Prompted at least in part by Robin being asked to blog more, and also because I noticed that I completely failed to blog in January, and February is coming to a close, here’s a long overdue update from me on ‘stuff’.

I’ll start with Di’s office, a room that doubles as my gaming room. Here’s a shot of the gaming end of the room taken in August, shortly after we moved in and began decorating:

Here’s a shot of that end of the room today:

The blue screen reminds me I’m in the middle of a Fedora Core upgrade on the server, but that’s probably a topic for a more geeky post. Most relevant in the above photo is the sub and two satellite speakers. There are two more at the other end of the room, plus a centre speaker behind the TV. I’ve also run a signal cable from Di’s computer, so there’s a choice of inputs from the PS3, the server, or Di’s workstation. This can either be in 5.1 theatre mode – great for Modern Warfare on the PS3 or films, or in general audio mode – excellent for music while we work or are entertaining.

I’m really quite disproportionately enthusiastic about this audio situation. I’m a really big fan of having speakers high up in all corners of the room. Music from a tinny point source just isn’t something I’m interested in; I’d much rather have music fill the room without needing to be too loud. Additionally, the surround sound experience is amazing. When playing Modern Warfare in the dark, the sound of gunfire and explosions going off in relevant corners of the room definitely adds to the experience.

Moving on then (ahem!), the living room. Remember this?

We’ve made some progress here. I started by ripping up the minging carpet. This reveals slightly less minging underlay. Still, we’ve had the room decorated, fitted some curtains and stuck up a few pictures. Finishing touches (like a replacement carpet and a new sofa) will have to wait until the hound can be better trusted.

I also want to get a modern surround sound system for this room (the one in Di’s office is well over a decade old). There are also speakers in the kitchen and dining room, and I really want to be able to chain the three rooms together in such a way that any source in any room can be listened to in any or all rooms downstairs. This will be so good not only for parties, but also for some banging tunes to do chores to.

As a general note I want to replace all the interior doors. Unfortunately they’re all a very bizarre non-standard size, so I’ll have to appoint someone to make nice white doors with glass panels to just the right size. Moving through that doorway to the kitchen and dining room:

We still haven’t done anything about the funny green walls or that revolting door, but we have had Alexander Barden round to fit new flooring. There was lino flooring in the kitchen, and it is just about possible to see the old carpet below the cupboard door. I did have a picture of the man himself, hard at work displaying his generous bum-cleavage, but fortunately for you, dear reader, I can’t find that photo. Still, we’re really pleased with the results.

Upstairs there has been progress in the master bedroom, taking it from this:

To this:

New carpet required here too, and fortunately this is a no-dog zone, so we just need to get our act together there. As an aside, I’ve replaced the three single sockets in this room with double sockets. I really despise single sockets! Why go to all the effort of cabling up, cutting a hole and purchasing hardware to arrive at a single socket. A double could have been fitted for such little extra effort and cost!

The darker wall there is covered in a really nice textured paint – just a hint of 3D to it. I did try to photograph it but I appear to lack sufficient skills to produce a picture that suitably demonstrates the effect.

Finally, while Alex was working here he also fitted a shower screen which has modernised and tidied the bathroom nicely:

One day I’ll get around to putting the side of the bath back on!

In other matters Di is currently catching some rays in Tunisia, and Snoop is growing up nicely. Without going into too much detail, it has been a few weeks now since he has done anything, even overnight, that means I can’t call him house trained.

Alex is now self-employed. He specialises in network cable installations for business, but has significant experience as a builder and so is generally available for home improvement jobs such as new kitchens, bathrooms, wall relocation etc. If you’re interested in his services drop me a line and I’ll put you in touch!

Coincidentally, we’ve got a chap coming in to decorate the living room this week, the same week I’m largely off work to decorate one of the bedrooms. As work gets underway on both rooms, I thought I’d share a few ‘before’ photos.

So, the living room:

And the bedroom:

Clearly all carpets, power points, light fittings and interior doors have to go! Although the carpets and doors might have to wait until the dog is a little more under control.

On a geeky note, all images served on this blog’s pages are now hosted on Amazon’s Simple Storage Service (S3). It’s a great platform that ensures high availability and redundancy, so these pages should always be nice and quick.

We had our downstairs ceilings replaced this week. We were supposed to be decorating Di’s office over this bank holiday weekend, but due to a unique blend of laziness, drying plaster, and the need for a  little more work from the plasterer (happening this coming week) we didn’t start that. I can say that I’m really pleased with the new, smooth ceilings. They definitely help me envisage how the house will look when everything is finished, and will certainly play a big part in making our living space more modern.

Here’s the kitchen/diner:

Urgh, those doors! The living room (urgh, that carpet!)

And Di’s office:

A bit dull – hopefully I’ll be able to offer some photos of that office with some colour involved sometime soon! On other matters, you may recall that I cleared out the garage back in June. From that article, note the poor lighting – one strip lamp and a single bulb  at the other end.

This weekend I improved the lighting at the ‘car’ end (and, perhaps more importantly, sorted everything out so that there is now room for either car in there!

