...updates section (old stuff) continued from Main House Page...

03/02/06 - It might be a little late, but Happy New Year! Since the last update (was it really June 2005?!) we've finally finished the kitchen, hall, landing and stairs! To think that in the May '05 update below  we thought we were close then!! You'd think after 3 years I'd have learnt to estimate these things a little better.. Still, they do say the best things come to those wait and we've waited long enough for this - the house is finished (or as finished as these things can get)!

07/06/05 - After nearly two years the Guestbook is back! Please do leave your comments as whilst I can see from the logs that the site gets quite a few visitors it would be great to find out who you are! You can view/sign the guestbook here...

22/05/05 - More hard graft in order to try and meet the self-imposed target of completion prior to our summer holiday (July) has resulted in a number of jobs being completed in the kitchen and hall. We're now very close to finally decorating...

01/04/05 - A few more updates following on from some significant work on the kitchen (fireplace), hallway (everything!) and gardens.  Detail is listed in the Progress section.

06/03/05 - The chance has finally arisen to take some time out to update the website (no, the house isn't finished... we're just too shattered for real work!). Quite a lot of work has been carried out in the last six months covering the front and back gardens, kitchen and dining room. The detail is listed in the Progress section or, given they say 'a picture speak a thousand words', the photos are here.

22/08/04 - Not much to report apart from a weekend ripping the boiler apart.

13/05/04 - Well... err... Happy New Year! We may well be five months into the year but this is the first update! Update to the website that is - the house has still been (massively) worked on... Recent renovations include a kitchen reorganisation (no redecoration... yet!), chimney capping and a new lounge! Details of the work is summarised in the 'Progress' section. AND!!! Roger Cook paid a visit! Would you believe it though - we weren't in! :-( Oh well.. maybe next time...

19/10/03 - More garden action - Gary was let loose in the garden with the potentially deadly cocktail of a pile of old fences and an incinerator bin. The life-threatening incident was briefly caught on camera along with the subsequent rebuild of all the fences - although it's only fair to point out that these incidents are not related. Also, some finishing touches have gone into Mat's room, namely a painted door and a few pictures on the wall which finally 'complete' this room... These additions don't quite justify a completely separate page hence they've been included with the old ones here...

28/08/03 - It's been a while! And what better way to get back into the swing of things than a spot of destruction?! This time it was the turn of the 'outhouse' (known locally as something unprintable here..) along with a few fences, all the shrubbery, an alien plant-form, a ... You get the picture - speaking of which they're here...

25/05/03 - The lounge has now been emptied (into the loft mainly so we won't be seeing at lot of that again!) and a carpet from Mat's parents' lounge fitted until we get round to properly decorating. We've also bought a 3-piece suite and 25" TV so we don't have to all sit on the garden furniture in the kitchen squinting at a small TV perched on an upturned bin! Ahhh the luxury.

29/04/03 - As the boredom of fitting an outside tap kicked in Gary decided to chuck a brick at a metal fish hanging up on the 'outhouse' wall (like you do) - unfortunately he missed and ended up smashing one of the windows... (this didn't really matter as we'll be knocking the outhouse down this summer) Not being ones to learn from our mistakes it was then my turn to 'aim for the fish' - I too suffered a ballistic miscalculation and managed to smash the window immediately above. Not to worry... this is a prime example of our bad luck which is nothing new to us so we shalln't be losing sleep over it - besides, we did at least get the tap finished.

05/04/03 - A carpet has finally been laid! That and painted walls are a much welcome luxury for us! Mat's room is all but complete now... the walls are painted, wood varnished, furniture built, curtains hung and the junk from the store.. err lounge.. is making its way upstairs.

27/03/03 - Whilst we may have been slack in updating the website recently this is partly due to the real work being done in the real world! The bathroom is 'almost finished' (as it has been for the last couple of months!) and Mat's room is almost done too! Published pictures of all this have been thin on the ground because we don't want to lessen the final impact! The work in Mat's room includes finishing the 'making good' around the windows (using timber frames and plasterboard), fitting coving and skirting, replacing some of the old floorboards, taking the hearth out and fitting new supporting joists/boards, re-plumbing/cleaning the radiator, installing a new ring main, wiring in TV/telephone/network, replacing lighting, papering ceiling and walls (15 rolls/75sqm worth!), filling/staining/varnishing the skirting, emulsioning the walls (Atlantic Surf 2 and 4!), painting the doorframe, and... deep breath(!)... fitting a touch-sensitive light switch(!) Phew!

28/01/03 - The tiling in the bathroom is almost finished (16m^² worth!) and the 'making good' around Mat's windows has finally been tackled. A ring main has also been fitted upstairs increasing the number of sockets from just 8 to 22!

08/01/03 - Happy New Year! We've done a fir few odd bits over Christmas including bathroom and kitchen floors, electrics in the 'utility room', replacing the old fuses and consumer unit, dedicated 40A cooker supply and fitting a new catflap and doorbell (no, not for the cats!)!

22/12/02 - Two radiators (towel and standard) have now been installed and plumbed in - heating in the bathroom at last! Mat also managed smash the cistern cover - d'oh! - a new one is on order.

10/12/02 - Given the lack of updates recently you'd be forgiven for thinking we'd jacked the whole project in - as tempting as this is it's just because a lack of time in the evenings and too much booze at the weekends has meant not much has been done worth taking pictures of! However, we have at least temporarily fitted the three bathroom lights and fan (chrome!) -.

21/11/02 - The bathroom roof, and most of the walls, have now been insulated ready for dry-lining.

16/11/02 - A sudden requirement to cook 120 Onion Bhajis allowed a short break from DIY so, given we've nothing else to publish, we've uploaded the event here...

14/11/02 - More windows!

13/11/02 - The bathroom window and French doors have now been fitted (not by us!).

11/11/02 - We've redone the plumbing to allow for some underfloor ventilation, painted the lower kitchen walls and filled in the wall/floor gaps - the kitchen is pretty much ready for refitting!

10/11/02 - Two new residents to the house! Frankie and Elmo have now been installed and they're settling in well. Elmo spends most of time sleeping (nothing new there) whilst Frankie keeps crawling under lifted floorboards and crawling around in the floors/ceilings... She's clearly not aware what curiosity did.

03/11/02 - Mat's birthday! However, it's just another day in the DIY-or-Die house - we've finally finished the plumbing in the kitchen and utility room and also finished the kitchen floor!

26/10/02 - New pictures added - a bird in Mat's room! Okay, so it's just a pigeon but it's a start.. We're now living once again in relative luxury since buying a bunkbed and temporarily plumbing in a toilet.

21/10/02 - More pictures added - Bathroom partition built and floor levelled.

13/10/02 - More pictures added - Kitchen floor almost rebuilt!

11/10/02 - 'Current DIY Project(s)' section added detailing our current 'progress'... Could also be called 'Destruction List'...!

11/10/02 - More pictures added - Kitchen floor removed (water damage).

03/10/02 - More pictures added - First night both sleeping in the house although it's not quite ready!

02/10/02 - Guestbook added please view/sign it!

01/10/02 - Many thanks to John Holman for providing some pictures of Roger Cook outside the house!