Thursday 7 October 2010

THE FUN STARTS!

THINGS ARE DEVELOPING

It seemed liked weeks and weeks that we’d been planning and preparing for our new rooms, and it was. Then on the morning of June 1st at 8am, six men arrived on my doorstep and it all started!
Having had my old bathroom and kitchen literally ripped out and new walls and ceilings put in, the fun started!
Through the front door, and up the stairs and into my spare room went a vanity stand, toilet, cistern, bidet, wall cupboard and shower unit. Then the large glass shower screen followed. It got to the bend in the stairs and was just too large to take the bend in an orderly fashion. I hovered, fearing for my walls and stair lift. They had another go, still no joy. The fitter was trying hard to compose himself in front of this elderly lady customer, but you could tell that he was bursting to shout expletives at the sheet of glass.
‘It’s no use’ he said. ‘It’ll have to come through the upstairs bedroom window’. I blanched. ‘But my bedroom window is a large double glazed fixed picture window’. ‘Yes I know’ said Mark the fitter. We’ll get the guy who installed the new kitchen and bathroom windows to take it out and put it back when we’ve got the screen into the room’.
My dressing table runs along the wall under the window and is over six feet long. It has four segments that are screwed together and the whole thing is immovable’ ‘Perhaps the window isn’t big enough’ I said weakly. ‘Oh it is, I’ve measured it’. I thought this a bit of a cheek as he didn’t ask me first. And that’s what they did. They took out the entire window, hauled the shower screen up the front of the house and through the window aperture. I feared that the sheet of glass would not be able to be transported from my bedroom, along the landing, and turn into the bathroom doorway. But it did! Of course I was charged for the taking out and replacing of the window. I forgot to mention that the large floor standing carousel in the kitchen suffered the same fate as the shower screen. It wouldn’t come through the back door, into the utility room and so into the kitchen. It too came in through the window. This time the kitchen window.

We were sort of marooned in the lounge, so didn‘t see much of the wet room installations, but you can be sure I kept a beady eye on the work in the kitchen.
Units were built and an induction hob and cooker hood fitted on one wall. Opposite was the microwave oven and self cleaning cooker. Under the wall cupboard was a drop down TV, DVD player and DAB radio. There were no floor standing cupboards as such. Behind each soft closing door were pull out units and drawers. No more agonising arthritic pains from bending and crouching in front of horrible cupboards.

I studied colour charts for hours trying to choose my colour scheme. The more I pored, the more uncertain I became. In the end I left it to my wonderful, artistic and talented son Philip. I was thrilled with his choice, and all my visitors say what a wonderful colour my feature wall is. It’s called 'Driftwood' and is a sort of mushroom colour and the splash back tiles are mosaic and echo all the colours that are in the room. I chose the colour of the units and I love it. I didn’t like white or cream but still wanted something neutral. It’s called ivory and it’s gorgeous.

We still had two little problems in the kitchen. One was the microwave oven which had a large sticky mark on the glass door. Nothing, but nothing would remove it. We tried oil, WD, sticky stuff remover, spirit, meths. It refused to be banished. In the end the whole oven was sent back to Zanussi and replaced. The other problem was the TV. It’s digital and although the DVD player worked fine, the TV and Radio just didn’t want to know! That too was replaced, but still didn’t work. Three months later, it took my friendly neighbourhood TV man and £96 to get it going. It was the electrical installer who had fitted the wrong cable and fittings for Digital signals. Unfortunately they had chased the TV aerial into the plaster on the wall, underneath my beautiful mosaic tiles! No way could it be accessed without taking down the tiles, and no way would I allow that. That’s why it cost what it did, and my lovely TV repair man worked hard and solved the problem. I now have TV on all my menus!

I've tried very hard to get photos (of which I have many) onto this blog. But for some reason known only to Windows 7 and Mr. Gates, it won't happen. I will keep trying.

11 comments:

weechuff said...

Very scary, taking the huge bedroom window out, but it was all worth it it the end, wasn't it?

granny grimble said...

Absolutely! I am so thrilled with it all I want everyone else to have a new kitchen too. A sort of kitchen club:0)

Babs-beetle said...

Like they say - Everything worth having has it's price, and it all looks wonderful :)

granny grimble said...

BABS-BEETLE

Considering the amount of work that was going on all at the same time, with so many workmen involved, things went remarkably well. Some people have more hassle just having a door fitted!

Croom said...

Oh Leeta, you made me feel like I was there with you. All the time I was reading the blog I kept thinking 'Why no photos' and then I understood when I got to the bottom!
It all sounds like my dream kitchen, especially the bit that means 'no bending' I simply hate my lower cupboards, especially the one under the sink, it takes me an age to get down there and I moan and groan and complain the whole time, knock everything over and end up getting up with a screech without what I wanted :O(
I am the only blister that has not seen it yet (apart from maybe Gill) I cannot wait for my visit to England to view this master piece.
Even though you deserve this and waited years for it I will still say 'Lucky you' :O)

granny grimble said...

CROOM

Gill hasn't seen my kitchen, she doesn't travel this far. Perhaps she might one day.She doesn't even read my blog! Iwill try toget pictures posted, it's this horrible Windows 7 stopping it I bet!

Jay said...

Oh, my goodness! What a stressful time that must have been!! I'm so glad you got everything sorted out in the end. Fancy having to send an oven back because of a sticky label - when WILL they learn not to put permanent stickers on things they are about to sell us?

So glad to hear that you now have the easy arrangement that you need, both in the kitchen and the bathroom - and an entertainment centre too! Sometimes you can't beat the little local guy, can you?

Swubird said...

Granny:

Your post reads like an episode of The Rich and Famous. I am so happy for you. Isn't it fun to finally get to have everything exactly like you want it?

Happy, happy trails.

Swubird said...

By the way, your site looks great. Well done.

Swubird said...

Granny:

Where are you? You've been gone longer than me.

Happy trails

Jay said...

Ah, I see you've been having pic problems too!

We've never had to take a window out to bring something in, and I hope we never do! What a hideous prospect! I'm glad it all went smoothly and that you're happy with the results. It all sounds loooovely, though it's extremely sad to hear about Arthur and his Alzheimer's diagnosis. I hope the Aricept works for a very, very long time to come.