The Sneaky Magpie

It has been a while since I posted about our new home. Things are happening every week but sometimes it’s just odd jobs that are not very visible, or gardening.

Over the past couple of weekends hubby installed the worktops and Ikea units in the kitchen. I also have my favorite kitchen equipment (next to the KitcheAid of course) – the dishwasher! It has saved me a lot of valuable free time and the dishes are spotless and squeaky.

There are still few things to do like the tiles need to be stuck back on, some of them exchanged for more even ones, wall below the sink needs to be plastered, we need to add lights above the worktops and get another kitchen cabinet. The wonderful old cupboards will get stripped and refreshed, possibly with color, brass handles will get uncovered , the present paintwork is shabby. I would love a shelf for my cook books and in an ideal world somewhere to display my vintage crockery. And we need some artwork on the wall. And a new cooker! Obviously I also need a whole lot of kitchen equipment, I managed to ruin a pan the other day by sterilising my breast pump without any water, the bub and I had to evacuate very fast, the smell was atrocious.

The table got new lamp shade, it’s a vintage style shade from Labour and Wait. The catkins are from Wimbledon Common. We had a proper spring day yesterday, warm and sunny but the rain returned today. A guiltless day in bed it is.

Before.

After.

Worktop and sink are a new addition, tiling to be redone in the corner.

Before before.

Before.

After but not there yet.

And on the other side. Before before.

Before.

After but not there yet.

We saved the original tiles and soon they will be back on the walls.

The kitchen feels great and homey at last. Those few finishing touches will make it look beautiful.

I felt very inspired by all the improvements and excited to have my KitchenAid back in action so some roasting and baking was in order.

We had visitors and we prepared Jamie’s beef. Our topside was marinated in Worcester sauce, rosemary, mustard, salt, pepper, olive oil and garlic.

I watched Raymond’s Kitchen Secrets and the baking episode was great. I was never a fan of his even though a 5 course meal at Le Manoir was spectacular I was put off by The Restaurant. When I was pregnant and naively thought that being with a baby gives you plenty of free time I planned to learn two things: choux pastry and macarons. Obviously I attempted neither but Raymond gave me a bit of confidence and soon I will be practicing. This weekend I had time to bake his lemon cake and let me tell you, it is delicious. You can find the recipe here.

The house we bought a couple of months ago looks very very different now however it is not finished. None of the rooms are 100% ready, bathroom is the most finished but needs accessories and storage solutions.

The living room needs unpacking and a table. And a bookshelf!

The bedroom needs wardrobes.

The kitchen needs a lot but we managed to put great rubber floor down this weekend, it cheered me up a lot. All done by hubby.

The staircase needs everything done pretty much and the baby room needs furniture, it is a storage now.

And of course there is the garden, that needs digging and planting. Perhaps this weekend.

So I thought I would share few textures with you, mostly of floors.

The kitchen (with baby laundry drying which is ALWAYS the case). The floor is rubber tiles, it’s a very nice shade of green, this picture doesn’t show its full beauty.

The bathroom walls. We went for classic Metro tiles.

The bathroom floor. Green Victorian tiles.

Elsewhere. Sea grass carpets.

I get a weekly letter from a pregnancy website, last week I was informed that I will feel the urge to nest which is pretty fortunate since we got keys to our new abode and there is so much to do!

All my weekends and a couple of weeks of holidays will be spent on all sort of house repairs, meeting builders, choosing tiles, paint, taps etc.

Last weekend was fairly productive, the house doesn’t have central heating so the only way to keep warm was  being active. I have stripped the wallpaper in the living room, baby room, on the staircase and half of the bedroom while hubby dismantled a wall of wardrobes and started a number of other things.

Old wallpaper.

Old wardrobes.

Work in progress plus a bonus topaz fire place we discovered. This is staying for sure.

As we took a break the sun started to set and the light in the bedroom was magnificent.

There is a number of cool lamp shades in the house.

Some amazing kitchen cupboards that will be painted, the kitchen itself is a great space and it will look amazing.

The bathroom is Art Deco and we planned on a slight update but after looking at it for a while we decided it is a bit mad and not in such a great condition so we will change it. It would be impossible to install a shower and btw I refuse to own a house with separate taps. We will however try not to damage it and perhaps resell it.

The list of things to do is endless. And there is the packing of our belongings too, a box a day which so far has been successful, selling stuff on ebay, buying tools and building materials.

Must stay focused, this weekend we need to achieve:

meeting 2 builders and a plumber

stripping the rest of wallpaper in the bedroom and kitchen

removing the rest of the bedroom wardrobes

removing a corner cupboard from the kitchen and a crazy concrete shelf inside of it!

starting on the first coat for all the woodwork if possible

Hopefully the central heating, plumbing, electrics and plastering can be done next week by professionals. Watch this space for progress updates.

I have to plan meals very carefully too, it’s so easy just to have a take away but I don’t want to waste all the fruit and veg from Riverford so all kind of oven based dishes and stews are being prepared in advance. On top of that I am slowly but surely emptying my freezer and cupboards, the less we have to take with us the better.

The baby room would be the main focus for most but at the moment I only have a vague idea in my head and no time to think about it in detail. Besides the baby will be sleeping in our bedroom for some time so no rush there!