new house

I don't even know where to start. I feel like this house has picked me up and carried me along. A whirlwind. In the last two weeks since we've had the keys we have... stripped all the wall paper and scrubbed the walls free of bits of lumpy paste, shifted all the smelly carpets and net curtains, destroyed the white and gold fitted wardrobe and hacked off the brown flowery bathroom tiles, started to clear the garden of dead stuff and bricks, (identified plants to keep; peonys, forgetmenots, periwinkle, roses) chipped off all the polystyrene ceiling tiles (polystyrene ceiling tiles! Why?) and the electrician has finnished ripping out the old wiring and replacing it with shiny new (safe) stuff...

That was week one.

This week we have removed the bathroom (only half a toilet remains... don't ask!) and strippped the plaster back to the brick. What we thought was a bathroom wall turned out to be a doorway blocked up with bits of nailed together wood. Out that came. A new wall was built and a fresh smooth layer of plaster all over the bathroom is drying as we speak. What we thought was a flimsy old aluminum heating vent that runs throughout the house turns out to contain a very solid indeed steel pipe which no amount of hammering will shift (and we'll solve that one later). The plumber has replaced the old boiler with a lovely efficient new one, and moved it to the side of the house to make more room in the kitchen. All the radiators have been replaced and are just waiting to be connected up on Saturday.

Then we moved in. Hmmm.

So now all our furniture and all our stuff is in boxes in the living room because the celings have to be plastered upstairs (again, polystyrene celing tiles, why?) I can't find my clothes and our mattres is wrapped in a tarpaulin. I just keep telling myself that this time next week it will be better (surely!)

And I'll post some pictures when I find my camera lead, it's in a box somewhere ;)