This week has been deeply frustrating and I still feel like we are just running through treacle. It is no secret I wanted to be open by now; and I believe if all we’d had to focus on was the shop, we’d have achieved it.

However, the flat is taking ages. Tradesmen drama keeps pushing us back, as well as the place itself just constantly throwing up problems and choices.

At the beginning of the week I had to accept that the bathroom wasn’t going to get done. The main boss man, Ashley, is away and the remaining team have too much on. We asked them to take our entire suite away as it has been sat in the middle of our shop for three weeks. Our concern was that the longer it sat around, the risk of damage increased. So kindly, the A. Jupes team collected everything and agreed to meet back towards the end of June.

Despite it just being – circumstance. I was so frustrated! Seb and I had taken our much needed time off to paint the bathroom in preparation for the plumbers fitting it and the fact remains – we can’t move in until we have this room functional!

However, we welcomed All Aspects Plastering onto the team to take over and finish off the rest of our home. There was so much to put right from the previous plasterers mistakes and so much awkward, wonky parts that had just been…left, by the old plasterers.

They worked, worked, worked but complications with when and how long it took to put in our new door and window in the snug, meant they didn’t manage to finish on time. They did however, manage to get half of the work done and it transformed the top corridor and hallway and despite the delays, they did do a fantastic job and were a real pleasure to have around.

They worked hard, they were neat, clean, tidy and efficient. They promised to return on Monday and I am so looking forward to having everything dusty done, so we can start really seeing the light at the end of the tunnel…I hope.

I’d like to just take this moment to say that Clearview did us a MASSIVE favour by rushing through our door and window order/fitting as it was and we couldn’t be happier with the outcome. The delay wasn’t their fault. You can see from the largest image below, that the ceiling started to fall down as they replaced the window. It was just…one of those things… We’ve bought a really old property and this was a stark reminder.

A positive distraction was the progress made in the shop. It was nice to have Peter from Ignite Carpentry back on site, who made light work of our shop shelving. The shelves supplied by The Pig Shed look absolutely brilliant and we are proud to have sourced reclaimed timber, locally, from the Beaulieu Estate.

Peter also started working on our guest room floor but the day ran & ran… Sadly it wasn’t finished.

It really was a week of reunions and Lee came back to help repair the front of the shop. We realised when the sign-writer came for his appraisal that the front of the shop facade  was rotten.

When Lee took off the rotten panel, he revealed the most wonderful old sign! We so wanted to take it down and restore it & keep it. However, if he’d taken it out, our window would have fallen out, so we left it there, covered over it and hid it for a future owner to discover and enjoy.

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Our last task of the week was to pull down our final laths and plaster fallen ceiling. It took us …ages! We got absolutely covered. We were sick to death of it by the end of Sunday and praying that it really was the last time we’d have to do this…

I’m so ready to see these walls and ceilings go back up. I’m so desperate to feel like we are walking into our home and not into a building site.

Roll on Monday. Roll on the END of Monday. Please. Let’s start seeing the light…