Up Andover

We finally have a garage door.  And it's very splendid.  Here it is shut...

and here opening up and over (Local garage door company is called 'Up Andover Garage Doors'):

 






So the front view now looks pretty finished as below.  More good news is that we have today tracked down the hooting - it's the drain holes in the lower channel of the bifolds.
We have had the banister glass refitted after work to straighten up the edges of the stair treads - still not perfect but is it good enough? They adjusted all the banister glass which is now square and vertical. Oh, and we now have an outside tap.
Less good is that we had condensation appear during the very cold weather last week; our architect has proposed a solution and work starts next week but there's further investigation to do to be sure it's fixed.

I can see clearly now...

... well perhaps not this morning

There's been a bit of a pause since the last blog entry as there's been a bit of a pause in works.  Which is not to say nothing's happened, so here's the latest which is mostly about how we live in the house rather than house-build itself:
The garage door and remaining patio slabs are due either next week or the week after.
Thanks to the cold weather we suspect that the system doesn't quite achieve the heat performance it's supposed to - it is supposed to maintain 22C when it's -6C outside.  The cold snap last week generously exhibited the -6C for us and the heating was struggling a bit.  Not a problem when you light the log-burner, mind you - which Alan has now learnt the foibles of and which soon overheats the house.
We've fitted the racking and moved the workshop into the garage and everything is tidy and visible; once we've got rid of the spare table, desk and fridge the gliders will fit nicely up the east wall.
Alan has reorganised the pantry which is proving a most excellent storage solution.
The snug is getting snugger as we hang pictures and also bought it a new rug yesterday. Sparkly shagpile, obvs... Still needs a glowy light in the corner to enhance the ambience.  Pic next time.
Upstairs we've rearranged most of the wardrobe / cupboard contents two or three times already and I think we now know what we want where - now we just need a chest of drawers for the spare room.
And importantly, the garden ideas are starting to come together - I now have a plan for the veggie patch and a space laid out on the ground outside the rear patio for a pond.

New Year New View

Up till now, I don't think we've got far enough across the mudflats to give you a picture of the rear of the house now it's finished.  Today I put my wellies firmly on and waded out there and it looks like this:
The plastic sheet is simulating a pond, or perhaps two pond options which are currently the subject of some debate - oriented long axis towards the back of the garden or parallel to the back of the house.  L-shaped may prove to be the compromise solution...

The new sofa for the snug arrived on Wednesday and yesterday we set everything up (ok, pics not yet on walls, but hey!) and sat with our feet up in front of the telly (out of picture, left).  Alan's bought a new amp and when he put a CD on and turned the sound up, the roof lifted slightly.  The village may yet come to enjoy his power chords...

And on the left is the toaster nook now with shelving and cute LED strip lighting.  No, William, NOT colour change lighting...