The deadline.........

Yep, well, Sarah would be castigating (??) us by now, as we are about to over-run on our 12 week turn around.

But on the positive side, the end is not too far off (2-3wks??!). The kitchen is almost there (waste pipe for sink needs fitting, the skirts and under stairs cupboard door needs painting, the electrical units need switching to chrome, and some wall paint needs touching up here and there).

Craig is in a dilemma whether to fit the bathroom next or do the decking...think he's worried about someone nicking his decking from the back garden before we've had chance to nail it down, but equally, we want to finish the inside before the gardens.

So, how do you like the Front door? We have a public vote you can participate in. Do you think the doorstep should:

• a) be cleaned and left (it will look OK when not dirty and dusty)
• b) Be painted it's original red colour
• c) Be painted black to match door and bricks below damp course outside

Need to think about the fact that the stone door step goes under the door and is visible in the hallway inside when the door is shut. The hallway is cream with white woodwork and the door is black (inside & out). Thoughts??

Ikea King!

We had a lovely Easter weekend at the house. It started by grouting the kitchen floor, and then getting on with other stuff while we tried not to walk on it!

For me that meant more glossing, for Craig it was fitting the reclaimed door which even with fitting a new lock etc looks so much better than the old one...although exactly the same style, so most people won't even notice!!

Only had a couple of hours on Saturday so we began the kitchen units. This was quite easy when we got into it, and we were knocking them together in about 15 mins each. Sunday we really got stuck in and began attaching them to the walls....then ran out of raw plugs.....no DIY shops open, so continued with some of the smaller niggly jobs again, glossing etc.

Monday.....we had a day off!!! This did mean a small trip to B&Q to get more raw plugs so Craig could continue first thing on Tuesday morning though!

Since then, he's been getting on OK, although we've had a to do a slight re-design again! Can't believe it after all the time we spent! Anyway, decided to buy another wall corner unit to match the other side, but it will mean the door won't completely open, as the cooker hood will stop it, but should mean the cupboard is accessible enough.

Starting to really take shape. I've been round again tonight and done some filling in the new door, and sanding it down ready for painting, and sanded some other woodwork ready for more glossing!

Craig is very proud of his new number too.....some little chrome digits.......i didn't put them on straight, but luckily, Craig spotted this and was able to save the day.....God forbid the slightly squiffy numbers may have put off potential buyers!! Sometimes, I just don't think I take development seriously enough :-)

Few days on the tiles!

Even with a super duper tile cutter, and a super duper husband, the floor in the kitchen has take a while to lay, and we're nervous to rush it, so we'll probably leave grouting till Friday. This is frustrating, because we both really want to get on and fit the kitchen units, but if we want the place to look good, it takes time!

I did manage to crack on with the glossing upstairs, which also seems to have taken forever, but with each door side taking 30 mins, and it needing 4 coats (primer, undercoat and by looking at one side after just one coat of gloss, it will need 2....why do they call it 'Solo'????), that is 16 hours of work just painting the doors, without the skirting and window sills!

Craig has started doing the niceties of fitting the chrome electrical fittings (light switches and sockets) today, as some of them might need filling round and painting. We didn't want to keep the white plastic ones, we think the chrome ones look more stylish, and bought on-line, not too expensive either. I'll take some pics at the weekend and you can judge for yourself.

Craig had another call from an interested party yesterday, so we're hopeful that as soon as it is ready, someone will want it!!

The house is finished and sold in an hour.

Did you really believe me???

But we are getting on well. This week Craig has worked really hard getting the floorboards sorted and fitted properly throughout, and has completed all the painting in the kitchen. Last weekend he had a bit of a game fitting the additional joist under the kitchen floor, but managed it in the end, and got the bards back down in there. This meant he was able to fit the large hardboard panels to the floor, and has begun laying the ceramic tiles on the floor now, which look really good.

The glossing upstairs is coming on, but there is so much!! Most is primed and undercoated now, but the final gloss coat is yet to be done. I'll get there eventually!!

We've had Allied round to measure for the carpets, but they won't be fitted until absolutely everything else is finished, so in about 3 weeks hopefully. We spent 4 hours in Ikea on Friday sorting the kitchen units. We'd played around on their computerised design planner at home, but we wanted to look at the units in real life again and build the little block model to give us an idea if it would look OK (see the Flicker album for our masterpiece!!). amazingly, we ordered at about 3.30 on Friday and the kitchen (all 65 separate items!!) arrived at 5.30 Saturday....amazing! Hopefully its all there, although they did tell us at the time that some items were on order, so Craig will have to go back this week sometime when they come in. I guess we'll be fitting the kitchen next weekend, once Craig has finished the floor and it's had time to harden off.

