Not quite finished!

Looks like I inadvertently jinxed our building project in my last post when I had hoped all would be done and dusted by today. I'm just going to say that I hope it is finished soon! We have received our completion certificate from the building regulations office so we just have a few odds and ends to do. The water butt has been installed (the wooden reel underneath is just temporary, we'll be replacing it with a brick base later). I had bought an old galvanised dolly tub to use as a water butt but it was vetoed by the building regs officer who said that it didn't have a proper overflow so couldn't be used. I managed to find this wood effect water butt instead, which isn't exactly what I had in mind but is a bit more subtle that the ubiquitous green or black plastic ones.

Our external lights have also been fitted, we decided to go with the Barn Lamp in Clay by Garden Trading. We have this outside the stable door on our kitchen extension so it made sense to use the same here. I think they look quite good, we have one on the corner of the garden room (above the water butt) and two either side of the door (which is accessed down the side of the garden boundary fence). Another job for later is to paint the garden fence panels all the same colour - I'm thinking a sagey green colour. The large MDF panel was just there to project the door way while we were waiting for our door to be fitted and won't be a permanent feature! The paving stones will be covered with gravel.

The stable door that I bought back in December has now been fitted. It will be painted white on the inside and Sandtex Bay Tree on the outside (the same colour we have used on our our front door).
The built in shelving has also been painted the same colour as the walls and the floor has been cleaned and cleared in preparation for the carpet fitters next weekend.

I'm really pleased with the bathroom tiles, especially the floor tiles. They are the Sucre 1 tiles from the Patisserie range by Fired Earth and were a bit of an extravagance! I actually think they make the space seem larger. I just wish we could have found some slimline bathroom fittings that had a bit more character. But all the "period" style sinks and toilets were so large, it would have made the space very uncomfortable!

At least I managed to source this small radiator/towel heater which has a bit more period charm! I've spent the last few days digging up bags and bags of heavy clay which the builders had very thoughtfully dumped in my flower bed (having removed the lovely top soil first to fill up the skip!) My poor garden really has been ravaged but at least the majority of my band of battle weary plants are back in the soil, enriched with a heavy dose of manure! And it would seem that after the flower bed enlarging that we have planned, I have not lost quite as much growing space as I had first feared so I feel a little bit lighter in my heart about that.