Kitchen down (done!)...ensuite to go

Well, here they are. Without grout of course.

Yes dad, another pat on the back - kitchen tiles complete!

It's hard to get an idea of the colour of the tiles from these pictures. They look grey, however they have a slight purple tone to them. They're really nice, pretty much the colour of the bar wall.

There was some discussion over whether to stack them or stretcher bond as you'd tend to do with a subway tile. Steve was right though..they look better stacked! What do you think?

While the dogs waited patiently outside....

Bonnie

...and Larry

...we all had a parquet party!

...well, of sorts. A couple of glasses of wine anyway!

You see. Eight months down the line...

...the Hunter's finally have a floor! 

And a lovely one at that! Big cheers all round!

I'm sure mum and dad would agree the hours and hours spent cleaning blocks were worth it!

A few cheeky bits of rogue timber have revealed themselves...

but it all adds to the character I think!

It's amazing to see all the different shades to the timber.

Just one more fine sanding...

...and a final protective layer and it'll be job done. Here's to another hundred years parquet!

Today people...

This is what you'd be seeing if you were here at Briardene (well not this exact image seeing as it was taken a week ago) but yes, Mr Hunter has a smile on his face! Why? Because the parquet has finally been sanded!!! 

Forget what I said yesterday, dad got his thinking cap on in the afternoon and managed to get another bloke to come out and do the job today, and pronto he did!!! 

I'm not at Briardene myself, so I haven't actually seen dad's smiley face but I can tell it's smiley from talking to him over the phone. Yes, it's been a long time coming! The flooring that is, not dad's smile!

I'll get some pictures on here tomorrow night for you after its final sanding. You won't sleep tonight will you?! x

Remember this?

Think it's having serious repercussions!!

The latest - Sanding of the parquet has ground to an almighty halt (after 4 sq yards) as we are told the sanding pads are not abrasive enough for the job and are being worn down at a silly rate! So.....

The solution - More abrasive pads are being ordered but will take up to a week and then they can't come back to finish the job till nearer the end of the month!! At this present time,

Parquet + White Paint + Ian Hunter = Generally not a happy chappy. Oh dear!

He did break the miror though!

Decision made

Farrow and Ball's Charleston Gray

No.243

The bar wall will be painted in this colour. When we say 'bar' wall...we mean the wall next to the hob which dad will prop up, beer in hand whilst mum cooks no doubt!!!!

The whitewash begins...

As you can probably tell from dad's face!!!

Laz. And white paint, obviously!

Spot the Mediterranea wallpaper in the study. Come to think of it, I don't think I ever posted a picture once dad had put it up...sorry! May as well leave that one for the completed house album. Oooh.

It's all coming together.

Today at Briardene...

Hello. I'm back, and guess what's happening!!!

Eeek!

Did you ever think you'd see this?!

Yes. The blocks are finally going down.

Two more days...

...and it will all look like this! 

Then, out can come the industrial sander and dad can finish painting once and for all.

Very exciting!

Today is Victor day!!!

...because this is how we're feeling!

Yes, we're G.R.U.M.P.Y with a huge big capital G!!! 

To add to the list of 'things carried out by other people which have gone wrong,' the bedroom shutters now don't fit! Yes, you were meant to be looking at a lovely picture of the master bedroom in all it's new shutters glory and now I'm afraid all you get is a picture of Victor Meldrew - sorry! 

Harumpffff!

Yep, he was definitely a policeman!

'Dad puts his experience of traffic control into practice!'

Wideopen...errr sorry mum...I mean Naaawth Gosfaaawth (said in a posh accent) came to a standstill whilst the plywood was delivered to Briardene. That's been dad's job for the last few days, laying it on the ground floor in preparation for the parquet blocks going down. Who'd  have thought I'd be saying that eh?!!!! 

A momentous occasion!

Yes...THIS happened 10 days ago! Woo-hoo!

Dad finally placed the last parquet block on the pile after hours and hours and hours of cleaning! 

HUGE round of applause!!!

This momentous occasion was slightly overshadowed by Larry however (surprise, surprise), who decided to eat over 200g raisins earlier on in the day and then spent the next 72 hours on a drip! Yes, raisins are toxic to dogs!!!

Let's just say the fizz which was chilling quite nicely wasn't exactly flowing! 

This is what he was meant to look like...not nursing his poorly tummy in the vet hospital!

Mum had kindly provided him with an England collar and sweatband in preparation for the England v Algeria match (which we were meant to be watching with fizz in hand!!!)

This was actually Larry yesterday after their shocking defeat against Germany. He gave me a look which I read as, "Please remove these offending items pretty damn quick!"

32 Years!!!

Can I just say, before it turns Friday (we've been at Nanna's) a very Happy Anniversary to my lovely mum and dad.

I think you're pretty damn special!

To have put up with living apart for at least a year, then living together in a teeny weeny mews house....then scraping bitumen of soddin' parquet blocks for hours on end (without ripping each other's heads off)...I think that's pretty good going, don't you?!

I'm really really proud of you both and couldn't wish for better parents.

Love you. ya bairn. xxx

The makings of a bathroom

Give yourself a big pat on the back dad!

I think he's done a darn good job, don't you?

The next stage is to seal it which will darken the slate down, but you get the idea!

Dad looking for his screwdriver (again!!)

Oh, and the newly fitted wardrobes...how did I forget?!

I'm not usually one for fitted wardrobes as such, but with a few omissions (ie. handles!) and 

a nice choice of materials, I think these have turned out great. Well done mum!

They just tuck nicely into the corner of the room so leave plenty of space for other furniture.

Oh, and this is mum and dad's pile of timber flooring...

...actually there's more!

I'm sure there will be an entire two weeks worth of posts devoted to this parquet once we start looking to scrape, lay, sand, brush and oil the flooring...phew, I'm tired just thinking about it! 

Dad the project manager.

Lots happened today...

more plastering...

soil vent piping (!!)...

and this finally arrived...

...definitely looking lonely without it's worktop!

Dad prayed that the madness would end soon!..

and found gathering his tools quite therapeutic!

...but this had to happen really didn't it?! After all...he did break that mirror! 

Oh, not forgetting mum's 'boob' incident yesterday too! I won't subject you to the image but let's just say landing on them after falling off the top of a stepladder does not a pretty pair make!