The Rear Window (not the Hitchcock film)

Behold! Finally it has arrived, in all its partially assembled glory! It's the rear window...

Rachel managed to get hold our neighbour William to get the OK for the builders to take it through his back garden, across the student garden next door and finally into our back garden. And there it sits. What a beautiful hunk of wood it is. Should be put in next Monday, as it needs to make way for the flooring to go down, which is also sitting ready to go in the dining room.



The front door is edging its way to completion. The picture shows it with its undercoat on - it will be darker than this when fully painted. We had to point out to Mr Builder that painting BOTH sides dark red really wasn't art of the plan, so he has some sanding to do next week!



And, in the bathroom, stands the magnificent sink. We are so pleased with this. The oak plinth will really go well with the oak flooring. Just love that tap too!



As for the kitchen...Well, its going in, bit by bit. The appliances have all arrived and are in the dining room. The base units are fixed in now. We really like the 'last minute' spice rack, although how well a stainless steel door front will go we will just have to see. Mr Granite apparently couldn't make it on Wednesday (methinks Mr Buider left it too late to book him) so there is a question mark over when we actually get the kitchen finished.

Less than 2 weeks to go......probably!

Let there be light!

A mid-day site meeting yesterday had us rushing from work to see Mr Builder about the kitchen to enable him to get on and order the granite. The first thing we noticed as we walked in was that the recessed lights were in and working. It was great to actually see the bathroom for once! We stood there playing with light switches like people who had just discovered electricity.

The kitchen story seems to be the thorn in our side in this development. We dropped in on the house on Sunday to check out progress on installation, and almost immediately it became apparent that the kitchen didn't fit. A combination of wrong dimensions on old plans, a change in dimensions of corner units and misunderstandings with Magnet left us feeling that we were never going to get things resolved. It was very depressing. However, Mr Builder was in 'fix it' mode yesterday and made some really practical suggestions to make it work. So, we have changed one of the wall units from a 300mm to 400mm and purchased a 150mm pull-out spice rack for the base units, filled in here and there and hey presto, it should look great.

We are back at the house again tonight to see the kitchen units in their final positions and decide on the dimensions of the granite worktop so that Mr Granite can come in on Wednesday and template it up. The appliances should be in by Wednesday too.

Other progress - the oak plinth for the bathroom sink has been crafted to perfection, and we've agreed its position with Mr Builder. We've finally, definitely, no going back, decided on a solid oak floor that we've got at the lower end of the expensive price bracket. Mr Builder has his own ideas on the correct way to lay it that seem at odds with Gary in Topps Tiles, but I think we trust him! As he put it "I've layed more floors than he has". Our outside light has been installed - badly - so will need moving.

Funniest of all (well, probably not) was the line of questioning from Mr Builder that began "how well do you know your neighbours?" It turns out that he needs to bring the frame for the rear windows over the back gardens as the manufacturers have glued and screwed it together - all 10ft of it - and it will never get through the house. Not our problem that one!

Oh, and Mr Architect turned up towards the end of the site meeting, apologising profusely. Hmmm...no change there then.

Two weeks and two days to go!

Floored thinking

A call from Mr Builder yesterday alerted us to the fact he'd left some further wood flooring samples for us to look at. As usual he hadn't got everything we'd been promised he would (a familiar tale with Mr Builder and samples). This time we did have some engineered wood floorng as specified in the contract. Trouble is we didn't like it. We still like the solid wood flooring.

So once again we are in the position of whacking on a considerable lump to the costs of the build, but at least it feels like this one is our decision. Not only will it look great but it's also nice to be able to say to prospective buyers that it has a solid wood floor.

As promised the kitchen is beginning to take shape! Just two corner units and a drawer unit, but enough for us to place a large sheet of plasterboard over to mimic a worksurface and see the impact. It looked great! Not only that, but we can fit an extra 300mm unit on the end to put all our bins in. A huge relief.

Rachel had a semi-productive half-day's leave trying to sort out carpet for the stairs and re-laying the bedroom carpets (a cost Mr Builder has declined to pick up). Frankly they were just silly, and we've decided to put the carpet back down ourselves in the bedroom and not have any carpet on the stairs for now. Maybe we can look at this in a couple of months, but the cost and hassle is too great at the moment.

