So it’s the case that when one (washing machine) door opens, another closes.

We’ve had the washing machine a day. I’ve done two loads, but P went to the laundrette last week and doesn’t have enough laundry yet. (We have different ideas about colour separation and what constitutes a load, so I’m not allowed to do his washing.)

I need to do a third load, but there’s nowhere left in the house for wet laundry.

In other house news, the kitchen engineer (distinct from the designer) came around today. He left colour printouts of the CADed design. But that wasn’t good enough for me. I insisted he leave JPGs as well!

New kitchen pics

The guy said that the woman he saw yesterday is having her new kitchen put in on the 11 Dec, so maybe the before Christmas claim is credible after all.

There are down sides. We have to do some of the preparation. The kitchen firm won’t do anything like floor coverings, tiling or walls, or put in shelves or additional electric sockets so we’ll probably need lots of extra help once it’s done. And jiminy, they’ll be here so soon! There’s loads we need to do first, including clearing the kitchen, removing things from the walls. And buying appliances in time for them to fit.

And we still won’t get to find out what’s under the plasterboard in the kitchen.

A salesman cold called us 1pm on Sunday.  Designer turned up 8pm.  Stayed all night.  Measured kitchen while we watched Torchwood.  Gave very reasonable quote, promised to instal new kitchen before Christmas.  Will get rid of old kitchen, which is rare amongst kitchen people, in our experience.

We signed at 1230am.

Are we mad?  all the characteristics of a hard sell.  But it seemed like a decent deal… Googling the Space Kitchens gets some good reviews and some bad ones.  And some tips we should have known before talking to the guy as well as the ones that we figured out for ourselves.

Still… we could be cooking Christmas dinner in a new kitchen…

One of the things we knew we had to do with the house was redo the kitchen, and as a part of that, we were going to find room for a washing machine.

Circumstances change, and we’re not going to be able to redo the kitchen as soon as we had hoped. P can’t live without a washing machine (I quite like my weekly frequent trips to the laundrette – they give me a chance to read trashy fiction)

So, we’re trying to install a washing machine in a former downstairs loo cupboard. When the loo was removed, all the plumbing and electrics were too, so we’ve had to put in new sockets and new water pipes and new waste water pipes.

Today, the plumber who drilled holes through the brick warned us that the bricks are not in terribly good condition, and even suggested we get the surveyor back to advise. They shatter when drilled, which apparently bricks shouldn’t do, and the mortar is missing, and they don’t appear to be supporting any weight.

So, now, although we finally have pipes and power, we need get the structural issues looked at before we can actually put a washing machine in. Bah.

We have finally got around to getting lampshades from a variety of sources.  At last, every bare bulb in the house is covered and we have a variety of interesting light sources in our lounge/diner. It’s been exhausting trawling around various budget shade shops in the city this afternoon, but we’re finally more or less happy with everything we have.

Except the table lamp in the lounge.  We’re close; we have the shade we want, but we’re still searching for a really suitable lamp base.  So we’ll let it sit on a bedside lamp for now and maybe go antiquing in the Spring for a character base to sit the shade on in the fulness of time.

Today a nice young man came round and insulted my loft.

Guido has details of t-shirt I don’t think I’ll be wearing.

In spite of all the problems…

in spite of the prospect of indentured servitude for the rest of my life…

in debt beyond my wildest dreams…

I love the house.

The Money Pit

We’ve moved in. We’ve moved every box from the old house to the new one and now we’re drowning in the tat of ages. This house is much, much smaller than the previous one–we know that now that we’ve shifted the tat out of the previous one and can see the walls again.

Things hurrying up a little. Drains can’t be done now until the New Year, but we’re pretty much booked in.

The builder can start next week. Or at least he says he will.

Removal men are booked for 14th Dec.

We’ve already painted and recarpeted three rooms.

This is starting to get exciting now!

Carpets are being laid later today (Tuesday) after which removal men move the bigger stuff, easing the space pressure in our current house which is presently furnished twice. (We rent furnished, and have a spare set of dining furniture, lounge furniture, and any number of beds.)

So much packing to do! And we will be moving in before fixing the drains or getting the building work done which could be interesting.

But still — nice new carpets. With thick thermal underlay.

The electrician has now finished, and phoned to tell us so. This is good, because it means we can get on with carpetting and decorating ready to start actual moving in in the not too distant future.

Electrician reported some of his findings, the most worrying of which is that the house had perhaps the most critical electrical fault possible, that the live and neutral were reversed at the fuse box, meaning the entire house was wired backwards. Now fixed.

Oh, and he said as he was leaving, the house was suddenly much colder. It sounded like the boiler was still working fine, but the radiators just weren’t working at all.

This sounded like bad news to us so we called round late last night, me on the way home from work and P on his way home from a rehearsal, to find the entire place freezing (well, 8 deg).

Flashing lights on the boiler. Eventually track down boiler manual, which is the installation guide, and a little too technical, but the fault is easily identified from the flashing lights.

It’s the sci-fi cop out of all time. Reversed polarity. Easily explained by the fact that the electrician corrected the previous polarity fault.

Must phone leccy back tomorrow. See if he can bring his sonic screwdriver.