Another room done! Well 2 actually.

Penny and I are getting close...very close of finishing the flat. We're waiting for Mark a mate, and coincidentally a joiner to come and finish off some work. He's putting in some window seats, and also fixing the built in bookshelves as they're pretty ugly at the moment. Once's he's done then we're ready to go! So in the meantime we've spent the last two weekends working on the living room floor trim, the cupboard by the kitchen, and the storage closet.

The trim required some angle cutting to make the corners fit...which was dodgy, because we didn't have enough material to make too many mistakes! We pulled it off though. So the trim now coveres the gaps between the hardwood flooring and the walls in the living room. We need to do the same for the hallway when we get around to finishing the hall.

The cupboard required a bit of paint, and a bit of wallpaper...not too tricky, just time consuming...but what a difference! Below you'll see the original salmon colour the whole living room was done in...and after the magnolia that the whole flat has been redone in.
The storage closet required a bit more work. The wall on the right was added in so it didn't have coving, or cornicing, or whatever you want to call it. So we had to cut and add a section of coving.
Once that was cut and added we could start the painting...again, what a difference!
So we've finished another couple of rooms, the living room and the storage closet...mostly. Like the rest of the flat flooring won't be done until last, but apart from that we've only got the main bedroom to paint, and the hallway to finish. We're hoping we can do this in the 3 weeks up to Christmas...wish us luck!

Floor trim, which hides the gaps between the floor and the wall.

Better view of the wall and the trim.

The cupboard just after it was built

Note the lovely salmon paint on the walls!

We couldn't paint behind the piping, so we wallpapered!

A pain in the butt, but we finally finished painting it properly!

Much better than the horrible salmon hey!?

The storage cupboard when it was about 1 foot deep!

Then after Mark knocked the wall down and opened it up to the living room behind it.

Note the wall on the right is new, and has no coving at the top.

Now it's got coving, and it's about to be painted.

Partway through painting...

Yay! It's finished! Coving looks good!

It looks so much better now that it's finished...or maybe just feels so much better!

Bathroom and Kitchen completely finished...

Okay so we'd about 95% finsihed the bathroom and the kitchen, however there were still a few things to do. Since Pen and I have set a target to get the flat finished before Christmas we've got a lot to do....so pretty much every weekend is going to be taken up finishing the flat...including this past one. We managed to completely finish the kitchen and bathroom...and what a good feeling it has to be said! That's two rooms down, and 4 to go! Have a look below to see what we did....

Click on pictures to enlarge the image

Okay you can see the hole in the wall, we had the sink unit built around the pipes, which hid them until you opened the cupboard under the sink....then you saw that gaping hole (which by the way is a great place for a scared kitten to hide).

Now boarded up and painted a fresh white.

We built this box to hide the rails to the sliding door, unfortunately it was pretty big and some considered it ugly....

So we went for a simpler option, one piece of wood rather than the box monstrocity, now you'd never know that the sliding door rails are there....and it's relatively unobtrusive.

Inside the bathroom this was one busy little corner. The trim needed to be painted, the tiles needed to be regrouted, and the wooden box in the bottom left of the pic covered the pipes, but it needed to be painted as the wood wasn't so pretty.

Eh voila, the tiles are now regrouted, the trim on the towel cupboard has been painted, and the wooden box hiding the pipes has been tiled.

Leaving the bathroom you saw the box monstrocity, which we opted to remove...

Now we've got the door and it's sliding rails covered by the pelmet...much better no?

We had this storage area built, but there was no hardwood flooring at the entrance.

Although not a perfect job by a long shot (you notice that when you're actually standing on the new flooring) it is certainly better and at least it's not bare floorboards anymore...besides, it's just a storage area right?

The big clean

Ok, so I had a wee operation and was told not to do any exercise, so as a result neither Penny nor the doctor would let me on my bike. Since the flat was a disaster as anyone visiting would have noticed, we decided to try and do a proper clean. So we went to B&Q in hopes of buying some shelving for our "storage cupboard". It hasn't been used as a storage cupboard for anything except building materials and crap since we had it built. As a result, our bedroom has been a warehouse storing all manners of things. Although mostly outdoors equipment.

So finally, after the big clean you'll notice a difference, or maybe not, but we do, and our flat is starting to feel more like a home, and less like a construction site.

