Bathroom havoc

Oh joy... two weeks stretched ahead of us... sans bathroom. But we'd have done anything to be rid of the mould, the awful layout and the biggest bath in the smallest room!

Day one and everything (but the loo) was ripped out and a huge pile of rubble lay on the floor... eek! But I think pictures will tell this story...

Before

Our bathroom - reduced to rubble

A new layout idea...

A hose to flush the loo... we're classy we are!

New loo and a bath...

... and some tiles...

... a heater AND a shower head!

After

My beautiful taps...

... and shower

So it took a little more than two weeks... due to a self-inflicted disaster in our lounge room that needed our builders attention - but more to come on that later. But it was worth every non-flushing-loo day. I'm in love with it all... well, apart from the floor tiles which I lost out on! But eh, can't win 'em all.

Garden havoc

We have a loooong, very skinny garden... it's pretty much not been touched for... uhh... goodness knows how long! It's overgrown, full of weeds, and we've now discovered, bulbs! And the shed is wonky and full of stuff that we 'acquired' when we moved in.

So one very frosty Saturday we had some green thumbed friends volunteer to come around and help us attack the gardening (but a certain baby sister had to be bribed with the promise of Champagne and Mulled wine!). We had such an amazing day, with bubbly, beer, ale and a hot meal at the end. Everyone was champions and we got so much done before it got dark (and started to snow!). Even the puppies helped with the digging!

Unfortunately though, due to adverse weather conditions an "after" photo is going to have to be posted once the snow melts!

We can't thank our green thumbed friends enough - the garden looks really amazing now! Very excited to see what sort of bulbs come through when spring springs!

Check out the progress here...

Before... overgrown, a lot of leaves and ivy taking over!

During... a proper working bee with a bucket full of beer and bubbly (no ice required!). The puppies helped dig too!

After... all covered in snow! I promise to add a proper "after" shot later on.

Door havoc

When we called in our locksmith to change the locks on the flat, he took one look at our back door and said "This is an internal door! I could kick this down in less than five seconds".

So we promptly got it replaced!

With a very plain, unpainted, wood, block-like door.

After a little too long leaving it untreated and rained on, I finally gave it an undercoat last week. Then decided it was far too boring being white... so raced out to the hardware store and bought a half litre tin of bright red.

Here's the results.

Block-o-door

Wonder what the neighbours will think...?!

Dining room havoc

After a month in the sun, and the most hideous jetlag ever we finally snapped ourselves back into our London life... well our new London life! L, the trouper, plugged, sanded, washed and prepped the walls whilst I swanned off to the beautitian and then met my friends gorgeous new bub! 

Result... an amazing transformation from smokey, yellow-y walls to bright white gorgeousness.

Check out the results here...

Before... cigarette stained walls...

During...

After!

And again... after

Obviously we need more furniture... and to gloss the doorways... and to knock out a wall... and I'd like some new chairs... and to stain the floors... and an electrician to fix that god awful lighting situation. But that's for another day... and another blog post. Stay tuned!

Welcome to Hither Green

For those of you who haven't heard the saga... here goes.

    •    One chain free sale that took five months... yes five

    •    One house that was not vacant... i.e. the seller hadn't moved out!

    •    One broken boiler, the day we move in so no hot water, no heating... in winter

    •    One crime scene around the corner - anyone fancy coming for a visit?!

    •    One threatening bailiff letter (for the ex-tenant of course!)

    •    Two broken hoovers left behind and three lawn mowers

    •    Two lost passports

    •    Four pieces of furniture that are still MIA

    •    And twenty one (and counting) pieces of mail that haven't been re-directed!

And that's not the half of it...

So there you have it... our adventures south of the river in less than four weeks.

And that's before we start the reno's.