Lots of joinery

Good news - we won't be needing the sledge hammer. Kudos to John Lewis for a fast, straightforward and helpful cancellation and reorder process. So we will be getting a slightly narrower freezer, to fit the emerging gap to the left of the sink in the utility room (and yes, the worktop will be cut to expose the top of the Belfast Sink.)

 The start of the utility room fittings

 Doors on Angela's big cupboard

The correct architraves and skirtings arrived without too much delay and have begun to appear around the place. We wanted the skirtings to be 150mm tall. The ones we had chosen can be supplied in either 120mm or 170mm, so the joiners have had the pleasure of cutting 20mm off metres and metres of the bigger size just to keep their fussy clients happy. These things matter you know - and I've got lots more kindling for the fire into the bargain!

 Sliding doors on the wardrobe

The four sliding doors on the wardrobe match the room doors. We had asked for recessed handles to be fitted to them, but as soon as we saw them hung we realised they will look much better without. They are very easy to move as they are. Like the rest of the doors they await the return of the decorators to treat them with oil. We are not sure when that will be now - the decorators missed their opportunity to get back in this week because the place was too busy and the air was too full of sawdust.

Shower Room - fully tiled and ready for grouting

All the tiles are now on in the shower room and we expect the plumber to be here on Monday to begin the fit-out. There is still no water in the extension. That is waiting for the electricians to connect a supply for the water heating and to move the controls from the old house to the new. The electricians are waiting for the builders to dig a trench to the supply pole in the garden and for Scottish Hydro to reroute the cable underground and move the meters from the old house to the new workshop. When that happens, the plumber will remove the hot water tank from the old house and make good the pipework, and the electricians will reconnect the old house to the new meters via the new cabling through the attic.....Simple!

Provided the tundra that once was our garden thaws out in time, all this will be done on Friday 10th. During the process we will have no hot water, cold water or electricity anywhere. I think we'll be spending that day somewhere else.