You'll always find me in the kitchen at parties

The kitchen is done.  Yes, that's right, done.  The units were installed a couple of weeks ago, the work tops and other finishes have now been done.  There has also been some good progress on the tiling and other bits and pieces, but that's for another blog.

Above the second phase of the kitchen can be seen.  This resulted in worktop, glass splash back, hob, downdraft extractor, ambient lighting and pop up power supply.

We love it.  More gratuitous kitchen photos below....

We (well Rhian mainly) agonised over the materials and the colours for the kitchen.  As the rest of the room is fairly neutral, any colours that we would use to shape other things we wanted to do would come from the kitchen.  So, no pressure.

Caitlin and myself went the extra yard this week to bring the house to life.  Below is a video of the cooker hood.  It was filmed on my phone with Caitlins phone providing suitable music...enjoy...

Finally, one to show off the lights....

In addition to the kitchen, we have been able to take a different view of the outside as the workmans cabin has be removed.  Now, the view from the front living room looks like this...

Where the cabin was we can now stand and view the house.  Being able to stand back and view the cantilever room with the rest of the house felt like progress in itself.  Below, is the view back out fo the front room to where the cabin was.

20 sleeps to go.

Tragedy

At last, we have some steps!

Not inside, but outside.  From the deck to the garden, no longer do we need to circumnavigate the house.  This will make things a bit easier while we finish off the house and until the stairs inside the house are fitted.

The steps are in hardwood and feel really solid to walk on.  It has been brilliant to be able to use the stairs this week, it felt like a big step forward.  Clearly much to do on the deck, balcony, bannister, lights and so on.....but this is a good start.

We do need to work out how the birds manage to find the bottom 3 steps....

White lines

This post may well take over as the one that has my favourite photos.  A week of relentless activity by painters, tilers and electricians.  Plus a bit of fine tuning on the doors so they function correctly.  We go up most nights, but the best photos come in the daylight the weekends provide.

Aside from all the great work that is ongoing, the scaffold was taken away which means the front of the house looks a whole lot better.

Anyway, tiling first.  The bathrooms were tiled the previous week, so it is now about the rest of the house which are having the same tile.  Here are some photos of the tile starting to appear around the rest of the house, firstly the back room, by day and night....

The photo above also demonstrates the fact the lights are being fitted.

The next photo, looking back at the kitchen shows off the tiles better:

The master bedroom has also had much of its tiling done, see below for the tiling through into the dressing room, you can just about make out the room has been painted as well:

The master en-suite has come on a treat, seeing the tiles, the painting and units/mirrors all finished provided a highlight this week.

There was a bit of snow and ice on the ground on Saturday morning, it showed the house in a different light, it showed how pretty the outlook will be, even in coldest winter.  Here are some gratuitous snow shots:

If you look closely you will see other aspects being completed, outside lights and power points.

And finally, my 2 favourite photos of the whole build so far.  The first one shows off some of the different finishes and the craftsmanship that has gone into the build.  Also, now the scaffolding has gone it is the first time we have been able to admire the stone corner:

The second one is more abstract and probably captures the essence of everything the architect was trying to achieve.  Clean lines, contemporary feel, a mix of materials and best use of awkward land.  This was taken tonight, dark outside and lights on.  What you cannot see is the all the rubbish  and tools lying around as the room has not been completely painted.  But this is a glimpse of what the house will look and feel like....

This photo runs them both close to be fair...

Get well soon Brian...

8 days a week

There are all sorts of things going on at the moment, so rather than a single theme, here is what has been happening....

Outside the stonework has been completed, and is outstanding.

Above is the side of the front room looking down the house to the cantilever room.

Above the detailing around the bottom of the front window can be seen.

Above, the front corner of the house.  These views will be even better this week when the scaffolding is taken down.  That will be the first time we have seen the complete wall as it should be.

Work on the kitchen and utility room started this week, the first photo shows the state of it today, you will note we had the internet working in the kitchen at this point and the football was streaming to the computer.

I really like the photo below, it shows the whole room and was only possible as there was a step ladder handy.  Definitely work in progress....

We also have a shiny utility room!

The bathrooms have come on in leaps and bounds, here is the latest after the plumbers put a shift in on Saturday afternoon after the tilers nailed it in the week.

Caitlin's:

Ellie's:

Rhian's (and mine):

You'll notice from the photo above the painting has started.

Over the next week we may have ceiling lights upstairs, painted walls, plumbed in bathrooms, a deck with a working stairs, a driveway in the making and who knows what else!

Hanging on the telephone

Well done BT, we got there in the end.  We have a telephone line, we actually have our own pole outside the house!  The telephone line was the cue for Liam and myself to wire/patch in the network, which is what we did this weekend.  Most of the house now has a working ethernet network.  Upstairs also has the default BT wireless network.

The BT router is plugged into the wall socket as normal and then connected to a switch.  The cabling from each room terminates at the switch, this shares the internet connection through the house.

All of the gubbins is then captured in a data cabinet, which will look better when the glass door is on and the floor is tiled.

In a room it looks like this

So, hanging a smart tv on the wall will hide this but mean the tv can be cabled without any of the wires being visible and doesn't need a wireless internet signal for online content.

Gangnam tile

It's all about the tiles today.  As previously posted we ordered tiles for the whole house, the order amounted to about 5 tonnes in weight.

Over the last couple of days work has started on laying the tiles,

These are the tiles in the master en-suite

Below are the tiles for both Caitlin's and Ellie's bathroom, in that order

Finally, upstairs the main living space has been partly tiled so the kitchen can be fitted.