Hello again,
Since out trip to Australia - which by the way was fan-bloody-tastic we have been getting increasingly settled in our little London pad.
A couch has been purchased and arrived last week. It is a big grey L-shaped number which fits very well and is uber comfortable. It has been living down the end of the room under the windows but tomorrow it will move as we have a bookself arriving which will travel down the right hand wall, its big and white and we are not sure how it will fit in the space but are just keeping our fingers crossed it will.
Check out the one picture of the couch at the link "couch and snow". I will up load more house pictures soon but, as you will see, I have included picutres of when it snowed in London and my walk to work, absolutely beautiful and a huge contrast from the heat your all having back home. Hope your all well and staying away from the fires.
x Alicia
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Monday, December 08, 2008
We Are In!
Hello
Finally, after living in our flat for 3 months I have got around to taking some more pictures and uploading them for you all to see.
We are loving it here - its new and great and ours. Of course there are still a lot of little finishing touches to be done and some furnishing which still needs to be bought like sofa, bookshelf etc. but each week we find it gets a little bit more homely.
I have added the pictures to the "Flat" set. Enjoy.
Alicia
Finally, after living in our flat for 3 months I have got around to taking some more pictures and uploading them for you all to see.
We are loving it here - its new and great and ours. Of course there are still a lot of little finishing touches to be done and some furnishing which still needs to be bought like sofa, bookshelf etc. but each week we find it gets a little bit more homely.
I have added the pictures to the "Flat" set. Enjoy.
Alicia
Saturday, August 30, 2008
very near the finish line
Now the kitchen has been installed we are very near the finish line. Much to the glee of David and I the water is running, the electricity is on and there is finally only one more wall to paint with a final coat.
This last week the laminate kitchen work top arrived and was hauled up the stairs by David, Antoine and Steve (who just happened to be there at a very convenient time) no easy task as the longest piece was 3.6m long. David has neatly cut it and fit the run across the back wall down - the other sides will be fitted and the sink hole will be cut this week.
My eagerness to move driven by the frustration of living out of boxes and feeling like my life is on hold should soon end. Once we get all those frustratingly fiddly finishing touches done - we will be in... i feel it is very soon.
It has been a very long process and we have done more than we first imagined (and spent more than we first invisaged) but the flat will be amazing and I am very much looking forward to finally having some friends around for a toast. Speaking of which Caine and Erin have taken a trip to South Africa but were able to pop around for a celebratory end of Caine's work on the flat. It was great to have him work with us and in one way it is sad to say goodbye, I especially loved having a good old Aussie accent around reminding me off home, and that aside, he did a fantastic job.
I have updated the photo link "flat" with more pictures. Will update the blog again once we have moved in - yay!
This last week the laminate kitchen work top arrived and was hauled up the stairs by David, Antoine and Steve (who just happened to be there at a very convenient time) no easy task as the longest piece was 3.6m long. David has neatly cut it and fit the run across the back wall down - the other sides will be fitted and the sink hole will be cut this week.
My eagerness to move driven by the frustration of living out of boxes and feeling like my life is on hold should soon end. Once we get all those frustratingly fiddly finishing touches done - we will be in... i feel it is very soon.
It has been a very long process and we have done more than we first imagined (and spent more than we first invisaged) but the flat will be amazing and I am very much looking forward to finally having some friends around for a toast. Speaking of which Caine and Erin have taken a trip to South Africa but were able to pop around for a celebratory end of Caine's work on the flat. It was great to have him work with us and in one way it is sad to say goodbye, I especially loved having a good old Aussie accent around reminding me off home, and that aside, he did a fantastic job.
I have updated the photo link "flat" with more pictures. Will update the blog again once we have moved in - yay!
Friday, August 01, 2008
The Floor and MORE...
Since the evening of the private view alot has happened and the flat is getting closer and closer to a final moving in date.
Caine has layed the floor which just looks lovely. Gary, our tiler, has done a wonderful job with the fiddly tiles we bought - and manage to not break a single one of the cream tiles leaving us none to spare a very close call but a job well done.
Initially we planned to have a floor to ceiling length cupboard in the bathroom but once it was put in it looked very wrong so Caine fashioned it into a half height cupboard and extended the bench (beautifully crafted out of bits of the leftover floor) and it works perfectly in the space.
Caine has also built us wardrobes and a hall cupboard which should deal with our storage needs.
The architraves have been fitted, knotting solutioned, sanded, primed, poly fillered, undercoated and will shortly receive their final coat of gloss.
