This is what Ian has been saying for a few weeks, but to be honest, I think it has. I think we are there. Not finished, and not moved in, but as ready as we can be for all our things to arrive, and it feels good. I think we are possibly too exhausted to fully feel it, but now, we spend evenings in the house, just looking, admiring, and smiling! We have nowhere to sit and it usually takes 2 hours of sorting and clearing out to get a space to sit as the boxes kept coming and the holes kept needing to be created in walls, but today, I think we can say we are ready.
The final kitchen cupboards are now in situ , Ian noticed my arms aren’t long enough to get to the back of the cupboards, so ordered these fantastic pull out baskets,
the oven has had it’s first bake (the best jacket potatoes I’ve had, possibly because we haven’t had them in a very long time!) and the microwave has warmed it’s first baked beans. The dishwasher has saved me from washing up and the freezer is full.
Ian has also re plastered and tidied up the kitchen wall where it will show at the end of the cupboards.
The carpet is down in the living room and Ian has fitted the kitchen flooring. The washing machine won’t be with us for a few days, but everything else is here now.
To get to this point took another loft trip of discovery. We found a TV cable in the loft, one in the wall, a satellite dish and a TV ariel outside, but none appeared to be connected to anything. As you know Ian isn’t a fan of the loft, and I really don’t mind, so up I went. We had another, “can you see me wiggling this wire?” moment with the cable, unfortunately I could, way over in the hard to reach bit at the edge of the roof (the size of my hips and the gap between the webs/struts holding the rafters up is not to be mentioned in this blog!). I did however get through the gap and full stretch on my tummy, arms out, found the wire. A tiny, teeny little length, just hiding behind the flue from the boiler. This tiny hard to reach cable apparently needed cutting even further as it was raggedy ended, and a new connection added so it could be linked to the rest of the cable. After a quick lesson what was required and some specialist tools instruction I was sent to the loft.
Most nurses and doctors will know the ‘see one, do one, teach one’ method (if you have ever had a complex procedure in hospital you may not want to have heard this, but sorry, it’s out there now!). I skipped the see one and went straight to do one, and am ready to teach one. Somehow it worked out OK, I was warned if I didn’t do this correctly, and with precision and attention to detail, (attributes I am NOT known to possess) we will forever have a terrible TV signal! No pressure then. There are no photos of this complex operation. I am not a miracle worker and the resident photographer was busy….
Next we had a poke it down, pull it up moment, with Ian outside in the rain, me in the same corner as the newly connected cable and a long bit of cable that I did manage to snap a picture of as proof of my ability to successfully cable our audio visual masterpiece. Next, all of this needed to reach the hole in the living room wall, as we have no intention of positioning the TV in the loft, although at one point it did cross my mind!
Our straw walls have channels in them that have been there since it was constructed. Fortunately there was one where we needed the cable to go and a bit of cable that was old and needed replacing threaded through it from the living room to the loft. Having lifted several boards and loads of old itchy scratchy insulation I found the cable and associated hole loft side. All we have to do is thread the new cable up the side of the old one it’s a big channel, it should go….. we pushed from the bottom, pushed from the top, said a few expletives, made the hole bigger, and swore again. And then ta da! It’s like threading elastic! If you have a bit already there, attach your new bit to it and pull…… Why, oh why did I not think of that earlier? Before we knew it, our cabling is complete. When the TV arrives we can connect it up and we will be functioning in style, following the installation of a new TV ariel which Ian promptly did.
Our final piece of furniture that needed constructing is the one that will house all the TV boxes of kit, satellite box, speakers etc. Ian had another genius idea to try and keep our clean lines theme so we have been breaking glass. We really want everything hidden away and by replacing the glass in the doors with speaker fabric, the remote should work, but look great. We have yet to discover if it will work, but the look is good. Breaking the glass, not so easy. I can tell you, no accidental breakage could occur with IKEA glass doors. A full force whack with a heavy hammer just about cracked it.. on the 3rd attempt by Ian. My job was then to get all the little bits, right in the gap where it is glued in, out.. not the easiest job, but essential.
The final job was to try and find a way for some privacy until the blinds arrive, so this is a start.
The neighbour has saved us his newspapers so we can put that up in the bedroom. I’m slightly anxious as it turns out to be The Sun, but we are just going to have to plaster it on the window for a few weeks and hope Agy works as camouflage.
There’s lots more to do, and it turns out that old wall that will have the patio doors eventually did get noticed by Ian so he painted for while we live with it , we will work on the conservatory, breeze-way, and a few other bits once we are in, but there we have it.
It has come together and we have a few days before our house becomes our home. We can’t wait!
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