I am really hoping that this will be the penultimate blog on our renovation!  The Kitchen is finished (apart from a couple of things) and the place is really starting to look nearly finished.  As we aproached Christmas, we decided to have a nibbles and drinks for the neighbours on Christmas Eve, to give everyone a nose around and say hi properly.  we say hello as we pass but thats usually as far as it goes.  It was a good thing to do as we then had the incentive to crack on with the tiling and finish the kitchen as well as tidy the place up.  The OH did two runs to the local tip with his car choc-a-bloc with wood/plasterboard/rubble.  We think there should only be one more tip run before we sell - unless we can just keep adding it to the wheelie bin.  He had a huge session in the cellar with his DeWalt Chopsaw and chopped up all the spare wood into little bits for the woodburner.  All the treated stuff went to the tip but he filled a builders bag!  Then he tidied up the cellar and took quite a lot of the stuff home - we're hoping that we will not need it as it will be a pain to bring things back.  He also fixed the handrail into the cellar and rubbed down the paintwork before giving it a coat of paint.  what a difference a lick of paint makes! 

So here it is ready for the neighbours.

The kitchen flooring cleaned up really well and once we had coated it in Topps Tiles Enhancing Oil, it looked great.  we also used the oil on the fireplace, which has eventually had the back painted too.  Still not sure about whether to fit a mantle over it??

And this is the view from the lounge corner into the kitchen.  before it was a very tight, solid right angle corner but opening it up has made such a difference.  the light from the front door gets into the middle room and I love the way the view opens up.  The oak posts are great - still deciding whether to oil them or leave them as is......

So now I have to get on with the coving in the lounge and fixing the stone fireplace.  We have always planned to use bamboo flooring on the ground floor but now we are having second thoughts.  Our Interior designer (sister in law) thinks we should just put carpet down.  It will be cosier, possibly cheaper, and means we can get on with fixing the skirting without worrying about gaps due to the uneven floor.  The carpet will cover any gaps. 

Hopefully the next post will be all the finished photographs.  And hopefully it will be in the next month................................... or two.......................