I must apologise for going silent on you all. Things have been a tad manic but my Uncle Chassy called to chase me up on the blogging and I promised him one by Monday…so…by Wednesday isn’t too bad?!

The deadline of – being finished by Saturday the-20-something of June was really optimistic. However, it was imposed because Seb and I were off for a break in Florida thanks to KM & my MUM; so we wanted to be able to relax as much as possible and not be sat round the pool discussing sink wastes and skirting boards.

We really did do our absolute best & so did our tradesmen. We worked dawn to midnight, yet, we didn’t exactly hit our target.

The bathroom continued to be a room of major concern & every time Ashley (boss man) listed off all the things left to do – it just seemed to sound longer & longer.

The kitchen sink also continued to prove itself hugely challenging – finding firstly a tap with a long enough thread to fit through the Granit & secondly to find waste that was both thick enough & wide enough for it too. I think all the guys from A. Jupe just wanted to give up & never come back but they did persevere and try about 40 options before they stumbled across the right one.

3 weeks later… It was all done.

Which reveals that, of course… we didn’t meet our deadline.

By the time we went away –  we did all we could. Seb painted into the night & I tried to clean & sort & tidy up. I even turned my hand to the finishing touches of our sign outside….but ultimately decided to leave it to the professionals…

By the time we went away, we were in a great place. However, it wasn’t where we “should” be. Yet I remained optimistic…

Some rest, family-time, fishing, sunbathing & cheesecake later…

…we returned home & straight into a show & work in Lymington.

I conceded that July 16th as the opening day just wasn’t realistic & despite our efforts whilst away – our stock simply wasn’t going to be there on time.

So we came back & I wish I could share exciting images of the project moving forward in some sort of movie-montage way… but generally it was all fairly dull, tedious & time consuming. Scrubbing floors, repainting walls, glossing banisters & skirting… seriously…DULL!! I even painstakingly removed paint from the glass panes of our storage door with a — pointy thing…

However…on day 3 of our return – we had the carpet laid & …everything changed. Literally in a few hours. We went from building site to home in a simple blink of the eye…

It was incredible to finally take my shoes off & be able to pad about in our home. The carpet is super soft & perfectly perfect in every way! It also meant it allowed us to finally get a jump on the dust & really start tidying up.

The boys from Ignite were also back & Peter did a wonderful job of our kitchen table. I took great pleasure in finally unboxing all our things & putting them away in their new place. The lovely Rory & Laura were back to show their support for our “opening day” – so they got to celebrate our first meal in our home instead. It was such a pleasure to spend time relaxing & entertaining here instead of working & working & working…

One week until we open. Will we make it….?! Answers on a postcard…