David and I have been painting like mad but there still seems to be acres to cover. After much stress and strain the heaters have been hung on and the boiler installed.
The kitchen units arrived on Wednesday and next week Caine and David will start to install these... with the appliances arriving on Tuesday. We had originally hoped to move in before the kitchen was installed i.e. this weekend but there are still so many little jobs to finish off, like installing the shower screen, finishing the acres of painting and having the carpets fitted - it would be more trouble than its worth trying to negotiate building the kitchen, boxes of our things and random bits of furniture while showering in a bucket... it just wouldn't be feasible.
So on the whole its getting there. And I may even go as far as to say we could move in in two weeks time (i really hope sooo). Although, as any of you who have done this kind of thing before will know - schedules get stretched, smashed and pushed back so who can say. Fingers crossed everyone.
More photos have been added to the flat link for you to keep track of the progress.
x
Caine has layed the floor which just looks lovely. Gary, our tiler, has done a wonderful job with the fiddly tiles we bought - and manage to not break a single one of the cream tiles leaving us none to spare a very close call but a job well done.
Initially we planned to have a floor to ceiling length cupboard in the bathroom but once it was put in it looked very wrong so Caine fashioned it into a half height cupboard and extended the bench (beautifully crafted out of bits of the leftover floor) and it works perfectly in the space.
Caine has also built us wardrobes and a hall cupboard which should deal with our storage needs.
The architraves have been fitted, knotting solutioned, sanded, primed, poly fillered, undercoated and will shortly receive their final coat of gloss.
David and I have been painting like mad but there still seems to be acres to cover. After much stress and strain the heaters have been hung on and the boiler installed.
The kitchen units arrived on Wednesday and next week Caine and David will start to install these... with the appliances arriving on Tuesday. We had originally hoped to move in before the kitchen was installed i.e. this weekend but there are still so many little jobs to finish off, like installing the shower screen, finishing the acres of painting and having the carpets fitted - it would be more trouble than its worth trying to negotiate building the kitchen, boxes of our things and random bits of furniture while showering in a bucket... it just wouldn't be feasible.
So on the whole its getting there. And I may even go as far as to say we could move in in two weeks time (i really hope sooo). Although, as any of you who have done this kind of thing before will know - schedules get stretched, smashed and pushed back so who can say. Fingers crossed everyone.
More photos have been added to the flat link for you to keep track of the progress.
x
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Private View
Wow it has been a long time... but finally I have a chance to sit down and fill you all in on the latest happenings at the flat.
Smack bang in the middle of the building works my friend Sara and I decided it would be a good idea to put on a Private View, to show off our recent artworks we have created. After much stress and panic we managed to get the place at least fit for the swarms of art hungry masses. Caine built me some lovely wooden structures to hang my work on. We hang the rest on an old piece of plaster board, a couple of easels and any planks of wood we could find lying around. David did a marvelous job of fixing the drainage and hanging the toilet so we could at least have a working toilet for the evening.
The night before Sawa, David and I spent the evening clearing everything to one side of the room and cleaning the windows… which started off as a scary job until we realized you can turn the windows completely over so it’s rather easy to clean – very useful design feature. That down we used a door and a couple of tressels as a make shift table and sat down to enjoy our first meal in the flat – it being almost the longest day of the year the sun slipt the sky with an amazing sunset which felt fitting and satisfying for our first sit down meal.
The next day was spent washing floors, hanging the works, picking up beer and nibblies before racing home or trying too but failing miserably as we got stuck in a humungous traffic jam about 5 km from our house – for an hour – so yes I was late for my own private view. In the hastiness of the day Sara and I never consulted each other about what we were going to wear… appropriately we turned up in matching dresses, red shoes and somewhat spookily that day we had worn matching green t-shirts… very odd hehe!
It was a very successful night and I think people enjoyed our work and the flat too. It was lovely to have Dad and Anne there for our first event at the flat, and David’s parents made the trip down from Reading which was much appreciated.
Since then a lot more work has taken place but I will update you on that soon… meanwhile please have a look at the pictures I have attached at the link on the right hand side called Flat. Enjoy.
Smack bang in the middle of the building works my friend Sara and I decided it would be a good idea to put on a Private View, to show off our recent artworks we have created. After much stress and panic we managed to get the place at least fit for the swarms of art hungry masses. Caine built me some lovely wooden structures to hang my work on. We hang the rest on an old piece of plaster board, a couple of easels and any planks of wood we could find lying around. David did a marvelous job of fixing the drainage and hanging the toilet so we could at least have a working toilet for the evening.
