Door gone...

Yesterday the doorway was bricked up and the majority of the new plumbing was installed. Won't be long before we put up the ceilings and plaster the walls...

Kitchen continues...

First fix almost done. Walls and floor chiselled away ready for plastering and levelling. Next step is to brick up the doorway nearer the front of the house - and change the boiler and plumbing :)

Kitchen - gone - replaced with hole!

Our first weekend with no kitchen. No sink, no ovens, no larder... nothing but a microwave and a credit card for eating out. Had a small hitch this week with WREN - doors for cupboards and drawers still nowhere to be seen. Vented anger at manager this morning - he has promised resolution and money back :) K threatening to take me to IKEA for inspiration - I think it will just make me miss having a working kitchen even more. At least I might get a hot dog I suppose... more pics linked in title.

Wall Down!

Just received this from our builder - the wall is pretty much down and this is the first look at our new space.... AWESOME!

Floor arrives...

There has been a flurry of activity this week. The Quooker, Boiler and Flooring have all turned up. The later being on a pallet which meant having to move it piece by piece inside.

Old kitchen is half out and one ceiling is down. Work continues tomorrow with the main wall coming down as well as the second ceiling. Should give the place a somewhat minimalist feel. Hopefully new boiler in place before the weekend!

More kitchen arrives...

Today the main kitchen units turned up. Nice thing is that they turned up first thing this morning and were off the lorry and in the garage in 10 mins. Not so nice thing is that they forgot all the doors??!!! Nothing is ever simple hey! WREN are chasing the missing doors this very moment, but even they seem confused :(

More kitchen...

The second part of the new kitchen turned up... this Best Gemini kitchen hood is a large doughnut of white aluminium with a fan in the middle. Seems to have come in the biggest box ever for something not actually that big. Spent the day moving most of downstairs upstairs...

L&R's Wedding

Had a great night at L&R's wedding, with the rain holding off just long enough from the ceremony. It was set in L's mum's beautiful garden with a huge marquis. The live band was great (especially the bassist) and the speeches massively funny. More photos linked in title. Congrats guys!

Kitchen - ordered!

We've finally done it and ordered the new kitchen. An all high-gloss white design with auto-servo drawers, black quartz tops and plenty of kitchen-gadgetry. We now have to order the new flooring, the white goods and a new boiler. Work commences in 3 weeks!

G&S's Wedding - in France!

K and I went to France this weekend to G&S's wedding. The event was staged in beautiful surroundings in a small French village near Chataeudun. We drank lots of champagne, visited a Château, ate far too much and had a great time. More pics linked in the title...

BT BYE BYE

Tomorrow is gong to be a sad day - a very sad day. My number one subscriber to this blog (yes, I have ways of knowing) is leaving for pastures new. As you can see from the pic to the left he is a very intelligent chap - and as such is off to become a Doctor! BT is an interesting guys - almost every day I've learnt something new about him from the work kitchen whiteboard. For example - apparently he looks like Smithers from Simpsons, he once cycled from Lands End to John O'Groats (but finished in Devon) and no matter what the topic of the day is - BT has an opinion
and/or a fan club (I suspect the latter). So - good luck B - this blog will miss you! I am sure the comments section on this post will now fill with many interesting BT related items ;)

UPDATE: he liked it so much he had it framed!!!

The Kitchen Build Commences...

First item for new kitchen has been purchased - a Smeg 75 hob. K likes as it is shiny shiny. Have still got to get ovens, fridge, hood, sink, taps.. oh, and the kitchen itself! This will be our biggest house mini-project yet.

Insomnia 2011

Yes - it's back and I'm doing it. A 12-hour night race through the deepest, darkest, most dangerous woods in all of Kentshire. Please visit the link below and donate if you can - BHF are a great charity.

http://www.justgiving.com/knebworthknights

UPDATE: Thomsons Online Benefits (my employer) is matching donations up to £500 - thanks guys!

Sweden

18 hours there, 16 hours back - what a drive! We are now converted Chunnel lovers (Sooooo much easier than the ferry). Had a great week with the family in the summer house - even managed to catch some sun. My Swedish needs work still... (more photos linked in title)

Logitech z506

My PC speakers stopped working this morning - not bad seeing as they are over 15 years old. Having real trouble finding suitable replacements though - have settled for some cheap Logitech ones until the perfect set finds me...

Sonisphere 2011

J, B and I just had a great weekend. We not only had full weekend tickets but managed to blag VIP tickets too allowing us to relax in a private tent with its own drinks, food and facilites. Highlights of the weekend incude Megadeth, Metallica, Paradise Lost and Bill Bailey :) Also got my yearly quota of crowd surfing out of the way - small nose injury this year :( More pics linked in title...

Bathroom nearly done...

After two weeks the bathroom is nearing completion. Main hardware is in and only the last bits of electrics and the grouting is outstanding. Then it's just left to me to programme the TV, bath and underfloor heating..oh, and paint the ceiling and remaining walls!

Bathroom TV Test

Here's the hardware test run. I've threaded cat5 and coax cable to the attic from the server room and have hooked up an AppleTV along with the Sky+ box. All seems good :) Sound quality much better than expected and Sky+ control is flawless. Can't wait to install it now...

Bathroom TV

Got talking to the builders last night about my TV dilemma and the hassle to fit it. They talked for a bit and then came up with a way to get it in the wall with less hassle than I expected - as such I'm going ahead with it and we'll have a nice little 19" telly in the bathroom ;) Made by Sonos, with sky digilink built in, floating waterproof remote and induction speakers!

Yorkshire MBK

A few of us headed oop north this weekend for some proper mountain biking. The weather held for the most part and we had some fantastic rides (including a 7km downhill!). Was happy to get out of the Landrover though after 4.5 hours in the back with all the bags!

Bathroom ordered...

After an expensive week we have now finally gotten all the various parts ordered for our new bathroom - work starts next week! We've gone for Aqualisa HiQu shower and Bath (with a computer controller for each), an IKEA double sink unit, grey tiling and underfloor heating - oh, and the coolest towel radiator we could find! The funky mosaic tiles to the left are going as a splash-back behind the sinks...

New Sofa

After 17 weeks of waiting our new sofa finally made it from China and was delivered. I was given a 7 hour delivery window and of course it came during the 30 minute period that I was on a conference call :( Anyway - it's here now and looks great... just need to keep the cats off it now!

J's 40th - in Cornwall

To celebrate J's 40th birthday, A and I went to Cornwall for the weekend. There was much celebration (once we left Newquay) and some near death experiences (for A) when we tried some land-kite-surf-boarding on a nearby beach. Despite the near death a good time was had by all and there was even some sun to enjoy our Rick Stein fish and chips with. More pics linked in title.

Merc - new brakes

Yay - it's been ages but I finally got round to pulling a car apart again. OK, no massive modification here - just a straightforward brake replacement - but nice to get my hands dirty anyway and saved ~£150 compared to having Merc do it for me!

Vibram Fivefingers KSO

Well, if there are good enough for Sergey from Google then they're good enough for me. Going to try these as my next set of trainers and see what they're like. Downside - needed new socks too!