What a difference 5 days makes

This week, Graham came round to do our floors. He was an absolutely lovely man with an obvious passion for his work, and I can't recommend him highly enough

Having said that, I have found the whole process a bit stressful. I am not great with dealing with setbacks, and this project was full of setbacks. Day 1, Gray's car broke down, so he couldn't bring the sanding equipment. He brought all the filler he could carry, but it only covered 3/4 of the living room. Day 2 was all fine but day 3 brought a complaint from the downstairs neighbour and day 4 I learned that downstairs neighbour works shifts and sleeps during the day, so sanding upstairs was not ideal. He was pretty angry. I grovelled. Then I paid for him to go to a hotel for the day which thankfully seemed to keep him happy.

Because I thought G would only be working a maximum of 4 days, I only got a permit until Thursday, so yesterday frantically called the council to get it extended. They agreed, but didn't deliver it. G had to go round first thing this morning to pick it up. I was so so nervous that everything wasn't going to be finished by the weekend. We have been living in a building site this week, with most of our possessions piled up either in the hallway or the kitchen. Accessing the fridge and stove (and washing machine and sink) was pretty much impossible. Even making a cup of tea was a bit of a palava.



But now it is done. And how! It looks amazing. I can't believe this is the same floor. I can't believe this is the same flat! The colour on the floor is light and bright and it makes the whole flat feel brighter. We had planned to carpet the hallway, but after seeing what a difference the sanding can make, we might have to get the wood just treated in there as well. It'll be a heck of a lot easier without having to shift all the furniture around...

Painting

Because we are generally crap, I realised that the painting in our flat was Never Going to Finish. So I hired the cousin of a friend who is temporarily out of work to come and paint. Hoorah! And it looks great. He did the final coats in the bedroom (it needed TWO MORE. That means it needed FIVE COATS OF PAINT to cover up the faux Roman stucco effect lovely Nige had left us), painted the skirting boards and sanded/painted the door frames. Yay! Lovin' it.

Two weeks until the floor man comes.

Update

So, a lack of updating shows that we are clearly not doing a damn thing on the flat. Which is a shame because there is still a lot that needs doing. SO I am making a bold statement here, but I think I would like to be finished by the end of the year. Our fixed rate mortgage comes to an end, and we'll be on a lower interest rate from January, so if we finish it, then we are free to either sell it and move on, or rent it out on the lower interest rates, or stay and enjoy it. Either way, it has to move on.

So, today I have had someone round to give us a quote on doing up the floorboards. The price was pretty reasonable, so I think I'm going to get him in. I have hired a friend's cousin to come round and finish off all the sanding and painting of skirting boards and the last bits of painting on the walls, and once that's done, I can get someone in to do the carpet in the hallway. There is then work to be done in the kitchen and bathroom, but although we had grand plans for amazing shower units and a new kitchen, realistically I think for now we will keep this work to a minimum.

There. I have posted it. If, in three months time, I post again and say that we still haven't done anything, then that will be very sad, but not that unlikely. SO much work, so little time, and so little motivation!