The pain finally caught up with us both this week. I’ve got a hernia and await surgery – Seb has just reached his physical limit. We have become like walking zombies, going into each day on auto pilot. Hack, Shovel, Bag Up, Carry Down, Repeat.

However, the first half of the shop has started to take shape and we felt spurred on by the progress.

Our electricians were back in on Monday and Tuesday finishing the rest of the flat and completing their first fix. Meanwhile Seb and I decided to tackle the valley and seeing as I was the only one out of us who was small enough to climb through the VELUX window – I found myself enjoying the sunshine from our filthy roof.

Two bags of weeds and earth later, we have a beautifully clear valley, clear gutters and…oh does anyone really care?! Anyway, getting back through the window was highly amusing and only mildly excruciating.

We also kicked off the paint-job, starting in the bedroom. White washing and finally applying the paint I’d chosen all those weeks ago…

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Seb has little patience for painting so instead decided to focus on the fireplaces in the shop, hammering and banging out the last of the bricks to open up the final two flus. He also spent a painstaking amount of time stripping wallpaper at the back of the shop in preparation for the plasterers who came in at the weekend to finish the shop.

It is starting to feel like we are making headway and all these baby steps will soon turn into giant leaps of progress soon…hopefully…

I need to do a massive thanks to the brothers – Nick & Jacob – who both lent their man-strength to the project this week. Lifting down all the “crap” that I couldn’t lift and Seb couldn’t do on his own. Jacob hadn’t anticipated his visit to the forest to include a detailed tour of the local dump and I don’t think Nick pictured himself splattered in white paint from whitewashing  our new kitchen ceiling. Both settled for lunch as a payment and we are incredibly grateful!

The plasters did yet another incredible job – working tirelessly to get it finished within the two days. They lined our fireplace at the back and levelled the floor throughout. We only have a tiny section left un-plastered as we didn’t manage to reroute the waste pipe for the new bathroom in time – But it is starting to feel more and more like a shop!

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We have a self imposed “Grand Opening” deadline of May 27th so only a few more back breaking weeks and we should be open for business – quite literally! Now where did I put that paint brush…