Remodeling diary

Week 23 - Kitchen Fitting

Although we worked all day every day last week - it looks like very little has been done.

Moving the timer and control switches for the boiler was a tedious and fiddly job - just as we thought it would be. It took a whole day to sort it out. We plugged in all the appliances - except the chimney hood, which is this week’s task. We’ll need to build a box to hide the extractor outlet pipe. This will need to run from the centre of the wall (above where the cooker is) along to a hole we’ve got to make through the outside wall. We’ve decided to make a feature of this necessity so we’ll also continue it to a similar distance to the other side -  this will then be a convenient place to install 3 halogen lights on either side to provide lighting for the work-top..

We also put an oak skirting around the room - but this is no ordinary skirting.  First we attached a batten to the wall - this is about 20mm x10mm. Then we nailed and glued the 6mm thick oak skirting to this batten - the skirting is about 2" ( 50mm) high, so there is gap left between the wall and skirting - into which we’ll lay a rope lighting system. When the light is switched on, it will appear to come from below floor level - it should look pretty cool. When the light is not on, the rope can’t be seen as it’s hidden behind the skirting. I’ve just got to get a rope light now… I also need to get the other lights for the room and some blinds for the windows.

Then I can start painting. Actually I already started on the ceiling. I do hate painting ceilings. I always get paint in my eyes. But it’s got to be done.

We were going to wire the house so that we can plug other computers into a network but we realised there is no point of doing this anymore as wireless technology is the way to go. At the moment there is no telephone-line upstairs, we’ll definitely need to sort that out.

The first floor still looks like a building-site but at least we now have water and we can cook. I can also do some washing! The wood worktops and the doors are arriving in two weeks time - then we’ll be able to sit down and eat at the breakfast bar!