i.y.

Things really aren't looking good at all for the deadline of Dom's birthday party. Every evening last week was dominated for both of us with preparing a presentation for the MD for Friday.

Yesterday it was hard to get motivated. We went shopping for tiles, a gazebo, plants etc and when we got back Dom started putting the skirting board on, but this also turned out to be a slow job, so there's only a couple of bits on there now and I can't really start painting until that's done.

Today, we were sitting having a cup of tea with breakfast when I heard what I thought was a dripping noise coming from near the front door. Turns out that the pipes that feed the bath taps (not Dom's workmanship) have leaked through the ceiling, so it had to be fixed. Dom is working on that now.

Nothing is ever easy!

Labels: d.i.y.

The handles for the kitchen arrived yesterday - they're lush. I got home early from work today and cleaned the window frame and sill ready for painting. Then we went to Bluewater and bought this dining table and chairs. It will be available for pick up the day before the party! Aaagh!

Labels: d.i.y.

We worked our arses off at the weekend and the floor is down. It looks fantastic, it really feels like a big achievement. There are still so many things we have to do before Dom's party though and twelve days doesn't sound like much at all.

Labels: d.i.y.

I can't remember what we did Thursday night, but Friday, we really got on with stuff. We went to B&Q and bought the skirting boards and some router bits, then I forced myself to sand all the door frames that needed sanding as it was important to get this out the way before we could start laying the floor. Dom cut the corner sections for the bespoke corner doors we are making and with his new router bits they came out very neat.

Labels: d.i.y.

Nothing much got done Tuesday night. I sanded the window sill and Dom fell asleep on the sofa. He had a 4am start yesterday to go to Edinburgh so the only thing we did last night was enjoy a bottle of red wine. It was good to have a break. We're going to try and complete some small tasks tonight but really, the only time we are finding we are able to make any real progress is at the weekend. Nearly there!

Labels: d.i.y.

Not much was done last night. We were both feeling weary and a bit de-motivated from the pressure of the jobs.

I did order these handles for the kitchen doors though.

Labels: d.i.y.

Most of the kitchen doors went on yesterday and I finished taking up all the gripper-rods and skirting boards ready for the floor.

We still made time to go and watch the Le Tour de France which came through our village. It was excellent!

Labels: d.i.y., seeing_doing

Yesterday morning we went out early to shop. It was supposed to be a quick trip, but it was 7 hours later when we returned! We went to Gurney & White first and bought a new Roca sink for the downstairs toilet. We looked at some Roca toilet pans and a sink for the bathroom too but I'm going to compare prices on the net before we buy.

Then we went to three tile shops to get ideas for the kitchen and bathroom, then to B&Q to buy the underlay for the floor and finally to Bathstore to check out more bathroom ideas.

When we got back I took up the carpet. I wasn't expecting it to be so difficult, but there is A LOT of carpet and it's heavy. I had to move the furniture around to be able to access it and then cut it down into about four sections to be able to roll and remove.

Then I used the crow bar to lever up all the gripper-rods round the edges of the room.

Dom got all the top kitchen units in, but the top corner unit was a real struggle and had to be shaved down to fit. It's really coming on!

Labels: d.i.y.

What better to be doing on a Friday night than hanging wall units?! Hmmm. Longing for the days when we can leave the house.

Labels: d.i.y.

Last night Dom moved the electrics for the oven, as typically, there is a box at the back of the oven that is in just the wrong place and prevents the oven from going back against the wall as far as it needs to.

I tried to remove the skirting in the entrance way that I have been working on, but it is really difficult to prise off without damaging the freshly plastered walls. Luckily, most of it is off already.

We really have to push forward this weekend. I'm going to take the rest of the carpet up and crack on with door frame sanding tonight.

Labels: d.i.y.

There were more setbacks yesterday. The oven is having to be set slightly lower than the other units to accommodate the hob. It won't be noticable - it won't be as low as in this picture, but it does require some accurate carpentry.

So all that was done yesterday was making the filler sections for either side of the oven and resetting the corner unit to remove a bracket that was obstructing the dishwasher. At least everything was in place for the granite templater to measure up. He spent 2.5 hours with Dom and was impressed with the accuracy of his work, asking if he did it for a living!

Dom is back at work now, so there won't be much happening until the weekend. We had scheduled to lay the floor this weekend, so I might have to do that myself. Bring it on!

Labels: d.i.y.

Dom had a bit of a set back yesterday. The oven that we bought doesn't fit in the oven housing unit. It's not a problem design-wise because we already have to build custom filler panels either side of the oven, it just means that Dom needs to build a custom unit to house it. For this he needed some white board to match what the units are made of and sourcing this took a big chunk out of his day.

Everything else is fitting to the millimetre. The freezer door has been hung and the drawer fronts are on. Dom also built a custom filler for behind the curved unit, which is looking good now that it has it's door.

It is such a slow process though - but perfection takes time.

I continued to sand door frames when I got in from work last night. I really hate that job. Only one more door frame to go, then three doors and the window sill, then I can paint.

Labels: d.i.y.

When I got home from work yesterday Dom had carefully raised all the base units to the right level, and had them bolted them to each other and to the wall. The huge end panel had also been attached to the fridge freezer unit.

It's looking good. It feels bigger than before, but granted we don't have the wall units up, nor the black worktops on, which will darken it a bit.

Labels: d.i.y.

Over the weekend Dom made good progress on the kitchen. He boarded up the pipework he'd done for the dishwasher and when there was a break in the rain he was able to get outside and cut down the end panel that goes down the side of the fridge freezer.

We also used a water level and Dom's new laser level to measure and mark the right height for the units so they will accommodate the granite for the worktop and the windowsill.

I painted, filled and sanded the entrance way. Then took the doors off and started sanding the door frames. It's a tedious job.

Labels: d.i.y.

The kitchen units and doors arrived last Thursday and Dom took Friday off so he'd have a long weekend to start installing them. It was a slow weekend, because of the plumbing for the dishwasher, which involved some intricate copper pipe-work. We had to pre-empt delivery of the appliances and go and pick up the dishwasher from the shop we'd ordered them from to find out how much space there'd be between the back of the dishwasher and the wall. It turned out there was none, so the wall had to be cut out and the pipework inset. This took up the whole weekend.

Meanwhile, I gave our downstairs ceiling it's final coat of white paint. It was a neck-breaking job which took 6 hours, but it looks fantastic.

Labels: d.i.y.