Tabula Rasa

We visited our new flat last night to have a look around and see how the building works are getting on. This was following a somewhat disturbing visit over the weekend, where we were expecting to see the kitchen, bathroom and toilet in a knocked down, stripped back and cleared out state. What we weren't quite prepared for was that all the wallpaper and plaster had been pulled off all the other walls- and a couple of other walls had been pulled down as well, and the flat was full of dust and rubble.

This time, things were much less shocking- the rubble has all been cleared out, and the rebuilding stage has begun- some of the plasterboard walls are up, and light fittings and power points are being positioned. We still have some decisions to make about the windows though- the old box sash windows are starting to look in pretty bad shape (which is annoying, because they are so easy to take care of with a little bit of attention), and some of them are definitely going to have to be renovated/replaced. One bathroom window isn't actually attached to the window frame at all anymore, having previously been held in place by nothing more than friction, and currently hanging off, supported only by the metal strut that you use to fix a window in place when it's open (I'm sure that there's a more technical term for it than that, but I have no idea what it is…)

While there, we also met one of our new neighbours. Unexpectedly, they were sitting on the windowsill of our 1st floor flat, peering in through the bedroom window and clearly keen to meet the new occupants. This didn't really faze us too much, until we realised at about the same time that the bathroom window was clearly an inviting— albeit incredibly dangerous— way to get into the flat.

Click here and here to see the pictures we managed to get of this dramatic attempted break in.

(This minor attempt at breaking and entering is probably less surprising when you consider that the only occupant in the last 12 months that we know of was a mouse that we found curled up in the bath. Sadly, it had obviously been there for quite some time…)

Anyway, moving on to the flat itself; these shots from the doorway should give you an idea of what the living room looks like (from left to right, with the dining area on the left, and living room area at the other side of the room.)

This is the Master Bedroom;

And this is where the bed is going to be;

A view of the hallway from the top of the stairs;

And from the bottom of the stairs, on the left is the bathroom, straight ahead there's Fin in the kitchen, and the hallway is on the right. (Previously, the kitchen wall was right next to the far window- we're moving it next to the nearer window to make a bit more space.)

The toilet;

And the back room— which will be the spare room, and my office. (It's actually tidier than my office at the moment.)

Another view of the hallway, kitchen and bathroom from the other side;

It's going to be interesting to watch it transform from what you see here into what I see in my head. (Or something like it…)