Four Phases of Kitchen

The only "before" photo I have of the kitchen is from the sales brochure. If you click on this link and scroll until you see two rows of pine cupboards, you are in the kitchen.

Here's the kitchen taken down to the studs.

Here's the kitchen with two windows and french doors added.

And here's Gareth (kneeling) and his apprentice installing the new kitchen.

We've come a long way, baby. The funny thing is, if you look at the sales brochure, you'd think the house was just plain lovely. Once you pull up the carpets and start opening up walls and floors to rewire and replumb, you find all kinds of strange things. The entire downstairs has all new plaster walls. You wouldn't have thought that was necessary from the pictures, however damp is the No. 1 enemy in Ulster houses and we have had much to do (and still more to do) to combat moisture, or rising damp, as it's known.

Like all the workers who've spent time at the house, Gareth has been delightful. Maysie clearly prefers his company to ours and he doesn't seem to mind her wandering among his tools and sawhorses. He sings to pop music as he works--music I actually like (same with Ian's team). It is so different from dealing with tradespeople in America. Like all the other workers, he has been looking out for us--having the supplier replace items that are subpar and not being upset if things take longer than he expected. We need him to insert a recessed panel that the kitchen company didn't tell him about (he's a fitter hired by the kitchen company)--no problem. In the U.S., every contractor I worked with disappeared when the job was 75 or 80% done, leaving the next contractor to fix the problems they left behind. I'd say my stress level around dealing with a total-house rehab is 90% lower than expected due to dealing with workers who are talented, friendly, and have 100% integrity.

Progress on the master bedroom has ground to a halt because I've had to spend time at Queen's and David and I are both just plain tired. No more pictures until I find the charger for the camera battery. I have no idea where that might be.
3-18