Saturday 29 October 2011

Wake Up and Smell the Bitumen!

It's been a while since my last post as things have gotten quite busy for me with work and friends / family in town.  Mark's parents were in town 2 weekends ago and were a tremendous help with the house (even though we wish they were relaxing instead!).

Mark and I have been slaving away on some reclaimed flooring that we decided to purchase for the new loft.  At £50 off per square meter for teak parquet, I jumped at the deal!  But as with everything in life, you get what you pay for...


It all arrived in a pile and the smell of bitumen (black tar on the back of the block) makes you want to cry.  Mark and I have spent almost two weeks scraping each wood block which are all covered in old paint, dried & hairy carpet adhesive and/or a gummy substance.


We've definitely made some headway with it.  Now we need to find someone to lay it for us (unless we decide to get EXTREMELY ambitious) and then it will be sanded to a completely different color.  I know it'll be great in the end.  That's what I keep telling myself every time we wake up to throbbing hands and the smell of bitumen.




Saturday 8 October 2011

Days Away

We've taken about a week off from the building which was necessary to recharge our batteries.  Dave  says he's about 2 more days from finishing.  This week he tiled the balcony (beautifully, I might add!!), installed more spots in the hallway and installed new fire alarms.  Mark painted the entrance curbs black on the outside of the house and painted the stone window sills.

The iPhone photos don't do the work justice but the outside of our house has never looked better (we just need to remove the painters tape)!


Balcony tiles (facing into the loft)

Now we just need a balustrade

Let there be light