Decisions, Decisions, Decisions!

It's been a month of decision making for Paul and me.  With only block walls and concrete floors as a guide, it can be difficult to make choices so early on in the build, such as bathroom layouts in the roof, when you're not quite sure what the angle of pitch is going to look like.  It's an endless balancing act, trying to achieve the highest quality in the overall product and design, against the inevitable cost that comes with it.

We've finally chosen our kitchen supplier, after having worked with two different companies on the project.  It's been a tough call between the two, as they are both extremely good quality brands.  Alex Beaugeard, from Mark Wilkinson Kitchens, is my contact there and a designer with creative flair, who I've known for a while.  Alex knew that it has always been a dream of mine to own one of their kitchens.  At the end of the day, however, we decided to go with Extreme Design and my contact, Jamie Harding, as logistically it was perhaps more practical (Steve Osborne is using Extreme Design for the house at the bottom of the garden and one across the road which he is also building).  I'd given both Alex and Jamie the same brief, so the designs were more or less identical - I'm going for a 'New England' look, which I hope will prove both timeless and appropriate in either a modern or more traditional setting.  Jamie is great to work with and extremely enthusiastic about the project.  As a passionate cook, the appliances were as important to me to get right as the kitchen furniture itself and I've opted for Sub-Zero and Wolf products.  As well as looking beautiful, the kitchen will be a real work-horse, so investing in some heavy duty appliances will hopefully pay off.

Other decisions now made include external doors and windows (although the front door supplier has not yet been chosen), which should be installed in January, the audio visual specification (we will get services installed for certain elements we can't afford to do at the moment, but may want to do later, finances permitting) and I'm currently trying to bring our sanitaryware quote down to within budget, which is not proving easy, as the things I like always seem to be too expensive!!

Bricks, Mortar .... and Shortbread!

How do you ensure your builders tackle their work with gusto and do a top notch job?  You bake them copious quantities of shortbread, flapjacks, triple chocolate muffins, carrot cake, lemon drizzle cake ...

Spaghetti Junction!

The electricians were first through the door and are now most of the way through their first fix. I popped up to London to visit John Cullen in the King's Road in London for some lighting inspiration. It's a great showroom to visit, where you can see different scene settings and the staff are extremely helpful. I took away some samples to show the head electrician on our project.  Choosing the right fittings and the positioning of them is key. One of my pet hates is seeing 'runway' lighting strips in ceilings. So many new builds seem to have this and often it's overkill. Lighting should be there to create mood and drama, as well as provide good ambient and task lighting. 

Two very good books on lighting, which I've pored over are The Lighting Bible and Perfect Lighting.  Both of these contain great ideas and recipes for lighting different  scenes and objects and are well illustrated.


Even choosing the right sockets and light switches has been important to me, as I wanted to find something elegant, that would stand the test of time and not be too commercial looking.  Do you go with chrome/brass with black or white inserts?  I decided on white inserts, as most of the flex from table lamps will be white and they will blend in better with the wall colour.  However, if you were going with dark coloured walls, then black may be the way to go. I would prefer to go with the screwless plates, but this would blow the budget, so will have to bite the bullet on that one.

The plumbers and carpenters are also working their way through now.

That's Life!

Well, it's been a long time since my last blog and so much has happened. Apologies for the delay, dear reader (if there is anyone still out there who hasn't lost the will to live, waiting for an update!). I'm afraid day to day life has got somewhat in the way of my literary ambitions.

I came down with a bad chest infection, which lasted a good three weeks and have been trying to play catch up with clients ever since, in the run up to Christmas. Seems everyone wants furniture/curtains/blinds, etc. in before the festive season, so work has been pretty manic recently.


However, thanks in no small way to Jon, our Site Manager, I'm back on track with bits and pieces to report re progress on the build.

Externally, the house is looking good, but we are assured that there is still a long way to go and things will only get busier. The majority of the brickwork is now completed and the timber roof structure is up. The roofers have insulated between the rafters and the breathable felt membrane has been fixed down with batten. This is an important stage to have reached for the builders, because we are now dry inside (hooray! just looking out the window as I write, I don't think I've ever seen so much snow!). Work has therefore been able to commence internally.

Taking Shape

The internal walls on the ground floor are up, so we can walk around the rooms and imagine how they're going to look when finished.

A Job Well Done

I'd like to mention Gary here, our brickie foreman. A significant part of Gary's job is to work out the exact positioning of the walls and instruct his bricklayers accordingly. He has to be one step ahead of his team all the time, ensuring that he knows the orientation of all the walls and openings, heights of windows and doors, position of stonework, inclusion of damp trays and any other details pertinent to the build. He has to relay all this information to the bricklayers before they start to ensure that none of these details is missed.

At the same time, Gary has to keep production moving smoothly and quickly, because every bricklayer (or trowel as they're known in brickie lingo) is expected to lay about 400 bricks or 200 blocks a day for a house of this size. So the more trowels on site, the more pressure Gary comes under to stay ahead. To quote Jon, "if mistakes are made, then time is lost rectifying them and if the momentum is not kept up, then Gary's company would not earn a margin on the job and he would be quickly replaced. Not an enviable position to be in."

I'm happy to report that Gary is doing a fantastic job, aided and abetted by his team of trowels!

Holiday Pics!

We're on holiday! I'm sitting in the lounge of a hotel that has internet, so that I can access e-mails, etc. and find out what's happening on site (sad, really, I suppose, as I should be by the pool on a sun lounger, reading the latest Dan Brown novel, but instead, I'm agog to see the latest pictures Jon has sent, one or two of which I will attach to this post).

According to Jon, "Gary has reached the top of the second lift and the first floor steels have been fitted. Gary was meticulous in the positioning of the padstones, the concrete pads that the steels sit on. Where they normally allow a 10-20mm tolerance, they are actually close to millimetre perfect on both height and lateral position. This will result in a very flat structural first floor, which is not necessarily critical, as the level is always corrected in the screed, but it's better practice as it avoids shallow areas in the screed, which could potentially lead to cracking."

All the scaffolding has been lifted to within 750mm of first floor slab to avoid the fitters falling from a height. Osborne insisted that all the rooms were swept to allow for airbags to be inflated on the ground floor, to act as a fall arrest for the floor fitters.