And the Wall Came Tumbling Down

There's been more progress at the house. The steel supports for the new kitchen are in, and therefore, the wall that separated the kitchen and former utility room has been knocked down. So, we've got the space for the kitchen we were after.

And more good news, those sexy steel supports passed muster with the building inspector first time round. Excellent!

Here are a couple of pictures of the new space and the steel supports.




I have also gotten the kitchen plans drawn up with cool 3D photos. Very exciting!
Here's the arial picture of the kitchen layout.


There's a little re-working that must go on with the right-hand side of the kitchen, but this is nearly what it'll look like.

We spent some time over there last night marking the cabinets, range, fridge, sink, dishwasher, etc. on the walls so that the electrician could put the cables in the right spot today. To make double sure we'd gotten everything in the right place, the chief builder called for us to come over this afternoon and walk through everything and RE-marked the walls (this time in purple Sharpie marker). Better safe than sorry (sorry will cost us more time and £)!

The house was a hive of activity--with 3 door/window guys, 2 electricians, and the builder and his helper. The new windows and door went in today as well. They look really good compared to the old aluminium [aluminum] windows that were there. In theory, they should be more energy efficient, too! How very green of us. If only the old frames and glass were going to be recycled instead of to the landfill...

It's not all good news and sunshine, though. This week, we were informed that there was NO WAY that the place is going to be ready in 3 weeks time. This, of course, is unfortunate timing, since that's when we are giving up the place in Richmond...which has already been leased to someone new! OOPS! By Monday we should know if the delay will be 2, 3, or 4 weeks. It all comes down the availability of the plumber. If only Uncle Ken lived in London, I wouldn't be having this problem!

So, we're looking into a short-term let [lease] on a furnished 1-bedroom apartment for the time that we're going to be "homeless". Wish us luck!

Oh, and while I'm thinking of it, an update on our eco-system of a back garden [yard]. The frog appears to have hopped on his merry way...there wasn't a decaying frog carcass in the yard. Either that, or a cat carried off the dead frog. I prefer to think that we'll see him again helping to keep the bug population in the garden in check. :)