Home extensions 2017 - Christmas is coming

[Believeitornot]

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Your kitchens are all so utterly gorgeous and... clean! I can't imagine being in a house that isn't a tip!!

Wish me luck, ladies, for I have an electrician to deal with this morning.

You’ve got this whisky! Be firm with him, you could even ask him to repeat the instructions back to you, ‘just so we’re all on the same page’! Remember you’re the client!!

Go whisky!

My electrician here today finishing off, my wall lights are in! Hooray!

I'm really hoping my underfloor heating will be working by the end of the day but not sure if I need the plumber back for that! I also need the plumber to do my dishwasher! Boy do I miss the dishwasher! It's worse than not having the oven! 😀

No more from Frank, either he has bigger fish to fry at the moment or it was Twatchops trying to scare us, which is more likely! 😡

I have left online reviews where I can but I think he's winding down, his Facebook site has gone, as have the adverts! Maybe he's realised he isn't up to it!

Had a snow day yesterday, DS was at college, me & DH went out for a walk so we're chatting etc, he said he thought this had all 'ruined our lives'! He has brawn the brunt of it all, rearranging & finding contractors etc, it's made me really sad that he feels like that!

Underfloor heating needs to be turned on very slowly so it will take a few days to become properly warm. We took a week to get ours up to speed.

Teamrick that is sad 😔 but what I will say is you've had an awful experience and you're doing an amazing time coping.
We're having a positive experience and it is so so tough. Our house is cold, dusty, messy and just not a home. I cannot imagine having pants builders as ours make it liveable!

Awwww rick - your poor, poor DH. He must have been under so much pressure. I think when you are in it, and feeling overwhelmed like that, it's so hard because the one place you usually go for refuge from the maelstrom of the world is the one place that is in total chaos. He's done so, so well to fight this out - and it WILL be worth it. In a year's time, this will be a distant memory. I hope the fact that you are so nearly done is giving him heart.

I am willing to bet Twatchops resurfaces with a new name and branding, after writing off this debt and perhaps a few others.

The electrician has done absolutely nothing today except buzz around the house noisily complaining that the plasterers aren't going fast enough for him, then leave after an hour. I have made it clear where I want work redoing, and I am not going to argue about it - it gets done, end of story. The stuff that is wrong is basic: I cannot imagine any of us - or indeed any other client - wanting a spotlight that is distinctly off-centre in a hallway because there happens to be a joist in the way. The obvious, commonsense thing to was for him to come and see me and explain that the spot couldn't be sited centrally, and we could have put in a pendant instead. Instead, he drilled the plasterboard, and now it'll have to be redone. Not my problem, though. The plasterers hate him too, so it's not just me who is getting irritated.

TeamRick, renovating our house felt like it had ruined our lives too when we were in the thick of it. I was so sick of the endless lies the builders told. It was pathological. The stress on both of us was enormous. It took twice the time expected. I had to hire a project manager to supervise otherwise nothing ever happened!

Now it truly is forgotten. It was worth it. We increased the house enormously which also helped ease the pain
This too shall pass

Whisky, you’re absolutely right to stand your ground. Why on earth does he think an off center spotlight would be acceptable? Weirdo!

We have further delays to flooring here, due to an overturned lorry outside the warehouse. No really. Also the sudden realisation that what we thought was existing oak parquet may actually be teak. Much discussion with head builder and peering at wood resulted. As it turns out we can’t afford teak anyway. So we will fit oak and probably stain it. As there is a door between the hallway where existing parquet is and the kitchen/diner which we need to put a transition in we reckon that we can minimise it looking weird. Hopefully.

Or if not, the builder found someone selling reclaimed teak parquet like ours for £5 a tiny block of 5 fingers. If we could find someone to buy it at that price it would pay for the whole flooring and we could relay in oak!

Oh and excitingly we will hopefully have a working washer dryer on either Monday or Tuesday next week. The prospect of doing my own laundry is more thrilling than it should be.

TeamRick this has been so awful for you, hopefully one day you will be able to look back on it as grim but temporary.

Thanks you lovely lot I seem to have something in my eye! 😘

Whisky that's pretty much what I said to him!
I have also had my faith in human nature restored by the fantastic contractors we've had since twatchops and as the person who does most of the cooking, the benefit of my new kitchen!

We're lucky in that we finish for Christmas on Friday, a year of using no annual leave & we can spend the time relaxing, some gentle decorating & spending time with our lovely friends & family! We are very lucky in that respect!

