Months rather than weeks have gone by. Since the last post little happened for a few weeks with complete lack of materials and people during the covid lockdown. Bags of plaster were not available for about six weeks, with out-of-date finish being sold on gumtree for £30/bag. I faffed as much as I could, building an old-skool worktable and old wood walls in the lounge and bathroom from floor joists and boards recycled from the old house .. even then I ground to a halt. Fortunately in June Alex at Abode, whose given me great advice during the project, managed to source plaster and Stuart with team of plasters spent the month plastering the whole house. This allowed Ang (primarily), Phil, Birdie and myself to roll behind them and paint everything. The lounge ceiling with wood beams and inlaid plaster was a inordinate effort but now looks a treat. Final painting was the hallway, hiring a couple of scaffolding towers which Ang hung off reaching into corners. We re-cleaned and treated the stone-work and I made a bespoke concrete/jute chandelier.
During lockdown by chance we talked to Ryan at Square kitchens who came up with a lovely design, good cost and started fitting the kitchen and util rooms in July. I was immediately re-appointed as a sparkie as most of my first fix of elecs were in the wrong place. Kitchen/Utility now await the flooring.
Regular guests during this period has been Andy and son James, who seem to spend -almost- as much time faffing on electrics as I do.
Steve from Kompass (windows guys), his buddy Rob from Ark engineering and I have a joint project designing the staircase. We had a trial fit, remeasure and partial redesign (my fault) in mid July.
From loosing momentum through the spring it was great getting a buzz back on the build in June. Ang/I then shutdown for a few weeks in Ibiza to recharge batteries, snorkel, bike and drink sangria. August is back on the project with a loooong todo list