The night before Sawa, David and I spent the evening clearing everything to one side of the room and cleaning the windows… which started off as a scary job until we realized you can turn the windows completely over so it’s rather easy to clean – very useful design feature. That down we used a door and a couple of tressels as a make shift table and sat down to enjoy our first meal in the flat – it being almost the longest day of the year the sun slipt the sky with an amazing sunset which felt fitting and satisfying for our first sit down meal.
The next day was spent washing floors, hanging the works, picking up beer and nibblies before racing home or trying too but failing miserably as we got stuck in a humungous traffic jam about 5 km from our house – for an hour – so yes I was late for my own private view. In the hastiness of the day Sara and I never consulted each other about what we were going to wear… appropriately we turned up in matching dresses, red shoes and somewhat spookily that day we had worn matching green t-shirts… very odd hehe!
It was a very successful night and I think people enjoyed our work and the flat too. It was lovely to have Dad and Anne there for our first event at the flat, and David’s parents made the trip down from Reading which was much appreciated.
Since then a lot more work has taken place but I will update you on that soon… meanwhile please have a look at the pictures I have attached at the link on the right hand side called Flat. Enjoy.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Painting it White
I have been flat out like a lizard drinking over the last couple of weeks. Last week after much stress and panic we finally managed to buy the tiles, floor boards and carpet. Which we now just have to wait till they arrive... the tiles should be with us in the next couple of weeks and the floor boards will follow about three weeks from now as they are coming from Canada. The only thing that is ready is the carpet but there is no way we can lay that before the rest of the job is done.
While we wait Sara and I have decided to put on an exhibition in the flat... perhaps a little ambitious but this coming Friday was the only date available. It makes sense as we have the space and the inclination and it seems silly to let an opportunity like this pass.
David and I have today finished putting the under coat on all the walls, so the place is at least starting to look fresh and white. Tomorrow I have the day off work and although its David's Birthday we will be working on the flat again. He has the very exciting job of hanging the toilet in preparation for the exhibition - and I am desperately hoping this will put an end to the foul stench of raw sewage we get wafting from the exposed pipe work.
All going well I will update this again once the exhibition has been had.
Till then i have added some more photos of David & I finishing off the painting today under The Plaster Board link on the right. Some people have expressed a problem getting back to the blog once they click on the links... i would suggest right clicking on the link and selecting Open in New Window or Open in New Tab - these options will allow you to have two windows running concurrently and it should make it easier to navigate around. Keep the comments coming.
While we wait Sara and I have decided to put on an exhibition in the flat... perhaps a little ambitious but this coming Friday was the only date available. It makes sense as we have the space and the inclination and it seems silly to let an opportunity like this pass.
David and I have today finished putting the under coat on all the walls, so the place is at least starting to look fresh and white. Tomorrow I have the day off work and although its David's Birthday we will be working on the flat again. He has the very exciting job of hanging the toilet in preparation for the exhibition - and I am desperately hoping this will put an end to the foul stench of raw sewage we get wafting from the exposed pipe work.
All going well I will update this again once the exhibition has been had.
Till then i have added some more photos of David & I finishing off the painting today under The Plaster Board link on the right. Some people have expressed a problem getting back to the blog once they click on the links... i would suggest right clicking on the link and selecting Open in New Window or Open in New Tab - these options will allow you to have two windows running concurrently and it should make it easier to navigate around. Keep the comments coming.
Monday, June 02, 2008
Removing the wallpaper
Yes, as promised David and I spent as much time as possible working at the flat, completing the arduous task of removing the remaining wallpaper from the concrete walls... The painstaking business is messy and tiring but it will be worth it once we have the clean walls plastered. I have taken some more pictures and added them to the Plasterboard set of pictures for your general viewing.
This week the rest of the walls will be plastered by Eddie the artist and his crew of merry man. The walls will be painted by our good selves and any Australians, Albanians, Argentinians or Austrians wielding paint brushes. The heaters will be put back on the walls, the boiler will be installed, the shower area waterproofed and tiles chosen.
Back next weekend with more... till then enjoy.
This week the rest of the walls will be plastered by Eddie the artist and his crew of merry man. The walls will be painted by our good selves and any Australians, Albanians, Argentinians or Austrians wielding paint brushes. The heaters will be put back on the walls, the boiler will be installed, the shower area waterproofed and tiles chosen.
