Kate Pullen

The scaffolding is now up at the back of the house and they’ve started knocking off the plaster – revealing quite a big crack. Manuel’s not worried though, as it has obviously been there for years and there was no…

The front of the house is finished! It is the original colors, a little brighter or deeper than it was before and it really does look good. Next week they are putting the scaffolding up at the back to strip…

Well, the new front windows are back in and they do look very good. They got the thumbs up from Manuel – which we were relieved about. The problem was they just weren’t finished well. Now they reflect the quality…

Well, I switched on my computer this morning and saw a little row of suns appearing in the weather forecast bar, and not the clouds that have greeted me over recent weeks. I will be very interested to see if…

Everything is a rather alarming shade of green – a vivid pea green – and I include cats and dogs in the ‘everything’. The reason…? Well, Manuel has recommended that our grouting in the hallway is green rather then white.…

Well, I am sat here watching the carpenter take out our windows! Honestly, I leave Ian on his own for a few days and look what happens! Actually, again, things sort of went in our favour. Of course it very…

We MUST have one of these. I thought it might be a hard sell to Ian, but I think the thought of a little robot running round cleaning floors is appealing to him. So much, in fact, that our…

Manuel has assumed the role of project manager, which suits us down to the ground. He is liasing with the carpenter, looking for painters, dealing with the plumber etc. This is obviously a whole lot better than us trying to…

18newkitchenlayout, originally uploaded by Marchena. This is how the new kitchen will be laid out. This is on the back wall of our old living room. Manuel has allowed for an extractor fan which is what the hole is on…

18windowinside, originally uploaded by Marchena. …which will be our new kitchen. This is interesting because of the door frame. See the bricks above the door. We’re having glass in the panel to keep the height but to reduce the cost…