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The home beautiful
Jun. 5th, 2016 09:00 pmI hoped that we would return from London to discover that the builders and decorators had profited from our absence to make great progress; I feared that we would return from London to discover that the builders and decorators had profited from our absence to make a terrible mess. Oddly enough, neither of these things happened.
It turns out that they hadn't been able to move on to tiling the kitchen, as the tiles had not arrived (they turned up on Friday); and they hadn't been able to wallpaper the spare bedroom as the wallpaper had not arrived (due tomorrow). I believe the builder when he tells me that the tiles should have arrived earlier (he hasn't said anything about the wallpaper) and if I suspect that he was caught out by a bit of just-in-time ordering, well, that could have happened to any of us. I am profoundly grateful that I put my foot down and said that work was not to start in our bedroom until the two rooms already in progress were complete, and I am very inclined to ask the builders to take a break while we are in Scotland later this month. After all, if by then they have finished the kitchen and spare bedroom, it will make a natural break - and if they haven't, something will have to be done about it!
On the plus side, those walls of the spare bedroom which are to be painted have been painted, and I am very pleased with how the colour looks; and the tiler arrived early yesterday, and has used intelligence a good sense of balance in combining plain and patterned tiles. I have no confidence in my visual sense, and am relieved to discover that I'm still happy with the choices I made. The mixer tap which supplies the kitchen sink has been replaced, and no longer drips, which is good - and though I'm still inclined to turn the cold tap the wrong way, surely it won't take me long to get used to doing it right (the old tap functioned correctly for very much longer than we had the bodge which caused it to turn backwards). The tap itself is an extraordinary steampunk design, and I can't imagine where they found it, but it makes me laugh, so that's fine.
The only real down side is the fan which we were advised to fit in the kitchen, to reduce humidity. However good an idea this is, if I had known that it would run audibly all the time, and that when it goes into full action it is so loud that I don't hear the doorbell - I would surely have said no. There is what appears to be an off switch up near the ceiling, and I shall look into making that accessible...
I wonder what tomorrow will bring? Wallpaper, I hope, but what else?
It turns out that they hadn't been able to move on to tiling the kitchen, as the tiles had not arrived (they turned up on Friday); and they hadn't been able to wallpaper the spare bedroom as the wallpaper had not arrived (due tomorrow). I believe the builder when he tells me that the tiles should have arrived earlier (he hasn't said anything about the wallpaper) and if I suspect that he was caught out by a bit of just-in-time ordering, well, that could have happened to any of us. I am profoundly grateful that I put my foot down and said that work was not to start in our bedroom until the two rooms already in progress were complete, and I am very inclined to ask the builders to take a break while we are in Scotland later this month. After all, if by then they have finished the kitchen and spare bedroom, it will make a natural break - and if they haven't, something will have to be done about it!
On the plus side, those walls of the spare bedroom which are to be painted have been painted, and I am very pleased with how the colour looks; and the tiler arrived early yesterday, and has used intelligence a good sense of balance in combining plain and patterned tiles. I have no confidence in my visual sense, and am relieved to discover that I'm still happy with the choices I made. The mixer tap which supplies the kitchen sink has been replaced, and no longer drips, which is good - and though I'm still inclined to turn the cold tap the wrong way, surely it won't take me long to get used to doing it right (the old tap functioned correctly for very much longer than we had the bodge which caused it to turn backwards). The tap itself is an extraordinary steampunk design, and I can't imagine where they found it, but it makes me laugh, so that's fine.
The only real down side is the fan which we were advised to fit in the kitchen, to reduce humidity. However good an idea this is, if I had known that it would run audibly all the time, and that when it goes into full action it is so loud that I don't hear the doorbell - I would surely have said no. There is what appears to be an off switch up near the ceiling, and I shall look into making that accessible...
I wonder what tomorrow will bring? Wallpaper, I hope, but what else?