I decided that with the nice weather, I'd take a break from glossing and see if I could improve the look of the garden. have managed to tidy it quite well, but we're not sure how we will progress and how much to do to it really. The grass is quite lumpy, and there are no defined borders at present, but I'm sure we can do a good job. Unbelievably, at the end of the garden was a compost heap (well that was probably it's original use!), with a carpet it in, lots of bits of wood, and I've yet to extract the old vacuum cleaner I can see poking out!! Our skip is just about bursting, so we'll have to let it go soon, but looking at the rubbish at the end of the garden, we'll need another!!

Looking forward to the long weekend at Easter to get the kitchen in and probably more glossing done!!

8 weeks gone!

Craig confidently put a sign up outside this week.....House for Sale in 4 Weeks, added his mobile number, and we've already had a call from an interested party! Craig had begun stripping the front garden of rose bushes and awful grass (if it could have been called that!), and he's had a couple of people asking questions, and one person who was interested enough to have a guided tour, so we're hopeful there is interest!

The central heating is now complete and working beautifully. We've only had it on very low, so the whole place doesn't get too much of a shock...some plaster is probably still drying too, so it's gently as she goes!

The heating has brought a few other jobs to light. One of the beams under the kitchen floor broke under Steve the gas man, so needs replacing. Obviously this needs doing before the flooring can be sorted, so the large hardboard sheets waiting to go on the floor are still taking up space in the lounge. The gas fire couldn't be fitted because there needs to be a concrete base for it to sit on, so that is the next job. Then Steve can come back, fit the fire, and also fit the plumbing for the bathroom. We also need to sort the floor boards upstairs because they've all been distrurbed from the electrics and pipework, and some will need replacing completely.

Craig started on the garden, cause with Steve and his son working in the house with floorboards up everywhere, he couldn't really get on in there, and the weather has been quite dry. He's done well getting the most offending items out! The neighbour had a rotivator that he's going to let us use to flatten the lawn area before turfing part and pebbling part. Still no news on the dropped kerb, because the tree at the front has to be assessed. Could take weeks!

Meanwhile the painting continues, and I've managed to do a couple of hours this week to undercoat the lounge and kitchen doors, no mean feat as they are the type with lots of little glass panes that take ages to go round!

Plan this weekend is to get the bedrooms finished, ie last coat of colour on walls and gloss work done. We'll see!

Warmer conditions on the way!

I know the forecast is for the cold weather to return next week, but we'll be OK....the central heating man is there today fitting boiler and downstairs radiators, and will return on Monday to do upstairs! We mustn't get carried away with the warmth, after all, we don't want any plaster cracking, but it has got to help to make the place feel more homely!

Kev, you'll be pleased we reconsidered the positioning of the rad in the lounge, and it will now be on the back wall, not in the bay!

Craig has been lonely this week, been there on his own except Tuesday evening, when I continued priming the woodwork......takes about half an hour to do each side of a door!!

The kitchen is looking slick now, all white, and will just need a final coat. All the rooms now just need one more coat of colour once the heating is in to finish them. The hallway is having it's first coat of cream today (Yum!! :-) ), so it is coming on!

Half way!

We're 6 weeks into a 12 week (max) project, and we now feel like we're making progress.

With some brilliant help from Craig's brother and his wife, and myself having some time off this week, we've really moved on with the painting. Most of the upstairs is done bar the final coat (which we'll do after the central heating has been fitted). The small front bedroom and the back bedroom are buttermilk and the master bedroom is soft cream (B&Q paint!). The cream is continued in the hall, stairs and landing.

Downstairs, the kitchen and lounge have been white washed, and hopefully by the end of today we'll have the first colour coat on the lounge (nearly lichen). The kitchen is going to be plain white. Not sure on the bathroom colour yet. Most of the woodwork upstairs has had primer and undercoat, but downstairs hasn't really been touched yet, so plenty still to do (we'll be back round there in a bit!)

Starting to think about outside. off road parking would certainly help to sell the property as it is quite a busy road, and most of the neighbours have driveways. We've paid our £35 to Birmingham City Council for a kerb drop quote, so we'll see how extortionate they are! Think we'll have to plan the front garden as though it were going to be used for parking even if we can't get the kerb drop done in enough time. We'll have to see. Money is also tight, so need to make savings where we can!

Took a trip to Allied yesterday, and Craig was surprised how reasonable they were. Can have all 3 bedrooms and the stairs and landing done for around £650 (including underlay, grippers and fitting. Couldn't believe the quote of £100 just for gripper rods and door bars!!). Going to have wood/laminate flooring in the lounge and hallway, and Allied had some for about £7.99 m2. Craig had already bought the floor tiles for the kitchen and bathroom, and they came in under budget, and every time we can do that now, it goes towards that drop kerb!!

I'll upload some pictures later!