October 5 2014, part 2

Cafe interlude - 

We've been going out to eat a lot with the stuff happening in the flat.  Man, we're going to have some serious un-training to do when things get back to normal.  

Cafe at Dobbies

We went to a store that had a cafe on Friday.

Felicity dragged me by the hand to a sofa in the cafe and said:

MOM! I wanna eeet sum svfood ee-rah! 

Cheeky Blueberry muffin!

This is the bathtub in-situ.  (Isn't it gorgeous??)

Plaster up the staircase walls - not looking forward to sealing and painting this baby, I tell you!

Plaster in the hall upstairs.

More master bedroom plaster and door.

The plasterers are doing a great job - really smooth and reinforced corners.

OK, more pictures as I take them later!  Actually been painting the bathroom today.  Knackered now though and gotta get some sleep before the week hits!

5 October 2014

Picture update!  (Finally.)

Okay, so the building work is just a series of minor confusions and emergencies, each of which we are dealing with as we go.  Having said that, the work is visibly taking strides forward this last week - even to the point where we could start painting in the bathroom!

But here's one of the problems we encountered last week:

*wah wah wah waaaah* (descending minor 2nds)  Smashed toilet pan!  Let this be a lesson all you DIY novices - always check the return policy online before you buy!  We weren't allowed to send this back because we didn't notify them within 48 hours.  (Victorian Plumbing, if anyone is interested - don't use them!  Extremely slow customer service and snobby!)  So I found another toilet and had that sent 'post haste' (to use a Eugene-ism).

Interlude:  We did this last weekend -

Round to the swan pond on the other side of Holyrood Park.  I had had to be at a school function in the morning and we took a little picnic to the pond afterwards.  SO many pigeons as well (as usual) and Felicity was so excited.

OK, back to the house.  Have I posted pictures of the stairs?  If not, voila!  The stairs.

So, this should have been a window between the rafters, but there wasn't room for one, so they installed what's called a 'sun tunnel' instead.  Not the prettiest thing, but we'll take some natural light over no natural light any day!  And I think we'll be disguising the whole modern 'porthole' look when we find the right piece of stained glass to fit over it.

Looking up to the sun tunnel.

Plaster in the hall!  Looking down the hall from the master bedroom to the top of the stairs.

OK, so they were going to poke the sink into this bathroom canyon crevice, but we got them to change that!  The towel rail will be in the crevice instead - this is also where my bathroom cabinet was supposed to fit!

Decadent bay windowed bathroom!  (But it was the best way to get the head height to open out the room.)

You can almost see here the diagonal-crevice they closed off.  We asked them to bring the toilet into the room as opposed to being poked under the eaves!

This is going to be F's room.  Again, windows and plaster help flesh out the idea!

This is the cabinet in the landing that was made when the toilet got moved forward.  Yey for storage space!

This is looking into the master bedroom - the little room behind will be a dressing/painting/sewing/storage room.

The other side of the master bedroom. - can't wait to paint this thing!

The dressing/sewing/attic/painting room - we got them to put in a window here as well!  Woohoo!

End of chapter 1 - chapter 2 forthcoming...

24 September 2014

Been off ill the last few days. Back in the saddle again. Picture update!

Standing in our bedroom - F was having fun yesterday screaming and listening to the echoes in the big empty space - then spinning round and round til she fell over.

One wall still to go up in F's room, but it give a good idea of the space around the stairs.

The bathroom has walls!

The hall above the staircase

The hall from our bedroom

F is standing in the doorway of the 'dressing room' that will also be used for painting/sewing/storage etc.

And a bonus- the two apples produced by my garden this year. I think I know why they threw the golden apples now - honestly look so good I've been saving them for a treat. 

21 September 2014

We have stairs!  This is where the hole in the ceiling was last week.

A new use for my beautiful cabinet as it doesn't fit the bathroom!

Beautiful day out the back upstairs windows. This will be a view from our bedroom when it's done.

Here's looking at our dormer window from F's window.

Carlton Hill zoomed in

Arthur's Seat zoomed in

We asked for a velux window in our attic room last week - whee!

taking shape - looking down towards the other set of windows in our room.

They all look the same now without walls but this will be the bathroom

This will be Fs room

View from the top of the new staircase - boards on the ceiling and floor outline where internal walls will go.

Stairs as you come in.

The electrian hung the new light over the top of the stairs which makes a big difference in the light as you come into the flat!

So things are progressing. I was ill this weekend, but all things in perspective, things are good.

17 September 2014

It's been a bit of an epic roller coaster emotion week (again). Bewildered is a good word. Anchored in the storm.

Monday:
Fantastic day off work, though it did mist and spit all day. Took a bike ride with H and her boys. F had a great time and it was so good to have a change. She got all worn out after lunch and a walk, she was literally asleep in the saddle - even when I took her off the bike and sat her on the porch step while I put the bike away she kept sleeping. Poor little potato.
Then we went out and found a cabinet that will fit in the bathroom (it better!!) Pictures forthcoming.
S had a big day at work and then went over to P's to do some app stuff. Poor guy finally got home about 10:30 / 11?

Tuesday
Rubbish sleep as F woke in the night with ear ache. Kicking myself for takin her out in the weather. Ibprofin and heating pad at 2:30am ('that's much better mommy.' *melting) woke up spiffy as you please and decided to chance it at nursery. Late for work though as took longer making decision.
Called by the nursery at 3 pm to pick up little pumpkin who woke up pale and unusual from her nap. Dropped everything, raced across town, mentally berating myself for leaving her. Then, she promptly started running and chasing other kids as we left. Visit to the pharmacy, crashed into the doctor's office without making an appointment, doctor gave an antibiotic ear spray for an outer ear infection. Trying to persuade her to take the strawberry flavored paracetamol! Bright side is we were able to fill her heart med prescription as we were already going to the doctor and pharmacy. So one less thing to worry about.
Builders wrote asking for more money before latest project done. Classroom teacher wrote from one of my schools saying a students been complaining about the music I assigned and questioning my methods.  S late and no idea when hed be home. About to actually cry. Called my friend H about community group and told her wed try to come but things were tight and asking for lots of prayers for wisdom.
Picked up S from work and drove through McDonald's. Long talk about building work and F in bed no trouble.

Wednesday
Drove to wrong school in morning - oops.
First 2 kids absent and very glad to have time to practice and process before having to teach!

But feeling calmer after talking to simon - he always is able to talk perspective into me. And praying for grace. And felicity seems better though she didn't sleep great last night.

School bell ringing. Next!

10 September 2014

 Wednesday morning F saw 'the very pretty beautiful dress' in the wardrobe.
She wore it all day long.
Even to nursery and the library. Then we found some unicorns in a princess castle.

 

10 September 2014

Yes. That's the kitchen ceiling. 

The rest of my day has been okay though.