🎄 House News - Festive 2022 edition! 🎄
As we come up to two years in our house, it’s so nice for us to look back on what it was, and how far it’s come. It really feels like home, and every improvement we make helps us feel warm and comfy and cosy. 😊
Here’s what’s been done since November.
Guest Bathroom
Progress! It’s been about a month since the last update and Simon and Will have been absent for most of it. There just wasn’t enough work that they were able to progress due to a lack of product. Time for another quote from the Ghost of Nozzy Past that we haven’t fully taken to heart.
If we do something like this again I’m just going to ask to have all the products sent to our house straightaway - we’ve got enough space to store it and it would give a much larger buffer for these supply chain issues.
At the end of our last update, they had installed the vanity and created wooden templates for the stone which was to go in the window ledges, niches and the countertop.
After many delays with deliveries on so many of the products that we ordered in June, we finally received the last of our bathroom fittings. Unfortunately the part we were still missing was the stone - which we couldn’t have ordered in advance because it depended on accurate measurements of the tiling. This meant that we couldn’t install the sink which rested upon it, we couldn’t use the toilet as there was nowhere to wash our hands, and the shower wasn’t useable because there was exposed wood/plasterboard in the niches. So even if the products had turned up on time it wouldn’t have helped us use the bathroom any sooner.
We were down to the wire. It was the run up to Christmas and New Year, when all the factories and bathroom shops shut until January. The bathroom designer had already left for the holidays, so we and Simon talked directly to the stone manufacturers. We like to think of them as alchemists that transfigure the wooden templates into stone. We were assured the stone would be delivered around 8am, the last Thursday before Christmas. We spent a rather restless morning waiting for them to appear. At noon, the manufacturer office closed for the holidays and were unreachable by phone. The stone arrived at 1pm 😬. To say we were relieved is a massive understatement!!
In the span of a day and a half, Simon and Will installed everything: our shower glass, the mirror, ledges, countertop, sink, backsplash and radiator. We can now have this bathroom available for guests coming in the next few weeks. We are so so pleased with how it looks. Bling!
The silicon was still curing as we left to head off for Christmas, but when we get back we’ll be able to have the first test shower! An excellent Christmas present to us 🎁
Of course, it’s still only done*. There are some bits of paint which need a touch up, we still need to find a light for above the sink, and we want to add some hooks and decorate a bit.
Hallway
The hallway is done*!
Last time, we said that the last remaining things were:
A stair runner, boxing in the electrics, getting a solution for coat and shoe storage.
We are delighted to tell you that we succeeded on all fronts.
Ok so we didn’t quite get there by the end of the year. We are on the lookout for a nice bench with storage. It’s pretty functional now already despite the shoes everywhere.
The only part of this that we actually did ourselves was the coat rack. Nikki found some nice hooks in a local shop, found a suitable bit of wood in the basement and set about routing the edges down and giving it a nice coat of paint. (the first coat it would have on, hehe)
We unluckily chose a spot right where a hidden cable sits in the wall, but noticed before any zapping occurred. We moved the fixing a little to the left, and the offset will hopefully not be noticeable once we paint over the screwheads.
Utility Room
The utility room is pretty cold at this time of year. Unrelatedly, we haven’t progressed this much since the last update.
Our worktop was the right sort of shape, but the edges were still very sharp. We borrowed Simon’s vacuum sander and it made quick and clean work of rounding over the visible edges. Despite being the right sort of shape viewed from the top, it’s developed a bit of a curve from the side - we’re hoping it will settle down once the wood dries out fully.
Next, we needed to seal it. We used a hardwax oil, wiped it around and buffed it in, with two coats on each side. The oil really brings out the colour of the wood!
The finished worktop went back in the cold utility room, we shut the door, and now we can forget about it until after the new year.
Radiators
Having sorted out the heat problem elsewhere in the house, we had four radiators with faulty TRVs (thermostatic radiator valves) which we needed to deal with. Wiggling with pliers no longer did anything. We did some research, bought some new TRVs off Screwfix, and set about draining the radiators to fit them. We’re no strangers to this process so we were feeling pretty confident.
It turns out that TRVs aren’t quite as interchangable as we’d thought…
Aaarggh!
What to do?
Well, we’re basically plumbing experts now - why not break out the pex pipes and fix this ourselves? We considered it (briefly), but the TRVs only work with copper pipe so we’d need floor <-> copper <-> pex <-> copper <-> TRV. Not an acceptable solution!
We asked Simon for his advice, and he suggested soldering some extra copper pipe on, with a collar to join over the gap. This was a bit more than we were prepared for (or had the tools for!), but Simon offered to do it for us. We were fortunate he was there!
💡 Simon's Top Tip for Soldering 💡
The important bit is not to set things on fire
Not all of the pipes required extending. The ones that didn’t, however, had a different challenge in the form of an olive. These are rings of copper or brass which compression fit when you tighten the bolts between the valve and the pipe. To get a new valve on, we had to take the old olives off without damaging the pipe. This involves sawing through part of the olive (but not the pipe), then turn a screwdriver in the resulting groove to ping it off (with suitable eye protection).
Annoyingly, we had issues with the other end of the TRVs as well. It turns out there’s a connector that goes between the radiator and the TRV called a radiator tail. The tails that the old TRVs used were completely opposite to the new TRVs (metric vs imperial, male vs female, chalk vs cheese - completely wrong!). The good news is that the new TRVs came with appropriate tails, but the bad news is that you need a special tool to remove them - a radiator spanner, which is just an enormous allen key. Simon to the rescue again - we got to borrow his. Pity he had to take his tools with him when he left!
Eventually we got everything back together and spent the next week bleeding the bleedin’ radiators, but now we’ve got a lovely toasty house 🔥🏠🔥
Garden
We have not done a lot to our garden since arriving. It’s been sitting there as a nice place to relax in summer, but a bit of a guilt-ridden worry pit otherwise. Our neighbour Jenny has been very kind in helping us keep it under control and healthy, and letting us know what needs doing, but there’s too much to do and she’s not superman.
To the professionals!
After we had rung what seemed like every gardener in the South West only to find them all busy, we had a recommendation of someone who does another neighbour’s garden. We booked them for a one-off garden blitz to help us get things under control.
The blitz was a much bigger transformation than we thought it would be. We found an entire patio below the dodgy willow. The fir by the secret stair came down. The mock orange by the gate has been cut right back down. All in all it is our same garden but tidy and more open. We are looking forward to when the verdure comes back, to screen the sections from each other.
We also found this bistro set in a local market so we can sit further down the garden on sunnier days.
The guys who came round to do the blitz were great, really chatty, knowledgeable and did a fantastic job. They came just in time!
We’re going to get them back next year to help us grow the garden back with a little more thought and direction.
🎄 AOB 🎄
In this time we have also done some assorted small jobs. The lightswitch in our bedroom has been changed to a dimmer switch. We’ve passed our probation and become official Bath Residents with a Bath Discovery card (discounts on local shops and restaurants, and free entry to a number of attractions around the city). We have replaced some lightbulbs around the place. We have finally nailed the entryway floorboards back down.
We’re starting to plan our priorities for house improvements for the coming year. Probably some more painting, maybe the stairs, you’ll have to stay tuned to find out ;)
Merry Christmas with love from us both, and a very happy New Year to you all.