I finished laying the floor in the living room, have fitted all the skirting boards, painted the second coat of paint on the walls (except the ceilings and the white wall you can see on the left), cut, painted and fitted the edging strips around the whole of the floor to neaten it up, fitted the TV to the wall and installed the stereo with some clever wiring concealing tricks (not the ones you can see, obviously – need to get to them next).

I had planned on putting the stereo in the red alcove to the right in the picture but after further consideration, the wire concealing operation would have been a nightmare. I had to fit a separate board to the top of the cabinet I fitted earlier in order for it to be wide enough to take the amp I had. Fitting this was quite simple and planed the edge off the corner nearest the chimney breast to a nice curve (marked out beautifully with a dinner plate) and smoothed the other edges. Then used decorators caulk to fill the edging gaps for a perfect finish before painting the same colour as the wall. Then drilled out a bit circular hole big enough for a UK standard plug to drop through in the far right corner, ready for when I drop on the stereo. As there is also a drawer in this cupboard, the wires would have interfered with the drawer running so I cut a further wedge from the side of the right runner for the wires to run in. Perfect fit!

The skirting boards have all been fitted, as well as the edging pieces which have all had the caulking experience, which makes the job look so much better, not a single black line where the holes once were. I have to thank my Dad for insisting on me getting the first tube of caulk. I was a bit dubious of the difference it could make, but it just makes it all look so much more professional. On tube 4 already.

Having got here, I had a couple of mates over to help me carry the sofas into the correct position and then we all collapsed with a well-earned beer in hand. Obviously a lot more to do still but the below pictures should give some idea of where I am at and how the finished living room will look.

So, after the false start of me being drunk and laying it wrong, the floor has come on leaps and bounds! Am now just at the centre of the second hearth and ran out of fibreboard that acts as a levelling agent and thermal barrier against the cold air circulating under my suspended floor. Every piece is screwed down directly to the floorboards, hence why it is taking so long. Looks good though!

One absolutely indispensable tool I would recommend for anyone tackling a job like this and only has one cordless drill – a quick change drill bit set. This basically means you don’t need to undo the drill chuck to change from drill(when pre-drilling the guide holes in each plank) to the screw-driver head (to screw the screw in..duh). This must have saved me hours of work already, and is quite satisfying to chop and change in an instant. Mines Ryobi, got it as part of a great offer from Screwfix

I had to unscrew every plank, re-measure everything and relay them. The picture below was taken at 00.32 last night when I finished working and represents only 2 packs of flooring…only 24 more packs to lay

On a positive note though, the wood looks amazing! And the fibreboard I am laying it on will certainly keep the heat in and make it more cosy.

So, cut and laid the slate and realised it would look a bit basic and not overly ‘styled’ if I just had slate so chose a similar colour mosaic and used this as a border around the outside of the whole hearth. This has now been washed twice, and a colour enhancer has been rolled on. I was advised to do this before grouting as the bare slate will take on all manner of stains or dirt if it was not sealed so they are now ready for grouting.

Just as a side note, cutting slate is a bloody dirty business! When using the diamond cutter, the dust mixes with the water used to cool the rotary blade and it turns the whole lot into a dark grey sludge that dries hard, stains everything, and doesn’t do a great job of cooling the blade in the end. Just thought I’d add that in for anyone looking to cut slate in the immediate future.

Before anyone gets too excited (yeah, right) the oak floor shown in the photos is not yet laid, I have just put it down next to the hearth to give an idea of what it will look like when finished. What you think? Nifty eh?

Here is what was outside a week ago:

Haven’t bought the stove yet though, not sure what I need or where to get it.

I know it still looks awful, but he is in the house at this very moment smoothing it all over with plaster. Can’t wait until it is finished and painted.

Managed to bag myself a bargain: 2 Italian designer sofas for a price that the seller on ebay was not too happy about. Which basically means I got me a hell of a bargain! At the moment they are covered in plastic sheets in the corner of the room as my builder is plastering the ceilings and I don’t want them damaged, but this weekend they will take pride of place in the new living room.

What do you think?:

Well, Mario is in! Has been here 3 days (including today) and he is brilliant. He has sorted out the wiring so i now have more control over the lighting of the room. This was an issue because as I knocked down 3 walls and made two rooms and a corridor into one big room, I had light switches controlling different lights all over the place which are now all the same room. this is now sorted.

He has ripped down the farcical boxing that the earlier ‘builder’ put up when they installed the RSJ and he build a frame from 2×2 strips and covered in plaster board. He has also (and is actually still in the process of as I type) smashed out the first fireplace, taken up the floorboards and is preparing a hearth that will sit at least 125mm thick (Building regulations J) and will be covered (eventually) by nice tiles that I haven’t bought yet. This fireplace will never be in use but I want it to be the same as the other side so he is going through exactly the same process for both fireplaces, just in case future owners want an extra stove put in. At least they will know it is safe and adheres to planning regulations.

Here are the photos so far. The fireplace picture was actually sent to me by Mario on his new HTC phone, and then he phoned me to warm me that it ‘will eventually look nicer’, I bloody hope so!

This meant I would have to use my newly acquired circular saw to cut a 45 degree angle through an expensive (and solid) sheet of solid oak…twice! Well, I did it and the result is absolutely brilliant, exactly what I was after and even impressed myself with the accurate cut (only because I tried one a couple of weeks ago and royally screwed it up big stylee). Here is the initial cut for the worktop over the washing machine:

It then came to fitting the side section…wasn’t sure how good this would look and whether I could get the cut and height good enough to make it look like a professional job. As I cut, I even collected all the wood shavings so that I would be able to mix it with wood glue to fill any major mistakes and holes with the same coloured wood (yes, I even thought that far ahead):

It took a lot of measuring, cutting and then shaving incremental bits off with the planer (thanks Tim..again) to get it right but I have to say it looks brilliant, just as I hoped it would. I even tacked on a thin layer of plastic to the base of the side panel to make sure that the wood was raised off the floor and the end grain wouldn’t soak up any water that will inevitably spill on the kitchen floor at times. Here we go, this is how it looks (please try to look past the absolute tip and the mess to just see the joinery jenious (yes, I know, I spelled it wrong..I did that on purpose!)

Then on to tiling! Not quite finished yet but settled on the Metro tiles and made an effort to marry up the red from the cupboards above closer to the oak surface. This meant I put in a single line of red tiles right down on the worktop and the rest of them will be whit. This will be cut with a line of aluminium and then the white tiles outlined with aluminium beading around all the exposed edges. Enough talking, here is where I am at – no grout yet though of course:

Just realised that I always seem to focus on the view from the kitchen door into the kitchen. Here is a picture taken from the edge of the cupboards back towards the kitchen door (I like wine :))