Back next weekend with more... till then enjoy.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
The Plasterboard
Another week and the flat is now starting to take tangible form… Caine, David and Leroy worked their little butts off to haul, lift and fit the plasterboard into place. You can see pictures of Caine and Leroy in action on The Plaster Board set of photos to be found in the LINK section on the right hand side.
The plaster has nearly completed the living room, kitchen and bathroom… basically all the new walls that went up earlier this week have now been covered. It is now for David and I to prep the rest of the flat. This weekend we will be at the flat as much as possible, scoring, steaming and scrapping the wallpaper from the hallway and the two bedrooms. Although finding a great technique and removing more wallpaper than I thought was likely I have managed to scuff the skin off my little finger. Oh the woes of manual labour.
On a not about the flat note, I won tickets to a Mark Knopfler concert at the Royal Albert Hall and I managed to drag David along on Wednesday this week just gone. It was very good, he played Romeo & Juliet, Sultans of Swing, So Far Away, Calling Elvis, Money For Nothing and lots of note Dire Straits songs. It was a very enjoyable evening out - memories of driving to the Hunter Valley and looking at the countryside came flooding back. Dad you would have loved it, and probably fit in a little better as most of the audience was around your age. :o)
Anyway enough for now, I will update the picture set tomorrow as I am sure we can get some more pictures then. Do let me know how these updates are working out for you it would be lovely to hear from you all.
The plaster has nearly completed the living room, kitchen and bathroom… basically all the new walls that went up earlier this week have now been covered. It is now for David and I to prep the rest of the flat. This weekend we will be at the flat as much as possible, scoring, steaming and scrapping the wallpaper from the hallway and the two bedrooms. Although finding a great technique and removing more wallpaper than I thought was likely I have managed to scuff the skin off my little finger. Oh the woes of manual labour.
On a not about the flat note, I won tickets to a Mark Knopfler concert at the Royal Albert Hall and I managed to drag David along on Wednesday this week just gone. It was very good, he played Romeo & Juliet, Sultans of Swing, So Far Away, Calling Elvis, Money For Nothing and lots of note Dire Straits songs. It was a very enjoyable evening out - memories of driving to the Hunter Valley and looking at the countryside came flooding back. Dad you would have loved it, and probably fit in a little better as most of the audience was around your age. :o)
Anyway enough for now, I will update the picture set tomorrow as I am sure we can get some more pictures then. Do let me know how these updates are working out for you it would be lovely to hear from you all.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Before the Plaster Board
Day 25 of owning our new flat and we are now set to put the plasterboard walls up - with the Plasterer coming on Wednesday to start his work.
David and I spent most of Saturday removing the remainder of the rubbish from the second room. This involved bagging it up, maneuvering it into the lift, lugging it across the landing of the first floor to a balcony where we hauled it over the railing and into an ideally placed big metal wheelie bin and then back up again for more. Ben will know this only too well. But we manged to clear the whole room, including lifting the sick coloured carpet and scrapping off the perished rubber flooring which had turned to dust. I was covered in green dust, in my ears, nose and anywhere it could land, my glasses completely fogged, and all I could taste was foul perished rubber dust.
Home for a shower and sleep before getting straight back into it on Sunday morning. Thankfully today we had some more help - this time in the form of Suzi who, despite putting a whole in one side of the plaster board wall we had intended on keeping, was a fantastic little helper and a demon with a screw driver. Sunday was filled with the wonderfully fiddly job of removing the skirting board and dismantling the wardrobes. Find the screw - dig it out of years of paint build up and god knows what else, use all your mite to twist and turn it, until you have the very satisfying pleasure of having the damn thing out. The wardrobe in the main bedroom was particularly stubborn but, job done, just as the sun was setting... then it was off to the pub down the road (The Lighthouse) for a well deserved meal and a refreshing cider. Nice pub with good grub too.
The flat is now ready for the next stage - this is where it will start to look more like a flat and less like a building site.
Today I am trying something new by attaching a link to the new set of photos at the top of this blog bit. Just click on the heading. I have also attached them on the right hand side LINK section under 'Building Works'.
More updates to follow.
David and I spent most of Saturday removing the remainder of the rubbish from the second room. This involved bagging it up, maneuvering it into the lift, lugging it across the landing of the first floor to a balcony where we hauled it over the railing and into an ideally placed big metal wheelie bin and then back up again for more. Ben will know this only too well. But we manged to clear the whole room, including lifting the sick coloured carpet and scrapping off the perished rubber flooring which had turned to dust. I was covered in green dust, in my ears, nose and anywhere it could land, my glasses completely fogged, and all I could taste was foul perished rubber dust.
