As you might have noticed, this place has been tarted up a little. I’ve been using the wonderfully minimal ‘White as Milk’ theme for years here – and it may end up with me going back to it, but for the time being I’m going to be trying out a few different things. Don’t panic!
Work on the house has ground to a halt temporarily. Because our new extension butts up against the house next door, the builders had to have a look at their foundations, and it seems they might not be up to the job as far as current Building Regulations are concerned. This means we need to get a structural engineer out to look at the best way to overcome the problem, and the concensus is that the foundations will need wire cages. It’s not a total bust as we can combine the work that needs doing to encase the sewage pipe, so I’m hoping the current delay won’t last too long.
All my attention at the moment is focused on two main areas; the kitchen and the garden. These are my domain, the places I can most easily envisage being finished and usuable and what they might look like. The kitchen is the main thing I’m looking forward to if I’m honest, because I absolutely love cooking and have never had a decent kitchen to call my own. We’ve spent hours and hours poring over potential layouts and I think we’re finally in agreement on the best way to use the space we’re going to have. My main concern was having something decent to cook with, as after ten years or so making do with knackered electric ovens I’ve gotten pretty sick of them. When I lived with my parents we had gas to cook with, and as part of the extension plans we’re finally having gas at the house, so I’m taking full advantage and getting a nice built-in double oven and a five-burner hob. I was really taken with the idea of getting a decent range cooker at first, but when I put my sensible hat on I could see that I don’t actually need three ovens and a plate warmer, and we could do with the storage space more. I know, practicality first; maybe I’m getting old. I can’t begin to imagine how nice it’s going to be having the space and facilities to cook properly, but I’m excited at the prospect.
I’m dead keen to have a proper garden sorted out too. We’re quite lucky to have a decent sized back and front gardens, but they’re ‘rugged’ to say the least. Uneven, full of rocks, weeds and stumps, and generally in need of a good seeing to (oo-er). Thanks to the digger and dumper truck there is no back garden any more, just mud, but as part of the flood prevention measures being put in and the need to bring the floor level down, the garden’s going to be totally landscaped. My other half wants a ‘wild’ pond at the bottom of the garden which I’m keen on too, but my main ‘wants’ are a decent decked/surfaced area for barbecues, a nice patch of lawn and a couple of cherry trees. There are other things I want too (fruit and veg) but those are the must-haves. Once it’s done it’ll probably (hopefully!) spur me on to sort the front garden out too.