We will get through this!

I've realised that our builders are here more than I am! They're still here but we have a working sink in the utility room 😍😍😍😍

Our utility room 😍

Feeling a bit bah humbug.

KItchen guys came and worked for 2 days only to announce today that the worktops are delayed until mid January!!!!
Plus my ovens won't work as someone has drilled through a cable during the build which is now buried under concrete and tiles and so there is no current in the plugs.

They will "try if we can" to come back before the pesky union holidays on Friday.

I am going to insist as otherwise we can not to cook until early Jan. The problems have taken the sheen of the New kitchen day.

We moved back in today and have no hot water either.

So a testing day but all first world problems.

Photos of the kitchen with temp worktops.

The island will be longer when the real worktop is in place.

@TeamRick I really hope you have a good Christmas and can forget all the pain for a bit.

@devondream that looks fabulous. Gorgeous.

Bit slow here but the head builder has come back so things pick up pace a bit.

It looks lovely devon, I hope they can give you power for the oven.

Devon bah humbug indeed. I really feel for you. I can understand why the shine of what today promised to deliver was well and truly taken off for you.

Teamrick and whatthefox thanks for sharing your experiences re your DHs. Mine is finding it really tough too. He doesn't handle stress brilliantly, has it almost every day at work and then has to deal with the renovation-related stress afterwards. I just hope he can see past it and enjoy Christmas.

Thanks ya'll, electrician and painter in today, appliances come tomorrow, plumber Sunday and hopefully we move in next week, we did our whole house reno so it has been a little stressful! I will post more pics when it looks more presentable.

Electrician asked me about lights over island today and I have been looking and love the pendant look, is that becoming dated? Is anyone doing the same, do you recommend any good online shops to browse?

Some lovely kitchens here, love the pics.

We got underfloor heating in the extension, with a special screed, can't recall the name now (something flo) and after a week of no heat (although at one point I convinced myself I could feel something) the plumber came back and said the water wasn't on...😩 i mean really...so he stuck it on low heat for a week and it heated up instantly! It has been on since and it is great, I love not having radiators!

I'm waving to you all! Our two storey build has been going on since July, and was supposed to be finished in mid November. I feel as if I've been living with the builders forever, and, whathefox, it's been hard to cope with! No privacy anywhere!
At last, everything's coming together, and the decorators are chasing the builders out of the house, although there's still an ensuite to finish.
Along the way I've become an expert on different supermarkets microwave meals. We've now got an oven, but the work surfaces aren't fit to use yet.
I'm waiting to find out if it will all look fab or not when it's all put back together. It's been great getting to choose new stuff, like kitchen, tiles and the lights. We've also had our old fireplace renovated and fitted with a cute gas stove.
The end result will be a mix of old (our furniture) and new. We toyed with getting an interior designer, but in the end decided to save the money and do it ourselves. I hope it pays off!

Baxdream, I like to suggest the new items at double the price and when dh faints I say aren't you glad it's 50%! He agrees and all is well x

teamrick, my DH has had his moments of falling apart, too! He feels "in charge" of it all, and it's been massively stressful. He couldn't stand the domestic disruption either, the living in one room with the fridge and the microwave. Here's to a peaceful Christmas, and calmer waters ahead!

I'm adding to the list of woes
Plumber here all day yesterday, electrician all day today
Still no underfloor heating
Still no dishwasher
All the radiators downstairs went off this evening, DH spent all night with the plumber on the phone & a spanner in his hand, poor bugger!

We've come to bed & it's scorching up here! Watching Loves Lies & Records on on-demand, with a whisky! 😂

hello helzapoppin, sounds like you're very near the end, you lucky thing! That's a pretty perfect summary of our experience too, although you sound far more positive than I do after months of chaos! I've really struggled with the lack of privacy - I've said once the work is finished I'm going to take a day off work to just be alone in my own house - what bliss!

I had considered an interior designer as well, but that was before the budget officially went out of the window. It'll be a while before this house can be considered finished.

TwoKids I love my pendants, I'm not that up with interior trends so not sure if they're considered dated by those in the know. DP hadn't seen them before they were installed and loves them too - he unboxed his new phone and went straight to take pictures of them! There was a good MN thread going about pendants when I got mine, will try and dig it out.

Here's my pendants. DH picked them to be fair! I like them tho, they're a smoky glass that looks opaque but when you put the light on, they're see through. We got those bulbs with the fancy filaments.