Porch is on...

but like many things is not finished. We are partially taking a few days to relax a bit and celebrate what we have accomplished so far. Our first dinner party (not counting the family gathering before Christmas) is tomorrow and will contribute to the feeling that we really live here now.

The projecting part will be glazed in to create a sun (and wind) room. The lawn is another story.

It's a few days after the solstice, but you can still see the warming sun reaches almost to the kitchen door

We've come a long way

The planning application image

The colour is not far off the planning application after all

We're back!

Nearly two years to the day since we first moved in, we have moved back in, and a few days later the boys arrived with their girlfriends for an early Christmas weekend. We have properly christened the kitchen and dining room now.

With the scaffolding down you can see the view from our bedroom

Karen applies the hard oil finish to our beautiful ash floor.

As soon as the oil hardened, we moved in. Karen is a happy girl!

Lyn came for tea, but was persuaded to stay for gumbo.

Christmas lunch practice run - the boys and girls cooked a delicious meal for us and their grandmother.

The stair is coming on Wednesday, but Karen decorated the temporary rail anyway.

The Christmas tree makes it look like a family home.

It's starting to look like home

With the oak engineered floor being meticulously installed by Martin, it's getting better by the day.

We're nearing the winter solstice, and you can see how the low sun reaches nearly to the kitchen door. I love it!

By night - we need lots of curtains now.

The Christmas rush

We are flat out getting ready to move back and welcome the boys and their girlfriends in two weeks - like one of those reality TV shows. I failed to report on my visit to Young and Norgate, who are making the stair. Ross Norgate went to school with Ali, and is now part of a quality cabinetmaking firm in Budleigh Salterton. They are having fun, I think, with my very personal stair design.

This is the half-size MDFcad drawing ot the stair

Newel meets massively oversized tread and riser - I love it!

The kitchen is nearly functional now. Terry came to glue down the stainless steel after doing some experiments with pots of boiling water to make sure it would work, and Eddie got the hob going. Karen was disappointed that you can't see the flames in the photo- but it now produces heat.

Our bathroom is also functional, but what about that grey waste pipe, Eddie? Don't you think white would look better?

Let's hope that's enough adhesive

A select bunch of weights

Yes, it's working

On Tuesday, I joined Simon and Sean to help get the brise soleil up. They put the sills on in lashing rain, and when Simon called the scaffolder to say we were finished, he unexpectedly said he would come the next morning to get it, so we all set to applying the sealant around the upstairs window so we wouldn't be doing it off ladders. Scaffold down and it looks more like the drawings.

Final colour and that's it

We went for the best compromise we could find, but it's still not exactly what we wanted. When the house is finished and covered in clematis and roses it will be more subdued. Thanks, Cyndie, for the suggestion of blue window reveals - but we're not in Mexico.

We had a busy weekend- Karen spent all of today sanding and polishing the stainless steel counter tops. They had forty years of service in their previous life in a University kitchen, so they needed some TLC. We will install them on Tuesday come hell or high water, so we can get the kitchen working. Boys and girlfriends are coming in three weeks, so we need to get a move on. Ordering oak floor for sitting/dining room tomorrow - installation on Saturday!

Spaghetti under the floor

Our shower room - we like the cork floor.

It's Redlands, but not THAT red

We thought we had the final colour, but the primer and render delivered to site were too strong. On a prominant site like this, we have to think of others (and ourselves in the coming years).

Cayenne!

We are going to tone down the colour a lot - if we get this wrong it will be hard to live with. It's a small setback, but nobody died.

Painting party

Friends came over to help us get about 50 litres of paint on our ceilings and walls - all that new plaster soaks it up. Special thanks to Clare (fresh from a successful fund-raiser), Lyn, Martin, Sue, Jo, Liz, Charlie and Di, who made a great team and made our house look a lot more like a home. We will resolve the render colour tomorrow (we thought we were there), but I'll cover that later. A few stylish headscarves created from the rag bag were modelled.

Thanks to:

Lyn and Clare

Liz

Simon (for the tower)

Jo

Di

Charlie and Sue

Martin