What a blinking week! We’re just about to move into week 7 of what we thought would be a 3-week kitchen refurb and it is definitely taking its toll on all of us. We thought we were being savvy and booking to go away for the 3 weeks, even though I did expect some kind of overrun once we had returned, but I genuinely thought we’d have the kitchen to use when we got back. Nope.
This past week the decorators are in – hurrah! But it means they’ve covered everything in protective plastic covers so we couldn’t even access cupboards or cookers. As they finished on Friday, they stripped the covers off so we’ve had a kitchen for the weekend. Thank the gods.
Right now, we have all of the units and worktops in and completed. The floor is down throughout. There is undercoat on all of the woodwork in the kitchen, dining room and pantry, and on the plaster in the dining room and pantry. But in the kitchen, we actually have the first hint of colour on some of the walls and I am stupidly excited. Just the one coat, and still with patches of filler where gaps have been identified, but it is looking fabulous.
So next week, top coats of paint throughout and wallpaper on one wall in the dining room and 2 and a bit walls in the kitchen. And that’s it. It will be ready for the orange glass splashbacks that will be the final pop of colour to finish it all off!
BUT we thought we’d cracked the 3 damp patches on the dining room wall, and, for 2, we could be correct. For one though, it is still damp. In fact, now that there is undercoat over that patch, it has not dried out after 2 days, so quite damp. Shit.
Thankfully #1, these decorators work directly with the builder, so they’re on it. Thankfully #2, it isn’t on the wall that needs wallpaper so most of the decorating can carry on. Thankfully #3, that patch is actually behind where the sideboard will go so we won’t see whatever needs to happen while it is sorted out.
I know I keep moaning about the time it is taking, but I’m so glad that we switched builders for this job. The guys are all turning up when they said they would. They’re working proper long days, and tidying up after themselves before they go. And they actually do talk to each other about where they are up to and what happens next. So I’m confident that between them, they’ll have a damn good crack at fixing that damp problem. And the extended time? I just think they had underestimated the time it would take to build the bespoke shelving and other things I’d asked for.
And yes, it has been ridiculously inconvenient. WAY more than I could ever have expected but thank the gods that I will never have to go through this again. And, it will definitely be worth the hassle. Defo.
In the midst of all this, we’ve had my dad here for a week. I know. Perhaps not my best decision, but it’s been 3 months since he was here last, so I planned a week of going out and doing stuff to give us all, including Mr CQ a break. He was still supposed to be working, and in a house where we knew it was going to be difficult to avoid each other, I thought going out for a visit somewhere and a different place for lunch everyday might do the trick.
I hadn’t banked on Mr CQ being quite poorly this week, and actually spending 2 days in bed with a dreadful cough. I felt dreadful going out and leaving him in bed, but it also felt like we were giving him some peace and quiet if we went out and left him in bed. He’s well on the mend now, so no need for a guilty conscience any more.
This week, dad and I have had lunch at the Old Clubhouse in Machrihanish, Glenbarr shop and garden centre, the Beinn an Tuirc Distillery at Torrisdale, Fresh Connection in town and the Blackbird Café. We’ve all had takeaway fish & chips from the Glen Bar, chicken fried rice with chips & curry from Home Wok in town, and eaten out for dinner at the Glen Bar. And yet, you have no idea how much I am looking forward to tonight’s home-made red chicken curry. We still can’t sit and eat at a table, but it does feel like just a little bit of normal.
And then, as if all of this wasn’t enough, in a rash moment, I said yes to Kingdom Coating coming on Tuesday to paint/coat the outside of the house. I know. Very rash, but I have just had enough of not being able to put things back properly, because we’ll just have to move it or undo it before Kingdom return. They promised working at the same time as the decorators would be no problem.
I expected them by 10am, but in the end there was a mix up and they didn’t arrive until 11:15. There were 3 of them, and they were like blinking insects all over the house at the same time. Ladders and protective sheeting everywhere. Protective coating on the doors and windows. And they never seemed to stop. They worked, and worked, and worked. I couldn’t have a bath because they kept popping up and down all of the different ladders. The boys couldn’t go out to the garden because they were just too scared of all of the noise. And still they worked.
