Another Brick In The Wall

There has been one clear theme for this week - Destruction!

It started badly. I have been eagerly awaiting the delivery my new fireplace, one of my many EBay purchases which was to be the finishing touch to the bedroom. I had arranged that the seller would organise the postage and so it arrived, delivered courtesy of UPS, or should I say destroyed by UPS. Quite how they managed to smash a cast iron fireplace into so many little pieces I have no idea, but sure enough, the fireplace is fit for nothing but perhaps an expensive door stop. UPS will feel my wrath, make no mistake! 

The next layer of destruction was entirely more intentional - stage one of operation kitchen. Knocking down 3 walls, one that separates the kitchen and 'living space' and two that form the downstairs bathroom and toilet, the aim being to create one big, airy kitchen/ dining space.

 

I was rather excited about getting hold of a sledge hammer and relieving the frustrations that are the result of a week back in the world of work. However it seems that a hangover, relentless hammering and low flying bricks are possibly not the ideal combination. Not only did I lack the brute strength required to effectively destroy a thick solid brick wall, I also found it somewhat nerve wracking. A plethora of hazards - brick in the eye, hammer on the hand, large piece of wall on head, or the entire ceiling falling in. Yes three builders assured us that these are not supporting walls but how could they be sure. 3 hours of hard labour and almost broken backs from carrying out the hundreds of bags of rubble, wall number 1 was down. Immediately you can see how the new kitchen will work, the light and fairly vast space is really quite exciting. 

Typical isn't it that the only elements of the house that seem well put together are the bits we need to take apart. So it seemed when we had to remove the bathroom tiles, tile by painstaking tile. Once again I am amazed by the zoo like qualities of this house, entire eco-systems of mold and insects, silver fish (I have been told) are the species that chose to take residence in this particular dank, dark area. I am equally endlessly amazed that people lived in these conditions and so relieved to be knocking the living **** out of it! 

And so, operation kitchen us underway. Next stage buying the units, planning the flooring and, my absolute favorite part, choosing the lighting. As I have long been preaching, it's all about good lighting!