Windows! Finally

I am not going to go overboard with photos this week.  Just a few to illustrate the process from gib (plasterboard) through to plastering which is basically what happened this week.


Here is one of my absolute favourite features of the flat, alcoves which I asked the builders to make by recessing into the conveniently double thickness external wall (there is a good reason for the double thickness but I can't remember what it is now!) Anyway, we took advantage of it.


We finally got our two renovated sash windows put in, complete with double glazing, and they look amazing.




Alcoves gibbed out, but no window



The window! (and my funky reflective jacket!)



Current state of play of alcoves and window, looking good in the natural light.

The other sash window.  We're pleasantly surprised at how bright the bedroom is, with a garden view

I remembered just as I was heading off to work on Thursday that there was a tidy up job needed in the upstairs bathroom, and that it would be sensible to get the plasterer onto it while he was here.  So the builders quickly gibbed up the corner and that's now well on the way to being tidied up.

Steve made friends with the builders on Friday by bringing them cups of coffee.  I've been buying them crunchies for weeks and they already like him better than me!




The current state of the back of the house.

 Notice the strip of metal running across the back of the house.  That's a correcting piece.  The weatherboards have obviously shifted over the course of the past 100 years and when the builders rebuilt the house from the bottom up they found that they couldn't line up the new weatherboards with the old ones at the top of the house, so they have put in a piece of metal to fill the gap.  The alternative, according to them was take off and replace 10 weatherboards.  I think we can live with this, when it's been repainted....


On Saturday we wanted to paint the outside of the house, but a Wellington southerly was blowing and the temperature was about 9 degrees.  As any painter knows, you can't paint below 10 degrees, or in direct sunlight, or in the rain.  So I did some filling and sanding while Steve started to rebuild the path which had been partially dismantled during the process of rebuilding the side wall of the house.  It's a slow process which is better suited to Steve than me as he spends time getting it right.


"Never thought I'd be doing this again"...

We also went shopping on Saturday and bought the following:
- Tiles for kitchen and bathroom
- plug in panel heater for bedroom
- Door handles
- window hardware
- Undercoat
- Topcoat for living area
- very exciting feature colour for fireplace (watch this space)
- some reclaimed timber for shelving
- etch primer for that strip of metal
- caulk
- paintbrush
- spotlight for feature fireplace
- and we also talked carpets with an installer.


The only major purchases we have left are: benchtop, oven, hob (we've picked these out), washing machine, curtains.  So not too much shopping to go.


Next week we are organising a painting party (inside the flat, so it will go ahead no matter the weather).  If you're in town and fancy helping, please get in touch! We will supply lunch...