Can you guess what time it was that I finally closed the gates after them? Nope. I bet you were miles out. 23:35pm. Twenty-five to midnight.
I was so relieved to see them gone that I wasn’t at all bothered that it was way too dark to do a walk around with them, approving (or not) the work they’d done. I was furious, but not at the guys: at Kingdom Coatings, who had told us repeatedly that this was a 2-day job, yet expected the guys to do it in 1. They’re from Sterling, which is 3+ hours’ drive away. These guys were working from 8:00am on the Tuesday, until 04:00am when they arrived home on Wednesday morning. And they still had another job to do that same day. Completely ridiculous. How on earth can they possibly do a good job after all of that? And how on earth can a company treat its workforce like that?
Kingdom called first thing the next morning to collect the final payment. D’you think I was going to be that much of a walkover? No way! By then, I had a list of all of the things that were not as good as I’d expect them to be, and definitely needed fixing.
They tried the ‘the guys should have told you it was a late job’, which they did, and said they could be here until 8 or 9 pm, which, I explained was already an inconvenience but I guess we could put up with that. He also said that I should have just called it a day and told them to come back tomorrow to finish it off, but no way is that up to me. I already knew they had a job on the next day so I can’t imagine when they’d have come back if I’d tried to send them away.
They tried the ‘nobody should have told you it was a 2-day job’, at which I exploded and asked them in whose world was a 12+ hour job with 7 hours of travel acceptable for a 1-day job??? Never mind that I do NOT want workers here at almost midnight when my normal bedtime is 10pm.
They tried the ‘the boys were doing you a favour getting it all done in one day’ thing. And then they tried the ‘doing you a favour’ thing again because an old lady last week (are you implying I’m an old lady?) was happy for them to be there until after 1am to get the job finished. I don’t believe that for a second.
So after a LOT of toing and froing, I agreed to make a payment and withhold £1,000. I would expect all of the not finished properly jobs properly finished before making any further payment, but that I also expect a compensatory discount for stress and inconvenience.
And then we get to today: Saturday. The main guy from the work team is back, like he said he would be, to do the left-hand chimney stack that was not included in the quote as a foreigner. He arrived at around 11am. He has done the chimney stack and is now putting right all of the things that were on my snagging list. It is currently 17:15 and he’s still going.
So this job that was a 2 day job, that isn’t a 2 day job really, has turned into a 2 day job after all. And yes, some of today has been the chimney stack, but mostly, it has been putting right the things that they couldn’t see properly because it was pitch black by the time they were finishing. Which they would have avoided if they’d properly scheduled it for 2 days after all.
And again, the boys haven’t been able to go out properly while he kept leaving the gates open. I am SO ready for a big long soak in the bath but just can’t until I’ve walked around with him to check that it is all as it should be.
Don’t get me wrong, from the road, the house looks fabulous. The dirty grey/blue peeling paint around the windows has gone, and we are all white, just as it was originally. And it will be worth it, but when you’ve paid shed loads of money for a job, it shouldn’t need a battle at my end to just get the job I’ve paid for done. Would I recommend Kingdom Coating? I’m sad to say that I would not. I feel more than a little bit cheated, even though I think the end result will be what we wanted.
Right now, apart from a glass of white wine in the bath, I am looking forward to opening tonight’s bar properly. We’re still on our emergency cocktail bar, so we’ll be on French 75s all around. And just in case you fancy one yourself, you’ll want 1oz gin, ½ oz vanilla syrup, ½ oz lemon juice and around 2oz champagne per glass. Simple. Classic. Delicious.
Popping my Pollyanna hat on, this will all definitely be worth it, and of course, at least my weekend is not quite as precious as when I was still working. And. Get this. Sometime soon, we might just have a house that is workman free. I suspect we’ll walk around with no clothes on for quite some time to celebrate, but I’ll make sure it is only Mr CQ and I in residence first!
Cocktail Queen 