Lots of other things now present in the house ready for installation. The entire bathroom is there (in pieces) although the bath and shower mixer are now plumbed in. We've got the funkiest plug arrangements ever! Mr Builder has brought in his huge chunk of oak for the sink, which looks fantastic. The lights are ready to go in too.

We must have stayed an hour in the house last night, just loving being in there. Can't wait to move back

Unlucky for some..

Friday 13th
Originally uploaded by Burrow Life.

At last we have a completion date for the project. Actually, we've set it as Thursday 12th as Rachel thought it would be unlucky to move back in on Friday 13th.

We went to our site meeting tonight determined to get some idea of what is going on, as progress has been thin on the ground. A quick visit this morning revealed what looked like a load of old fence posts on the lawn. This turned out to be the old battens from the roof, which were pretty much past it. The new battens are in over the new roof felting, and the slates are stacked up on them ready to be fitted. At last the roof will be watertight!

Inside the Burrow not much else has happened, save for a good clear-up in advance of the kitchen being installed (which should start in the next day or so). The new front door and its frame are ready to go in tomorrow. After a lengthy conversation we finally reached an agreement about door furniture, which we need to choose by Tuesday night.

We'd had warning from Mr Builder that the flooring we'd chosen is no longer manufactured, so we'd have to choose another. When we saw the new samples (which we hated) we suddenly realised he was trying to palm us off with a laminate! This after being very clear from the outset we wanted either solid or engineered oak. Messrs Builder and Architect were send away to argue contracts with a clear understanding we want what we specified from the start!

The contents of the bathroom have finaly arrived (albeit not fitted). We got to see our bowl sink in situ, and it looks fantastic (if not a bit big). Can't wait to see it all finished. Latest news on the back window is that the frame will be completed on Friday and in place next Tuesday. We're back for a site meeting on Monday lunchtime to agree the layout of the granite worksurface.

Feels like things are moving again, at last

Watching grass grow

Well, that's how it feels this week. The sum total of progress has been painted woodwork and the cycle stand being fitted.

The kitchen got collected on Monday (we are expecting a letter from Wickes next week about our compensation claim) and the new one was delivered on Tuesday. And there it sits, in the dining room, untouched in its packaging. There is no sign of the joiner doing anything on our built in cupboards either, and the rear window is still a sheet of tarpaulin. The roof issue, which needed an urgent decision 2 weeks ago, looks entirely untouched. And there's no progress with the bathroom either. Oh, and the lights haven't been installed.

In short, we're not happy. Rachel is going to speak to Mr Architect this morning and make sure he can answer some key questions for our Monday site meeting like "when do we get to go home?"

Whilst visiting the house last Saturday I bumped into our estate agent (how fateful is that?) and dragged her round the house for a look. Haven't seen her since we showed her plans back in April. She talked about how the market had picked up considerably, and that our house will be "uncomparable" when finished, so we could effectively choose our price! Nice to know that the investment has been worth it. Mind you, it would be nice to actualy live in it....

Our lovely path!

Our lovely path!
Originally uploaded by Burrow Life.

How beautiful is this? Mr Builder got this EXACTLY as we wanted, and we think it looks fantastic. It did take two trips up the road with him to see another house with a path like this.

Inside the house sits the new door with its door frame. We are scratching our heads trying to think what colour to paint it at the moment, along with what colour the walls should be (it's a fight to the death between cream or white at the moment). We are taking a set of colour cards down tomorrow to work it all out.

Still no kitchen (shame), and the old, nasty one is still sat in the front room waiting to be collected. The bathroom doesn't seem to have progressed much either. But at the rear of the house we have drainpipes and an outside electrical socket to go with the new patio! Something is hapenning with the lights - they've got an electrical rose atached to the wires, but not any lights yet.

I had been getting worried about the lack of a heating control panel/thermostat in the living room, and had visions or Mr Builder scratching his head and saying "you'll have to go up to the loft to switch on the hot water". Of course, it is all under control as we're having (wait for this) a wireless control that we can take around the house!!! For a nerd like me this is the coolest aspect of the whole build!

