More photos

As promised, faithful follower (s), I am back with a further update and I thought I would just upload a few photos for you so you can really get a good idea of what the place is like now. The photo above is one I've taken before but I have been painting the windows in Old School White which looks better than brilliant white against the stone.

Anyway here are some other shots. This is what we call the garden room and although it does sound a bit pretentious that really is what it. It is a room that opens out into the garden. I've taken a picture from each end here. I couldn't resist taking the one below. I had just decorated the table in anticipation of some friends coming round on Saturday night - it's actually the first time we have really entertained since the work was done. The leaves outside are looking lovely so I wrapped them round some old jam jars and they looked very effective and autumnal when lit up in the evening. Cheap too but shows how much jam we've been getting through lately as had loads of those jars!

Next we have the kitchen again. I am really pleased with the floor which is slate from Fired Earth thanks to a discount when buying an AGA. I always thought slate came in blues and greys and was a bit cold looking but these are an amazing array of colours including silver, amber, ochre and terracotta shades. They would go with any colour kitchen you put them with and the AGA seems to warm them so they don't feel cold to walk on either, although I have been pinching David's slippers of late. I am getting into the swing of the AGA and found a great recipe for a Norwegian Apple Cake on the Aga Living website - didn't know such a site existed til now. Very easy to make and a winner all round.

Here's another shot of the kitchen. Chris from CW Tiling did the wall tiles for us last week. I love 'em but French Metro or Public Lavs did pop into my head at one point. Utilitarian I like to think!

Next we have a picture of the old back door now reinstated as the second porch door. The green cupboard you see was the way out of the kitchen into the hall. That got blocked up but we were able to create a pantry space for food here. David salvaged some of the wood from the oak floors and made some great shelves - being solid oak it's a shame they are hidden really.

And here we have the 'studio' - studio and garden room seem to trip off my tongue so easily. And anyway, as David plugged in his supersonic electric guitar on Saturday night up here, no other name would suit it!

And out of the door at the end of the studio, is the balcony which gets the sun most of the afternoon until it sets. Anyway, I think that is it for now. So hope you've enjoyed browsing these snaps.

Quick update

Hello and yet another apology for the absence. You can tell we've got to the bit where we are doing the work as there's not a lot of time for much else at the moment. Anyway, here are a couple of pictures to update you. We do have help in that Chris, who did a lovely tiling job on the kitchen floor, is back and doing the wall tiles in the kitchen. So, once he is done I will get some photos of the kitchen as it is now.

The great thing is though that we have our house back and it is a million times better than before and a million times nicer than I ever thought it would be - well worth the upheaval of living on a building site for four months.

The other nice thing that happened the other day was that the building inspector came around and was so impressed with the design and build that he is putting it forward for the area's good design awards.

Here's a shot of the kitchen looking at it from the patio doors that used to be the old conservatory doors. You'll notice kettle on AGA ready for that all important cuppa.

Here in this next photo we have family Banks getting into some joint kitchen activities. You can date this photo as we're all in shorts so it was probably taken at the end of summer.Next up we have the man himself in his man at work pose. Joking aside, David has done a fantastic job on the finishing off jobs. I mean finishing off in the loosest sense of the word as much of it was actually starting off. He put in the kitchen units himself, fixed the worktops on with a bit of help from Colin the joiner but the huge job he did completely by himself was putting the wooden floor down. I promise to get some pictures of this to show you as he really did do fantastically well doing and as always with David without complaining.

As you can see he does have a helper here. This is William but it was actually Joseph he did some of the secret nailing of the boards. He has stuck a nail in his school scrapbook for posterity. Meanwhile what have I been doing? You may think that all I have been doing is practice boiling the kettle on the AGA but I do have been in the thick of it with the painting mostly. I've done one coat of the windows outside and painted the study. Now this is another room which has had little publicity. I will get some pictures of this too. In a very pretentious moment I christened it the studio as it really is too nice to be just an office or study. Here, friends, is where you will lay your head when you come to stay!

I have to say we could not have got on with all the work on the house without the help of my mum and dad who we are very lucky to have living near by. Each weekend they have scooped up the boys, entertained them and fed them whilst we get on with jobs here. I can't tell you what a difference it made for David and I to get on so a big thank you to them!

Whoops I couldn't get rid of this one!