Saturday 26 June 2010

The Backyard Calleth

Well after long last not only has summer arrived, but the backyard has been cleaned out as well. Mostly done because of a heated BBQ celebration to commemorate the USA v. England World Cup match it is much appreciated much the less. Here's how it is looking!

Oh and we have put some shelves up in the kitchen that are now roughly 99% done. Here's are a few in process pictures. Despite all my doubts about them crowding the kitchen we've had rave reviews and I can't wait to fill them with all of our books!



Sunday 6 June 2010

The Kitchen Shelves

I forgot to take some partially done pictures of the new shelves we're putting up in the kitchen, but here are some shots of them 85% done. We've got adjustable bookcase strips for part of it so we can move the shelves around to accommodate our rapidly growing book collection. The only part we need to put on are the architrave that will go on the vertical and horizontal edge to add a decorative touch and hide all the structural work. Can't believe this only took two weeks!

Tuesday 1 June 2010

The Great Builder Dilemma

Well despite our best attempts to get this sorted out for weeks hubby and I have been subject to "The Great Builder Dilemma". We were originally planning on using the same builder who did all of the earlier work on the house (kitchen and bathroom), but with the bathroom having major problems due to not being completed correctly we have been on a quest to find a new one.

I can honestly say that there is nothing more annoying and time consuming than finding a builder. Not only do you have to find one that you are comfortable with, but you have to go over what you want done with each prospective and then wait an age for them to come back with a quote. Afterall this is someone you have to leave alone in your house with tools capable of mass destruction and all your worldly goods. Findig a builder is like using a dating service to find someone you want to marry without dating. Talk about stressful.

Luckily, we only had three options and one of them was out of the running right away for treating me like a small minded woman who doesn't know a RSJ from a flitch. I've steamed off wallpaper that was more engaging than him. Anyways we are now down to two options and they are:
Colin - English guy running a one man band who has been used before by our next door neighbors
Jack - Polish guy with a large company able to supply a whole crew to do the work. Brought loads of references with him and is going to arrange for us to see one of his current sites.

We're leaning towards Colin because our friends have been really happy with him, but that all depends on price. Even though we haven't picked our builder one thing is certain it's going to be a while until we knock down the first wall.