I haven’t written in a while as things have been very hectic. Over the summer, while I was away, I had to do remote visits via video conference. These online visits were made easier because I work in a team and had worked closely with Katie on this project since the beginning. To catch you up, here are some notes on what’s been going on:
Something that started to worry me quite a lot back in August was the ducting for the kitchen, which hadn’t arrived. The builders needed to work on that before being able to install the kitchen. Sometimes the things you order with more than enough time turn out to be those that come to haunt you. The parts are coming from Germany, and there apparently has been a problem with DHL. The supplier has reordered, but that delivery has also been stopped.
While away, although I was doing video calls, I was still anxious to be on site and see how everything was coming on, especially as the lighting had started to arrive and was being installed. I have already had to change the placement of one light as it didn’t look right where we had initially put it.
The mix of Bauwerks and Francesca’s paint is amazing – it creates an interesting mix of textures in the house. I am so glad the client was daring enough to go for the colours I suggested.
Big news at this stage is the bathroom suite is being installed. I am really excited about the Drummonds items – they will go into the master bathroom and shower room. They are extraordinary pieces and central to the overall design of the room.
The building work on the top floor of the house, where the children will be, is now finished – even the carpet has been installed. It looks amazing. I think the kids will love it. In the boy’s room, we installed a neon sign and it looks great with the dark walls. Soon furniture items will arrive and that will be exciting as well.
Quite a lot of furniture has arrived and I am really looking forward to seeing all the photos of how the pieces look in place, against the colour of the walls. The technicians have also installed the audio, WiFi, central phone systems etc., and I look forward to seeing how it all works.
Last but not least, the curtains are going up! This was also something I organised such a long time ago that I can’t wait to see how it’s looking … it’s all very exciting because there are so many elements coming together at once.
living room in process of getting furniture
Yesterday, now back in the UK, I arrived on site! I’ll be staying here on site for four days before the client arrives to organise their furniture installation. It was amazing to see the house and how great it is looking, but it was a bit of a shock to realise how much there is still to do.
I woke up at 5 o’clock this morning and by 6 o’clock I was going through the snagging list that Katie had started. I have added some more items that I have seen and will probably have more as the day goes by. Some points are small, like making the joining between two colours neater, and others are bigger, like having forgotten to put in the hanging rail in a cupboard the carpenter built.
What scared me the most was the kitchen. It literally was not installed, painted nor clean … and the food is arriving tomorrow!
Then there is a mistake that goes fully on my shoulders – I had electric roman blinds made to put in one of the bathroom windows in front of the sink. However, I also had make-up mirrors installed at these windows and now the blinds can’t go down smoothly because the mirrors are in the way. The builders will have to move them so the blinds go down properly.
In the master bedroom, the bed feels very big. The client chose it themselves and I put it in the floor plan (where it looked ok), but it’s one of those things that would have been good to draw on the floor to see how it felt size-wise in the room. A lesson for future projects!
I had lots of deliveries arrive that I had to check and unpack. All the kitchen items came and I spent probably four hours unwrapping, cleaning (in the sparkly new dishwasher) and placing the items in the cupboard. It’s quite daunting arranging a kitchen for someone else as it’s quite a personal thing. I am hoping they like it!
By the end of today, I was down three fingernails and had been on my feet 13 hours. However, I feel we have made good forward progress and hopefully tomorrow, with a bigger team, we can get even more done.