[Maybe one day?]Well, another week over and still liking my new job. We got taken out for a Thai on Wednesday and on Friday we had a nice lunch. It just seems like the sort of place where they value staff and teamwork. I've got some what I like to call 'mentalist' trainers (MBTs) for walking from London Bridge to the office. The walk is fine but I do get shin splints and my neck has started hurting again so I'm hoping they will help my posture.
The boiler is being installed this week so lots of moving things around will be going on. We're having an A-rated boiler put in to try and keep oil use down. Tim announced this week that he would like a solid-fuel AGA so I have spent ages looking at them on ebay and various sites. I didn't realise just how complicated it all is. I wonder how anyone has one installed?!? I mean, for starters they are not very energy efficient so we couldn't have one as the main heat source and the oil ones that have wicks need servicing once every 6 months. There's also the added complication of the type of flue etc. The jury is still out as to whether we can actually have one. Tim is going to speak to the heating engineers to see what they think. Fingers and toes crossed that we can get one! The other issue is that even if you are extremely lucky to pick one up on ebay for £200 they cost about £200+ to deliver and god knows how much to install. Methinks perhaps that lottery tickets will have to be bought!
We are hopefully going to get the kitchen done very soon (in the next couple of months). That will be involve knocking the dining room wall (stud wall), and the wall between the kitchen and the utility room (load-bearing wall). It will create a huge 25 foot kitchen. We'll have the window that currently overlooks the garage blocked up and a new big window installed on the back of the house that will overlook the garden. Apart from the plumbing, building work (putting in an RSJ) and the flooring, I'm going to do try to the rest myself by recycling what we have, and going to architectural salvage yards and flea markets. I want to have a wooden floor made using reclaimed pine floor boards (£16/metre2) from the local salvage yard, a large larder cupboard made from recycling the bedroom cupboard doors by a local carpenter, rustic pine worktop from these people, an old AGA (fingers crossed), a new single oven to use for when not using AGA. I'm aiming for something that looks a little bit like the picture below, rustic and not a B&Q special off the peg jobby. I'll have curtains covering the washing machine etc and under the Belfast sink (the one we got via freecycle). We are going to put the sink on top of bricks in the traditional way. I can put all my interior design skills into practice as I will be able to draw scale plans for the builders/carpenter.
[Dining room-utility room stud wall will come down]
[the wall between the utility room and the kitchen will also be knocked through]
Fear not though, as I say nothing will go to waste - this really lovely little window that is part of the original external wall will be re-used in the bathroom.
We're thinking if we are very lucky and can have an AGA it will go in this chimney here where the boiler currently sits (the chimney can be widened to accommodate it).
I just hope that we can get enough money and hope that the quotes are not too high! Keep your fingers and toes crossed for me. :-)
Now, onto the plans for the bathroom. I'm going to buy a suite from the local rec yard. I'd really like a roll top bath with claw feet, but it depends on whether our floor can support it and also if my budget can afford it! Fortunately the only thing we will change in there is to have a window installed, the door move and a shower put in. Apart from the shower, all the plumbing will be in place so hopefully it won't be anywhere near as expensive as our last bathroom (again, fingers crossed!).
Look at what we got this week:
one of our gorgeous little bantams has started laying. It's so magical when they lay their first egg. Our bantams are the best thing we have ever got. They are such lovely little hens. I'm amazed at how friendly they are and they do like to be cuddled. I'm much more impressed with them than I was with our larger hens. When they go broody (bantams are notoriously broody and make the best mothers) we are going to put a clutch of lavender araucana blue eggs under them and hatch them out. Hopefully they won't go broody for a while yet as it's such a treat to have eggs! :-)
