The last big job in the living room

There are many things in life that seem to end up on the "man wish list". Things like a really cool beer fridge and a proper man shed with shelves to put all the man toys. In this case it was a place to properly hold all his DVDs and the tv to allow for maximum enjoyment of the time between jobs on the house. Here is the job now from start to finish...apologies for any repetition of pictures.

The initial frame goes in

 Now we have a top half

 Some nice trim and a start on the paint job

 All nicely painted just waiting on the shelves

 Finished a ready for a Lord of the Rings marathon

Storage begins to appear

So now that most of the big stuff is done we're starting to work on putting together all of our storage. Believe me it's needed!! Only problem is with a house as old as ours you have to build everything bespoke (think no square corners) and it takes twice as long. Here are some photos of the shelving going into the living room. Can't wait till they are finished!!!

Stage 1

 Stage 2

Almost finished!! Now for some shelves

The first big purchase

When we decided to do this last stage of work on the house we decided that it wasn't just the house that needed to go through the "out with the old in with the new" process. We also managed to sell our sofa, large armchair and footstool as well as redistribute lots of our other pieces among family. In fact the only pieces we kept for the front two rooms was the dining table and chairs, corner crystal cabinet and fire screen.

So it's no surprise that sofa shopping was very high on the list. What will also not come as a surprise to anyone who has been through this without using up one of your three wishes from the genie is that the process is the most frustrating process you can ever go through. Not only do you have to find a style you like, but you have to find a fabric and leg design you like. You also have to bring in the comfy factor and finally decide in a setting that in no way whatsoever resembles you house decide if it will even fit/work in the space. So there we found ourselves wandering around the sofa showroom bleary eyed and sweaty palmed clutching fabric samples and throw pillows.   Yeah it was a long day despite the free sparkling water and cappuccinos...come to think of it the caffeine probably didn't help.  

Today saw the result of that long day with the delivery of our lovely new sofa that feels like the perfect purchase but also helps show how much else we need to get for the front room! So be prepared for must more posts to come. Here's the sofa (including the lovely green striped cushions that help continue the green theme)!!

Ps. Just a complete non-house picture of the most ambitious dessert plate I've ever made (with some help): Sticky Chocolate Pecan Pie, 12 Layer Mocha Cake and Which Chocolate Tiramisu. YUM YUM!

Day 4: Joists up..Spiders Invade

Ok I'm not really one to run away from bugs and creepy things, but there are several things that I am not having anything to do with. The first is mice (we've already gotten rid of two nicknamed Frank and Bryan) and massive spiders. Last night hubby heard a "plop" and looked at the mantle place to see the biggest spider we have ever seen. Matters were not helped when it disappeared before we could find out biggest and heaviest book to drop on it. So while I was having Arachnophobia flashbacks hubby was busy searching. We were just about to give up when another "plop" was heard and it had dropped from the ceiling onto the floor. Hubby responded with a stick shoe squash and all was right in the world. Now that it was dead I was quite interested in looking at in, but decided to wait till day time. The spider has since disappeared...Arachnophobia flashbacks continue

Aside from that the builders have started putting in the joists and are making decent progress. The electrician starts to rewire the house tomorrow so more fun is coming! Let's just hope it doesn't involve more spiders....

Ps. Oh yes and with still no hot water I'm not looking forward to the cold wash I'm going to have to do tonight.

Fall in with a roar

It is only November 3rd and the weather has taken a surprisingly chilly turn. Now this may seem like a perfectly good time for it to turn autumnal for most of you, but considering I'm still waiting on Summer to show up... This is not to say that I don't enjoy the fall weather. In fact, I really like it and find the changing scenery quite pretty. I'll try to put up some pictures of our local park in all it's pre-winter glory soon.

The cooler weather did see us turn on our lovely gas fire place (see post inspired by a fireplace for pictures) and cuddle up under a blanket on the sofa. Since our blanket is a free fleece one from PayPal I decided to see if I could find something nicer. Here are a few options I came up with.
£59 at John Lewis£90 (on sale) Fabiia
These three images are from what is fast becoming my new "crush" site. It is the Designers Guild and while they can be a quite pricey and I doubt I would be allowed to have these in the living room because of being quite girly I think they are simply stunning.
£250
£90
£90
If you want to check them out yourself you can find them on: http://www.designersguild.com/