Whilst everyone else seems to have normality restored to their lives with a new term starting and kids back at school, mine has been turned upside down. They say a picture can speak a thousand words so here’s why!
Gutting the ensuite to the bare bones! The previous house owner cobbled together the cheapest bathroom suite he could find and we’ve just had to grin and bear it for the last 12 years since we bought the house off him. Too ashamed to even show you what it was like!
Everything had to go including the potty! Yuk yuk yuk! Plus re-locate the pipes for the radiator.
The re-assembly begins Day 2 – fitting the shower tray, installing the shower valve, re-routing the radiator pipes and tiling one of the walls. Our plumber and knight in shining armour doing a superb job!
Day 3 morning – plumber cracking on with tiling the other wall and disappears to make way for Karndean specialist guy to work his magic on the floor in the afternoon, by night fall we’re half way to finishing!
End of day 4, finish tiling, grouting has been done, basin unit and potty installed and DH couldn’t resist stepping into the shower to try it for size…..
End of day 5 – radiator in, boxing in on exposed pipes (not shown), worktop for top of “back -to- the- wall potty unit” screwed in place, shower head and rail installed and shower doors fitted (only partially, because wrong parts were sent)!
In the meantime, rest of bathroom will need prepping before being able to slap on some paint. Bedroom needs all the woodwork done and yukky cheap previous house owner’s carpet needs to be ripped up and discarded! Hooray!
We still have to do the skirting boards (notice this is the royal “we” – meaning DH will do it), empty the room ready for the carpet layer to arrive next Friday with our new carpet. Monday hubby back at work, Plumber back to put in finishing touches, doors to be re-hung at some point, so by Tuesday, I’m hoping to get busy, busy in my craft room and I’ll have something to show you! Before I sign off today, I thought I’d share what we did yesterday.
We spent all day up in London at Buckingham Palace to view the Royal Collection. So not only did we visit the Queen’s Picture Gallery to view her fine collection of Dutch Landscapes, we also visited the Royal Mews and the State Rooms and got up close and personal with Kate Middleton’s wedding dress. Unfortunately no photography in the State Rooms was allowed so I have no pictures of that famous dress but the workmanship and attention to detail was superb. We also saw the most exquisite Faberge collection owned by generations of the Royal Family.
I managed to take a few photos in the Royal Mews especially the Gold State Coach built in the London workshops of Samuel Butler in 1762. Since then it has been used at the coronation of every British monarch since George IV .
The painted panels are by Giovanni Cipriani. The coach weighs four tons and is 24 feet (7.3m) long and 12 feet (3.7m) high. The rich gilded sculpture including three cherubs on the roof represent England, Ireland and Scotland. There are four tritons, one at each corner representing Britain’s imperial power.
The interior is lined with velvet and satin and the Gold State Coach is pulled by a team of eight horses wearing the Morocco Harness. It was originally driven by a coachman. Today, however, the horses are postillion-ridden in pairs.
Have you ever seen such beautiful stables (the honeycombe pattern on the back wall are actually tiles)and such a contented horse? He was really camera shy and I had to wait ages to get a shot of him.
Oooh – and do you know what the best bit is? Now we can say we’ve had tea at Buckingham Palace…..
…..in the Queen’s back garden! Enjoy your Sunday!