Looks pretty minging, but it’s now nice and bright. I’ll upgrade the other end from 1 to 3 strip lamps when I’ve got more cable, a distro box, two more lamp units, and more time. For now, the other end looks like this:

Busy, but navigable. Another improvement I’m really happy with is that I’ve mounted my old Pioneer speakers in the corners.

And rigged together a little hi-fi.

Tunes and bright lighting means a happy and productive Neil in the garage.

Oh and finally (for what I realize is quite a dull post, sorry about that), I’ve replaced the rusty 1978 light switches.

So, the day we moved in, Di’s new office looked like this:

Very green and gold! We’ve finally moved all her clutter in, and more importantly, backed the walls off to bare plaster, and changed the light fittings.

On Friday night, the other end of that room looked like this:

It’s been a busy weekend!

We’re waiting on a quote to get the ceilings skimmed, and we’ll get my 30th birthday ‘do’ out of the way before we consider starting the painting process.

Also, Diane has finished varnishing the spice rack Robin has made us, so we’re chuffed to see that in place:

It’s been a while, and I’m sorry car fans but next to naff all has occurred with the vehicles. They’ve both been regularly driven, in the usual style, but nothing to report. Well, I had a good trip in the M5 last Saturday: to Brighton to drop off Di, then to Heathrow to collect Robin – all very civilised.

At home we’ve had a bit of progress. We’ve now got 3 of 5 bedrooms usable which is nice. We’re cracking on nicely with Diane’s office. Preparing the walls for decoration takes ages but we’re getting there. This is the final end that needs doing:

Note the lovely green walls and splendid gold light fittings. The other end of the room, bare, looks rather better!

Decorating is of course rather an undignified process!

Outside matters are a bit more pleasant. We had a breakfast of fresh English garden apples (from our tree), and fresh Californian oranges (from Robin’s garden). How often do you manage that! Completely organic, not a pesticide in sight. Here’s Diane munching some cereal under our apple tree:

Note the minging old BBQ in the background. That’s not a BBQ – THIS is a BBQ!

I’ll be off out to get some gas for that later. On other matters, Robin has constructed this rather fine spice rack for our kitchen. The final job is to varnish it, but exquisite work from the Willis as usual, finely crafting this Californian Red Oak for our English kitchen.

Finally, I got Diane a new lens for her camera for her birthday that makes her look like rather a pro!

In case there’s another summer’s evening this year, I would like to be able to use the garden after dark. The existing lighting arrangements weren’t acceptable.

£70 for 5 lanterns, bulbs and cabling at Wickes, and we were off.

Don’t worry. It’ll be FINE!

Really chuffed with the result – a nicely illuminated garden. Now, where’s that summer’s evening…

Now, what else can I do to avoid unpacking?

I moved house today. Not a great deal has sunk in, except that Diane and I are now in a quite ridiculous amount of debt, and the government has received an obscene stamp duty payment that I have every confidence will be suitably wasted. In this post, I’d like to concentrate on the outgoing house.

Built around 1980, I moved in to 46 Tregarth Place 22 years later. It hadn’t had much love in that time. Original carpets and bathroom. The kitchen had one drawer and three cupboards. Woodchip on every wall. However, it had two bedrooms and a tidy garage, so I was chuffed.

I’m really disappointed I don’t have many photos from back then. Here’s one from Christmas day 2002 – Robin tending to dinner:

Note the nasty electric cooker, the complete lack of lower cupboards etc. Another shot of Tom and Robin from that night:

Yes, that’s yellow woodchip. Nice eh?

We left the kitchen in considerably better condition. Hardly showhome standard, but modern, no less than 6 drawers(!), properly tiled floor, under-cupboard lighting etc.

Okay, so the cooker may not look that great, but it was gas and it got things hot quickly. I loved it!

Here’s a photo of the living room from Christmas 2004.

Lovely blue woodchip, crap carpet etc. This is how it was left today:

The bathroom that Alex installed over Easter 2006:

2nd bedroom (Diane’s office)

Main bedroom (a *lot* bigger than our new bedroom)

Finally, garden shots:

In our time there, the house had a new bathroom, new kitchen, double glazing and new doors, new carpets, a shed, and a general all-round tidy. Lucky new owners!

Really enjoyed my time there – some crazy parties! When living in a terrace the general experience relies on good neighbours, and I had some really good neighbours. Overall, a good 7 years!

For those who don’t know, I’m buying my parents’ garage and driveway. Apparently there’s a house in the deal too, but that’s less interesting. I decided that in order to make it (the garage) into a good home for my toys I should clear it out, so I emptied the contents into the garden:

Over a decade of car and disco gear there! It was really strange to see the garage empty for the first time I first moved in as a child. I’d forgotten there was a window at the end!

We’ve even painted the floor a delightful shade of blue:

There was a lot of crap to take to the dump – two 330d fulls and one M5 full to be precise. I was amused by using the M5 for such a purpose, so took a couple of photos:

While waiting for the floor to dry I noticed the extension roof was a tad mossy.

So I decided to do something about it.

Quite a difference!

However, I soon realised that in order to reach the top I was going to have to do something rather more extreme than just standing on the bay window.

And for those hard to reach parts, I enlisted the help of my favourite jack handle: