We shouldn't be allowed near tools

In a spare hour last weekend, Pix and I decided to chisel up the concrete in the hallway (not sure why) to see what was underneath. We've always had dreams of restoring original tiles in a property, so thought we'd engage in a minor session of excavation. Upon initial inspection, the result was a success. We spent about an hour chiseling up half of the concrete to reveal original turn of the century tiles (black and white) which looked very cool.

Sadly, after further digging (and a consultation with Head Pole), we learned that the tiles only covered half of the hallway and to restore them would be difficult to say the least. So long story short, (after much frantic Polish panic) - the conclusion was that we would stick with plan A. Restoring the tiles would have almost certainly involved keeping the current floorboards, and therefore not using the Welsh Floor Boards (WFB). And after the well-documented saga/adventure that was the WFB, I don't think I could bare it.

Out with the old...

We arrived home to find we no longer have a kitchen. This brings with it both positives and negatives. To summarise:

The Good

• We're closer to having a new kitchen
• The Poles are continuing with a good pace of progress

The Bad

• We have no kitchen
• We have no washing machine (or clean clothes)
• Our new oven hasn't arrived yet, and won't for another week. I hope this doesn't slow anything down.

The Good wins out in this instance. Exciting times!

Getting there

Some more plastering on one of the walls in the entrance hallway now. Starting to look very nice in here. Almost ready for the final decoration in this area, we're getting there.

Now for bedroom two

The Poles have landed in the spare bedroom with a bang, and lots already done. Floors have been ripped up, spotlights put in, walls skim plastered in parts and a coat of undercoat already knocked off. They've also given the woodwork some attention, and primed it all ready for the decorating at the end. It looks like we'll run out of the Welsh Floor Boards before we get to this room unfortunately, so we've decided to sand the original floor boards and hope for the best. They'll be different than the rest of the flat (obviously), but I'm hoping that this will pass as character. I believe my wife calls it intentional-shabby-rustic-chic, or something.

Vodka anyone?

Here are two of our Polish workhorses, absolute troupers that they are. And here is a picture of inconceivable amount of dust that they tend to produce. I am practically living off my ventolin at the moment! I am such a wuss.

I've got serious wood

The laying of the floor boards is progressing well, with most of the large living space competed. It's hard to say how it will turn out just yet, but I have high hopes that the trip to Wales and weeks of preparing the boards (not by me) will be worth it. the Poles seem a little concerned about how the sanding process will go, as the boards are so uneven in parts, but I'm trying to explain that this is what we want. I don't think they get it to be honest.

No real surprise really as these are the same people who were happy to store my Special Welsh School Pine Floor Boards outside in the rain with 1 dust sheet protecting them from the British Summer, whilst covering a pile of our old laminate floor boards with 4 dust sheets and a few layers of the expensive acoustic membrane I bought for the ceiling insulation. It turns out one of the builders will be taking the laminate home to redo their hallway. The laminate is worth about £9.50 new. Deep breaths.

Would you Adam and Eve it, we've got new Do Me Good in the gaff. We're well chuffed.

We now have new french doors and windows leading out to the garden from the living room. The new woodwork complete with double glazing is designed to provide us a little more peace from the hustle-bustle that is Central London, as well as a bit more warmth through the long, grey 9 months of the year (or as we prefer to call it, winter). The job of getting them in wasn't without it's hiccups, with much sucking through teeth by our Cockney carpenter. But Rodney (as we will call him) came through for us in the end. Not without recalling a handful of jobs, complete with inane detail, that he had recently done for VERY famous people. Bless the charming geezer.

The good work continues

It's all happening, with our entrance hallway now getting some considerable Polish attention. We have new plastering on some of the walls, some coving on the ceiling, flash spotlights and our special new sliding door for the bathroom! The Poles are truly cooking with gas now (which we no longer are, as our kitchen has been completely removed - more to follow on that).

Let's add some period

More progress today. We've started to have the cornicing in the corners of the ceilings added, which we're very happy with so far. I do think that is going to look really good once done. We've also had the framework for the sliding door to the bathroom constructed. We decided to remove the standard door from the bathroom as it was almost impossible to manoeuvre in there while the door was open. I wonder what they'll get done tomorrow?!

The Boy says "Hi"

Our little Primo is doing particularly well and settliing back in nicely. He even bit me this evening, which is a sure sign that he is well on the road to recovery. He thanks all for your well wishes, and is looking forward to seeing you here once our house resembles less of a mud hut and more of a shabby-chic, modern-eclectic NW London flat. Loads of love x.

With every day comes progress

Our fantastic Polish work horses (not sure about the direct translation there, as horse means stapler in Polish) did a great job on Saturday finishing off our new, fab, freshly-extended doorway into the reception room as well as finishing off the wardrobe. We seem to be gaining some momentum with the project now, which is very exciting. We now have repressed hopes of finishing within 6 weeks (he says while furiously tapping all laminated wood in sight). It's actually Monday night now, and we've had another busy day here, so more updates to come tomorrow.

A lot can happen in a week

In the joy that has been Primo's return, we've been a little light on the renovation updates. The short of it is that good progress has been made. The builders have managed to rip down half of a wall (so as to widen a doorway you understand), do various structural works to ensure that the wall can still hold up the building, start work on some sound insultation in our entrance wall, and start work on installing our built-in wardrobe.

With progress comes a new level of mess and everything is currently under about an inch of red brick dust from the now-wider-doorway. But we refuse to complain whilst things are moving along at such a good rate. Don't worry, if things start to slow down I will commence incesent whinging. Some pics below will help you enjoy our fun!