Also, since the last post you'll notice that after 9 months of waiting, we've finally got our bathroom towel unit in place, and we've even tiled the top. We just need to paint the wooden trim we put on....and shazam....she's done. That just leaves a bit of grouting on the floor, and a bit of painting....and yes folks, yes...the bathroom is done. That would then be the bathroom and the kitchen complete!!

However, we're not likely to get too much more done on the flat till we come back from Canada in October. We've got a few busy weekends, and want to enjoy what's left of the fading summer nights. So check back around the end of October and we should have an update....till then...enjoy what's left of your summer.....we will!!

Scott

You may not notice, nor care, but you can see the floor!! No shoes, no boxes, no nothing!
We moved the wee dresser from the window...so you can get to the window now!
Ahh, the floor again!! Not a box to be seen!
That is the most cluttered the room is....I can live with that.
I still love that shower door...great job babe!
Look, a towel unit!!
Look a towel unit and a £1000 towel rail!
Notice the tiles on the top of the towel unit? We think it's a nice touch. The trim needs paint though.
So where did all the boxes, and crap that were being stored in the bedroom actually go to? Check it out, a storage cupboard...just what we needed. Awesome. Still needs to be painted though...we'll save that till October!

Bathroom almost there....almost there.

Okay, tiny toilet time. We had a small toilet which was made smaller by a boiler cupboard that opened from the living room, but invaded the bathroom. In the first photo you can see how much space it took up. We also had a door that opened up into the bathroom so that you had to go into the toilet, and close the door to get to the toilet. Basically you couldn't do anything with the door open, and seeing as the lights were pitiful, and the window didn't let any light in ... the door open was the best source of light! Well we've come along way. We're hoping to have the bathroom finished by the time Dean and Catherine get here in early August....watch this space!

This was the corner originally.....

Shower on the side near the sink, the boiler closet stuck out creating a box and stealing space. Ugly paper, and ugly tiles....plus a door that opened in blocking the toilet.

Gone is the box, up are new white tiles, light blue paint, and as of yesterday trim on top of the tiles. The shower curtain rail is partially hanging down cuz Pen had to remove it to get the last of the tiles up.

The boiler box that stole so much space has been trimmed back to the wee box in the ceiling...much better, much more room! Room for a towel radiator that so far has cost us £960 and wasn't even done properly!

Originally quote was for £360, which given that they used ugly copper piping, probably wasn't even worth that never mind £960.

Our joiners dad fixed the problem, for significantly less. This is how it should have looked! Happy now....

This bad boy will be our towel cupboard and will go in under the towel radiator, finally after 7 months of grief. Just needs a few more coats of gloss though.

And in the other corner (there's a new shower).....

The shower was moved to the other end of the bathtub and we put up new tiles. It did take us a while to get this bit finished up...

But if finished up good eh?

Note the trim on top of the tiles, gives it a nice "your bathroom is almost done" kind of look and feel.

Ever get that sinking feeling.......

The sink area as it was....dark, cramped and ugly

We put a sliding door in which opened up more light, put a new sink in, and took that horrific tile and paper combo down. See that strip of wood running behind the sink? Remember it.

A bit of storage space on top of the new medicine cabinet.

This photo is dark, and doesn't do the area justice, but you can see that we've put a lot of white, and mirror in which we hope lightens up what was a very small bathroom creating a perception of more space. The removal of the box area made a huge difference and added much needed space. Yes that's me contorting in the mirror...and part of me in the left side of the frame....

Remember that wee strip of wood? Pen did a great job tiling it, can't even notice it now!

Change of light.....

This was the area above the toilet originally, in keeping with the theme of the toilet, ugly. The window doesn't let in any light as the outside hallway is on the other side.

Brighter, and cleaner looking. Plus this storage unit is a little more functional than the wooden shelves, and looks a bit better....even if it does have a dent from my front tooth in it (don't ask).

If you look closely in the right corner you might just make out a bit of trim between the painted blue and the tiles, we didn't do as great a job in the corner between tiling and painting, so trim tidies it up. Beware of what lies behind trim I tell you!


Lastly the unit that sits behind the toilet is gettig a few coats of gloss as well, just to give it a wee shine.