Office, boiler & outdoor furniture

This is the office nook with the desk and computer back in place. As you can see the boiler is kind of... dominant, and while a lovely bit of kit, it does make some odd noises. We've had a quote in from the Polish builder to house it in a cupboard with shelving underneath. This solution will muffle some of the gurgles and clicks. Not sure exactly when that's going to happen - we need to have the discussion about whether hiding the boiler in a cupboard will add value to the house in the first instance (to get through the mortgage valuation). If not, it can wait for a couple of months.

We arrived back in London on Sunday at 5am and got home a couple of hours later to find our garden was covered in snow. We knew it'd been snowing thanks to the panicked round-the-clock news coverage, but as it happens, the snow was beautiful and despite coming from a tropical climate, we didn't think it was particularly cold.

Annoyingly now that the snow has melted, I can see that three coats of Ronseal hasn't saved the wood on the table (which we only bought this summer) - the wood looks absolutely knackered and swollen with moisture. I'd think about swapping it with our lovely neighbour's identical table but I suspect they might notice. Or worse, be reading this blog!

Cabinet stop gap

Another Friday night at Ikea. We must be getting pretty good at it now as we don't fight any more. Partly due to knowing all the short cuts around the store, but also learning the tricks - such as eating first, parking near the lifts where you exit from rather than near the entrance and making a list.

On this trip we bought the two metal cabinets mentioned in an earlier post, and two plastic trays. Not bad. The cabinets in their massive flat pack boxes only just made it into the Volvo (had to remove the back seat headrests though), but were remarkably easy to assemble.

I ordered a 37" flatscreen Toshiba Regza from Amazon including all the cables, a temporary indoor antenna and related bits for under £500 (there goes the holiday fund) which arrived the next day. The upside of having a second TV is that Rob can watch sport and the kids can watch Spongebob... and I can read the newspaper supplements in peace.

The room is starting to feel really useful, instead of cold and bland. We'll get a third cabinet actually, since this will be our storage for the next couple of years. Looking forward to getting all our artwork up on the walls this side of Christmas.

Now to find a plumber who actually shows up as we need that boiler replaced, and soon.

Click the photo below to see a supersize panorama taken at the weekend...

Splashback

Img from wallpaper.com

This photo is rocking the Eames/concrete/white aesthetic and reminded me of a more upmarket industrial version of our house. Also, I have no new photos of my actual house to post as nothing has happened lately.

Rob finally heard back from Teia at the weekend. He's still planning on coming to do a few odd jobs in the next couple of weeks, but he's going to give us back the money for the splashback so we can sort that directly with the glass company. (Annoying that this wasn't sorted months ago as I've had several messy accidents involving a high pressure espresso machine and wet coffee grinds). The bespoke cabinet is officially on hold till we replenish the ever decreasing house fund, which will be some time off as we now need to replace the boiler.

Our neighbours moved out on Friday and the new ones moved in the same day - the new people have been reading my blog (HELLO!) thanks to having a friend in common (London can be a village). Despite reading my marathon-angst-fest they've keen to remodel the ground floor of their house in a similar way to ours. I have to say, despite the time and the money, it's totally worth it - our house is a pleasure to hang out in!

The war cabinet

So the week has drawn to a close and no, Teia and Isaac didn't make it back this week, or return any calls. So there is still no splashback, remedied counter top surface, yada yada yada. My patience has officially worn thin. It's been nearly a year for petesake, and the job so far should have taken around four months. Five tops.

The reason we're waiting on Teia to do the work is because we've already paid him for the materials and would be £600 out of pocket if we let him off the hook. Isaac on the other hand is responsible for the concrete counter top, and unfortunately it didn't seal properly so his return visit is effectively correcting work from before.

The other bit of work that Teia had included in his costings was the construction and installation of a bespoke wall cabinet. The original purpose of which was to house this ugly boiler, but would also provide storage and a fold-out bar (as per mid century storage designs by Pierre Koenig). I'm thinking a high gloss finish on MDF should do the trick so if you know of any cabinet makers near London please leave a comment with their details.

Storage and stuff

We've had quite a few sympathetic emails from friends who thought the timing was unlucky ie: moving into an unfinished home just when a bitter cold snap hits the UK. I have to say, it's actually no colder than a Wellington* winter (*in NZ, where we're from). I lived in several wooden houses there which were badly insulated, had no central heating or double glazing and were impossible to keep warm. Hunkering down in London with the frost/ice/snow is sort of nostalgic...

Speaking of warmth, and therefore gas and boilers - we are getting bespoke cabinetry made to house the boiler, as well as hide an assortment of objects. It'll run the length of the extension wall. There'll be a bar in there, a hole for a TV and shelves for cookbooks, miscellaneous debris etc. Pictured is the architect's plan for the cabinetmaker to work from. For a while we considered Dieter Rams shelving from Vitsoe but decided that something with doors that was custom built would work better. Also, a colleague said Dieter's shelving could look too industrial for residential spaces. She's an expert in these matters and I'm happy to defer to people who know about these things.