Week twelve - Siobhan should go away more often

Sorry for the blog silence - it wasn't because the slum had been bought by a local millionaire after seeing our awesome progress with it, or because Kevin McCloud had finally realised that it was a big mistake not to feature us on Grand Designs and so I was bound by a secrecy contract, or because we finally lost our minds in Ikea and gave up on the whole project.  Except that Rob almost did.

No, the reason for the silence is because I've been backpacking round China for the last three weeks, and so 

1) I wasn't in Nunhead to see slum progress
2) I was behind the Great Chinese (Fire) Wall so couldn't access the blog even if I had wanted to
3) I left Rob in charge of blogging

and

4) Rob lost his mind in Ikea.

Oh dear.  

There were tears, tantrums, and I wasn't around to witness any of them.  Rob maintains that this was A Good Thing, but I suspect it was actually A Very Bad Thing and I really should have been there to help share the stress.  Or at least prevent Very Bad Things happening to the poor assistants in Ikea.

To summarise an extremely lengthy and frustrating story, it took Rob more than four hours, and multiple trips to two different branches of Ikea on opposite sides of London to order a few items of furniture.  It would have been quicker if I'd have popped into the Shanghai branch whilst I was there.  He is in fact still there as I type, picking up yet another light fitting.

In the grand scheme of things, this is annoying but will mean that, in the worst case, we will be sitting on cushions for the next few weeks.

Except that cushions are banned in Rob's minimalist flat so we may be standing.  

Anyway, my three week absence has meant that this week's blog will be as spectacular to you as the big reveal of all the recent work was to me today.  Here we go!

That's Rob, lost in a snowdrift demonstrating the new, very white, hallway.

Here's a close up of the newly painted stairs:

And at the top of those stairs, this is the brand new sliding door to the mezzanine bathroom.  Rob is VERY pleased it with, as you can tell by his smug, beardy expression (pining over me whilst I was away apparently resulted in some suspect facial hair):

Look!  It opens and everything!

This is the lovely new shower in that bathroom:

And the sink and bathroom cabinet (so shiny!):

And now, prepare yourselves - here is your first view of the new kitchen, all completed!  SQUEAL!

It is LOVELY.  LOVELY.  

Rob then proceeded to demonstrate just how much cooking I would be able to do for him, in this new lovely kitchen.  Which was lovely.

Here's the new sink, with that nice tap I chose:

Which, Rob reminds me, we won't be using, because that right hand unit is the dishwasher.

Here's a view of the very lovely quartz worktop.  It's very shiny, and very cold.  Which is ideal for making pastry, as Rob helpfully pointed out.  Lots of pastry items that I can then cook for him in the lovely oven.

Now, in Rob's Ikea-induced delirious rage, because he was unable to actually get hold of the things we need (sofas, beds - nothing really important or anything), he decided to buy other really important things, like laundry bins and mini step ladders.

Why a mini step ladder I hear you ask?

Because this is the shelf he has kindly provided for me to put my cookery books on:

Hard to see in our snowstorm-themed house, but trust me, that shelf is at least a foot above the top of my head.

Onwards to the study, where we find this mysterious item, left by the builders:

Goodness knows what they needed a tennis ball for.  Especially since this room is really more similar to a squash court.

In the sitting room, some of the lighting has been installed, including this up-lighter that Rob is again, very proud of:

The light for this end of the sitting room is arriving from Italy, at some point between now and next year - the Italians are delightfully laissez faire about the delivery schedule (or whatever the Italian equivalent is).

Builder's tea break update time: I still can't see where the vinegar has gone, but the biscuit of choice this week is a dark chocolate digestive:

Moving upstairs (here's the view of the hallway):

The upstairs bathroom is looking very shiny, and almost finished:

Luckily Rob fits in the shower cubicle, and is demonstrating here his amazing ability to open shower cubicle doors using only the power of his mind:

The hanging rail has been installed in the bedrooms:

Back downstairs, the scary asbestos electrical situation still hasn't been sorted out, and neither have the library shelves.  That big cardboard box contains the light fitting for the hall though - you'll have to wait for the reveal!  

PS - isn't the window lovely.

Finally, Rob was showing me the light bulbs he has bought when I spotted this on the upper shelf in the kitchen:

That's dishwasher tablets.  Rob has made sure we have our priorities right.  Who needs sofas if you can do the washing up.

And look how sweet our builders are.  They are walking around in plastic shoe covers to make sure they don't ruin our lovely new floors.  We are currently considering whether we will ask all our visitors to do the same...