Decisions are being made thick and fast at the moment; Rachel gets a call nearly every day from Mr Builder, bypassing Mr Architect. All feels a bit more positive now, although I'll still be hapier when I see the rear window going in

A less shit night...

...which is fairly positive given recent postings!

We had a good site meeting tonight at which we resolved the whole kitchen problem: We cancel the Wickes kitchen and Mr Builder orders our new one from Magnet. There was talk about a handling charge at one point, but I think this probably disappeared after we put a ceiling cost on the kitchen which he could easily do by buying the trade version. Still, it's done and by the end of the week we'll have a kitchen in place. We're going to try and pursuade Wickes that they may as well leave behind the appliances as compensation!

As you can see from the picture above, we've now got a nice new front wall. I like it. A lot. The dark blue capping stone nicely sets off the rope edging on the path, which is also progressing nicely. We had to have the line of the path set away from the wall as it isn't square! Still, this allows us to have some planting along the side of the path. Which I like. A lot.

The bathroom is sporting a toilet, bath (with taps) and a towel warmer. Actually, we wanted a stainless steel, curved one and got a white, straight one, but we're past caring really. And in the back garden is our new patio. Lovely. I like it. A lot.

We're both feeling a lot better having seen a bit more progress and got the kitchen situation resolved. A rough estimate shows we are still no more than a week behind, which means we'll be home at the start of October.

A Bad Week

...for a number of reasons. On the non-house front (for me) these included going back to work and getting a cold - which at least put a stop to the going to work lark for a couple of days. Unfortunately this coincided with two rather major problems with the house.

No prizes for guessing problem No.1 - the kitchen. To ensure its delivery was not missed I ended up sitting in the house from 8am, shivering with cold, until it turned up at around 9:15am. All well and good I thought. As the Wickes delivery guys were checking off all the items one remarked "They've told you it's not all come on this delivery haven't they?", to which I told him that they most certainly hadn't! Missing from the delivery was our fridge freezer, all the door and drawer fronts and some end panels for the wall units. As I waited for the bus to get me to work I got a call from Wickes to say they were out of stock and the new stock would be with them by 9th September, shipping out to us soon after.

This wouldn't be so bad if it were actually true. An endless number of conversations with different Wickes employees has actually revealed some parts won't reach us until 23rd September. As Rachel is often heard to say these days; "Bastards!" What really annoys us is that they've known they were out of stock months ago and never told us.

This left us in a real bind. Technically there is enough of the kitchen there to assemble the base units and install most of the appliances, but the missing end panels mean the wall units can't go up. Mr Builder let us know he is not too keen on the idea of getting a joiner in twice, and frankly he doesn't trust Wickes as far as he could spit them. We are joining that camp also. I enlisted the help of the wonderful Paula from Wickes who, true to form, did all she could to find a way round things, but ultimately she couldn't do anything more.

In the mean time Mr Builder has run off to Magnet with a list of our kitchen components and had the manager there find us a replacement for about the same cost which can be delivered within the week. But having not even seen the suggested kitchen we decided we had to do that at least before making a decision. So, on Saturday we drove to Banbury to talk to the only Magnet kitchen designer available in a 50 mile radius before driving to High Wycombe to look at their range at a (bigger) showroom. Although a real drag this did have some advantages in that we found a kitchen we liked, called Malmo, and saw it with a black granite breakfast bar. This was cut off square and with a much smaller overhang than we'd planned, but it worked a treat! Bad news is that the cost is 25% higher than our old Wickes kitchen, but we're going to look at changing some appliance specs to see how far we can bring it down. Frankly, we're getting so sick of the whole kitchen fiasco that we just want to order something we know will come and that we like. It will be nice telling Wickes to take their stinking kitchen back and give us some compensation for the appalling way they've dealt with this.

Problem No.2 resulted from a quick inspection of the area of the (old) roof that we found had a leak just before the project started. Mr Builder quickly ascertained that the whole thing was dodgy and the slates would all need re-fitting on the rear pitch. The cost? Another £1,400! A call to Mr Architect's side-kick confirmed the job needed doing, and that the price was pretty good, so we're stuck with it.

Site meeting tomorrow evening should sort out the kitchen decision, and we may see the bathroom taking shape.