This week the roof has been finished on the extension, with the guttering fitted (minus downpipes) and the small side porch has had the walls finished and the roof put on.
James has almost run all the cables for the extension, it had taken so much thought to think where to put lights switches and plug sockets.
Our builder is running out of time and has asked us to get someone in to re-instate the drainage that was damaged when the concrete was poured. James has a friend who drives diggers so we have asked him to do the work. Whilst he has the digger on site we have asked him to level off the huge tump at the back of the garden that was made when the foundations were dug. We have also asked him to dig back the retaining wall as it needs rebuilt and to put in some drainage around the back of the house (the water seeps up through the floors), all of which we'll be paying for, but it will be better than getting a digger in at other time.
The only problem is that to get rid of the soil (we have terrible access to get the soil away) he said the best bet is to dig up my veg beds and they can level the garden up and lose the soil that way. It means my greenhouse will have to come down and all the beds will be removed. I've agreed on the condition James puts in a concrete pad and rebuilds the greenhouse and beds in time for next Spring. It's just another job to add to the ever increasing list, quite where we'll find the time I have no idea.
Today I dug up some of my bags of spuds as we were running low, they're not bad, but not as big as I'd like. At least this year as they were bagged they weren't all eaten through.
We're no further forward on a decision on the bathroom/ensuite debate. I've always had in mind that I'd like to foster one day and to do that I would need a fourth bedroom. In order to do that I would need to lose our en-suite and have it as a family bathroom. Fostering is not something that I want to do right away but I also don't want to make it so that it can never happen and I don't plan on moving again until I am very old and even then I'll probably stay stubbornly at home. So the debate goes on.
I have bought the door handle and locks for my back door, I can't wait to see it fitted, the door is beautiful and I love the escutcheons we've chosen. Once the door is fitted and the windows in then it'll be water tight. That was the aim for this year so we're well on our way.
Just a few pictures of the kids looking cute.
When Lester and me have had 'heavy debates' about what to do next with the house renovation or the smallholding, I have found that talking it through does help for a while but then the subject in question reaches a stuck point. It is then I push the problem upstairs to the Universe, and stop thinking about it. In a few days a solution will suddenly appear in my mind, and it is always the right one even if I argue with it at first, because the solution is often different to the one I was expecting!
ReplyDeleteYour house is looking good. You must be feeling very blessed that you have reached this far along the renovation.
Have you ever seen that old Carlton Heston / Rex Harrison movie about Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel?
ReplyDeleteMichelangelo is painting the chapel, and it takes forever. The Pope keeps coming in and asking "When will you make an end!" and Michelangelo always says "when I'm finished!"
You're going to have one heck of a place when you get finished. Of course, you and your husband will be so old the kids will put you in a nursing home, but they will get to enjoy it! ;-)