Home for a shower and sleep before getting straight back into it on Sunday morning. Thankfully today we had some more help - this time in the form of Suzi who, despite putting a whole in one side of the plaster board wall we had intended on keeping, was a fantastic little helper and a demon with a screw driver. Sunday was filled with the wonderfully fiddly job of removing the skirting board and dismantling the wardrobes. Find the screw - dig it out of years of paint build up and god knows what else, use all your mite to twist and turn it, until you have the very satisfying pleasure of having the damn thing out. The wardrobe in the main bedroom was particularly stubborn but, job done, just as the sun was setting... then it was off to the pub down the road (The Lighthouse) for a well deserved meal and a refreshing cider. Nice pub with good grub too.
The flat is now ready for the next stage - this is where it will start to look more like a flat and less like a building site.
Today I am trying something new by attaching a link to the new set of photos at the top of this blog bit. Just click on the heading. I have also attached them on the right hand side LINK section under 'Building Works'.
More updates to follow.
Working on the flat
David and I have been working on the flat with help from the boys Caine (Builder), Stephen (Electrician) & Andrew (Plumber) not to mention our lovely friend Ben who kindly offered his valuable hands to lift rubbish - and believe me this was no mean feat as our whole second room was filled will one kind of building waste or another.
Its starting to take shape and looks less like a building site... walls have been knocked down and new ones put up - Caine has built us a masterpiece of a shower with Andrew slogging his guts out to get the new pipes in before flying off to Egypt for a holiday adventure.
David and I finished off the remainder of the rubbish removal today and Stephen started wiring up the new lighting for the bathroom, hall way and living room, through the false ceiling Caine put in... Ryan you would be very proud, we are having a false ceiling with down lights in the living room/kitchen and the bathroom.
I will up date this with more photos tomorrow as we stupidly didn't take our camera with us today... but it is in the bag to take tomorrow so more pictures will be had then.
Meanwhile, I know you all feel a bit out of touch at home as I understand it is not easy to relate to a building project when you have never seen it before. So I will try to update this as much as possible and take lots of pictures to keep you as best informed as I can.
I attach a map of the area where the house is in the LINKS section to the right - the flat is where the big red arrow is pointing.
Email me if you would like the exact address.
As you can see we are very close to Battersea Park which is just on the south side of the Thames - see the Battersea Park map in LINKS for perspective.
If you walk across the river you will end up in Chelsea, I will most likely do any high street shopping along the Kings Road and then if i walk a little further, down the famous fashion street Sloane Street - it will take me to Knightsbridge and altogether it will probably only take about 45 minutes to walk to work - this is a guess as i have not yet tried but only another 5 weeks of work on the house and we should be in.
For now, you should be able to find the pictures in the LINKS section called "The Flat" or there is a slide show at the bottom of this page which should link to my photos if you double click the picture.
Would love to hear any comments you might have. x
Its starting to take shape and looks less like a building site... walls have been knocked down and new ones put up - Caine has built us a masterpiece of a shower with Andrew slogging his guts out to get the new pipes in before flying off to Egypt for a holiday adventure.
David and I finished off the remainder of the rubbish removal today and Stephen started wiring up the new lighting for the bathroom, hall way and living room, through the false ceiling Caine put in... Ryan you would be very proud, we are having a false ceiling with down lights in the living room/kitchen and the bathroom.
I will up date this with more photos tomorrow as we stupidly didn't take our camera with us today... but it is in the bag to take tomorrow so more pictures will be had then.
Meanwhile, I know you all feel a bit out of touch at home as I understand it is not easy to relate to a building project when you have never seen it before. So I will try to update this as much as possible and take lots of pictures to keep you as best informed as I can.
I attach a map of the area where the house is in the LINKS section to the right - the flat is where the big red arrow is pointing.
Email me if you would like the exact address.
As you can see we are very close to Battersea Park which is just on the south side of the Thames - see the Battersea Park map in LINKS for perspective.
If you walk across the river you will end up in Chelsea, I will most likely do any high street shopping along the Kings Road and then if i walk a little further, down the famous fashion street Sloane Street - it will take me to Knightsbridge and altogether it will probably only take about 45 minutes to walk to work - this is a guess as i have not yet tried but only another 5 weeks of work on the house and we should be in.
For now, you should be able to find the pictures in the LINKS section called "The Flat" or there is a slide show at the bottom of this page which should link to my photos if you double click the picture.
Would love to hear any comments you might have. x
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