NIGHT ON THE TILES!






IT COULD BE A LONG NIGHT PETE WAS HOPING TO GET ALL THE TILES OFF IN ONE DAY IN CASE THE WILD WINDS RETURN!


PICTURES TAKEN THIS AFTERNOON FROM THE INSIDE OF THE BUNGALOW, JUDE WAS FASCINATED WITH IT! ESPECIALLY HIS BEDROOM WHICH IS STILL A MESS EVEN WITHOUT ALL OF HIS STUFF!



"When the caravans a rocking..........................."

it means its really windy outside!!!!, it was a long worrying night last night as we got battered by the winds, we felt quite vulnerable, as we had reached the point of no return in the bungalow a good few days ago, and if the caravan was damaged we would be in some what of a muddle!!!!! but everything seems ok this morning!

Most of the ceilings and floors are now out in the bungalow, we are ready for another bonfire and we have filled a skip with old plaster and insulation, a lot of wood has been salvaged and Pete and Dave are  currently in the garden room starting to lay the floor joists. Yesterday we took up the Parquet floor, which came up surprisingly easily, I now have the job of cleaning of the old bitumen from each piece, and its a huge pile -anyone up for a "parquet party"! we are going to use it in the porch of the new house. We have also saved the sink and taps and shower head from the old bathroom to reuse.

The building inspector is due today to discuss the foundations, which Pete hopes to start in a couple of weeks with his new laser measuring tool!!

we have had the payment schedule from Harlows who are making the timber frame, as they are about to start work on it.

We took deliverey of the Rain Water Harvester yesterday, its massive, imagine having to bury a people carrier in your back garden, that is what it's like and there is a chance that the digger arm won't reach the bottom of the hole, so we might have to dig a hole for the digger or finish it by hand!!!!-another little job for me-I AM LIVING THE DREAM!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pete in the rain water harvester, the inner one sits on top of the outside one !!!

"every women every man join the caravan............."

We are now living in the caravan! it is still a novelty and the weather has been on our side- so all good so far.......!!!!!!!!  The bungalow is still littered with odd socks, jigsaw bits and teaspoons etc but we should break the back of it tomorrow.  As we moved out right after boxing day we didnt put up a tree or decs but had some friends round to help with adding some festive cheer to the lounge!!!!!!



even the blue tits have had to move, hopefully they will find and like their new location



A Mark Grenville moment on moving day! - He wasn't here but his way of thinking must be catching!



Pete has finished making the front door for the house and we have chosen the paint,  (it has to be painted before the glass is fitted) and have gone for citrine from the little greene paint company.

By monday we should be ready to start stripping out the bungalow, then we will be putting the floor down in the garden room and installing the cooker and sink units!

And then finally its diggers and dumpers at the ready, and we have some eager little helpers!

DO NOT ADJUST YOUR SET!

Between now and christmas there will not be much to blog about as Pete is at work for the next month and the main job on site will be packing, packing and more packing, and noone needs to see photos of me surrounded bey stuff and boxes with a confused look on my face!

But from new year onwards it will be full steam ahead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot wait!

ROCKING CHAIRS AND SHOTGUNS

The  ' junk wood ' verhandah has been a great success and will be really useful when we are living in the caravan.

Pete is continuing producing the cast window sills, we have about 7, he did have to go back to the drawing board a couple of times but he seems to have perfected it now, which is good the site was turning into a cemetry for imperfect sills!

Pete has made the porch/ hall doors and primed them and hopefully we can collect the hard wood this week to make the front door which is based on the design below, apart from that we are finishing getting the site prepared and cleared and the stuff we dont need for 2 years packed up!



PIMP MY CARAVAN!

We have been busy getting the caravan ready to live in, removing some of the furniture and adding more useful storage, pete has been building a made to measure desk, shoe storage, and shelving in the wardrobes,  I have been making brighter curtains and blinds in between the school and playschool runs and feeding Reuben! This week, we hope to get the verhandah built, and when I've finished all my sewing projects I will have to clean it thoroughly, ( that's my thoroughly of course !!!!!!!!!!!!- I am never ill too clean is bad for your health!)

Pete spoke to the folks next door about the boundry hedge and as they have now sold their propertey they were happy to let us remove the hedge (horrid lime green privett) and replace with fence (horrid bright orange panels), it is so bad I cant bring myself to include a photo, until it fades or a certain garden designer from London comes and tells me what plant will cover it and quickly! so that is all sorted now before the new people move in.

Pete has been making the fixed windows for the house, and the porch doors, (between the porch and the hall) the doors are based on a design that we admired whilst in covent garden.

Today Pete has started to make the window sills for the entire house, he predicts it will take a month to complete the project as he will only be able to make 2 every 2 days as they will take 48 hours to set, he also had to make a vibrating table to ensure a perfect finish, after hours of research on you tube - which brought up all sorts of interesting clips!!!!!!, he made it out of a load of wood a couple of old car tyres and a lot of double sided sticky tape- I think!!!!!

A SINK FOR SINDY!

Despite the brief break from work when Baby Reuben arrived  things are still moving in the right direction! The drive has been dug up to take the services to the caravan, we now have working electrics and running water and drainage, so it looks like the caravan is here to stay!

 The garden room is as finished as it can be until we knock down the bungalow and use the floor boards from the bedrooms to create the flooring. The log burner has been installed and works a treat!

Pete has been installing a toilet and sink in the corner of the garage, he used an old sink we had in the garden shed, earlier in the week he found a bargain vintage/ retro sink unit on ebay, but he failed to read the "small " print, and I kindly told him it was for a sindy house!!!!!!, it seemed too mean to let him head off with a trailer only to bring it back in the glove box!

Planning wise we have had the timber frames sent for us to view 3D on the computer which was great, but we are still waiting to have everything ready to apply for building regs and time is ticking............