My New ARTHaven–Power to the People!

The second of two New House posts today. When we arrived I was too hot and tired to be bothered to find my acrylic varnish and brushes to complete the painting of my shabby chic unit, so that can wait till another day. I had a more restful day over there today, which is better – last time I spent far too much time on my feet, and had a very bad payback day the following day.

I did cover up a lot of stuff in the spare room, though – I now realise that it wasn’t such a good idea after all, starting to unpack boxes before I’m actually ready to move things into my ARTHaven, because everything is getting so dusty.

At first glance, nothing had been done in my ARTHaven since my last visit – I realised that Andy had put the second coat of white paint on the upper shelves, but anything else escaped my notice till later!

In the afternoon Andy painted the first coat of sealant onto the worktop.

It’s a much better colour than his original polyurethane varnish – not nearly so dark, but it is drying somewhat unevenly. On the left of the picture above, you can see the small section in front of the fireplace that’s been patched in, and it’s quite a different colour… He’s going to put another coat on tomorrow, which should even things up a bit, but it’s not the end of the world, because there will be mats and stuff all over it before we know where we are! I did think of putting a small cloth on the narrow bit in front of the fireplace anyway, to display things on. I am sure it will be fine.

Watching Andy doing this, I suddenly noticed something – We’ve Got Power!!! Well, not actually, because it’s not connected up yet to the ring main, but the power points are in! Tim the electrician was there the other day. I said I couldn’t think why I hadn’t noticed them immediately, and Andy said the fact that I hadn’t showed that they were doing the job – accessible, but discreet!

Looks great, doesn’t it.

He’s put another double under the corner unit. This is where my cutting machine is going.

Finally, one under the wall unit by the door.

He’s also going to install two doubles over my desk in the office section, for my computer stuff etc.

On our way home, we called in to the electrical place and I chose a small microwave to go by the sink in my ARTHaven – Andy says Mum’s old one is too big, and recommended I got a small, cheap one. I’ve got a very neat, small white one that will be perfectly adequate, and should fit in the designated space just fine.

It’s all coming together very nicely.

We had the balcony door open today (you can see it in the above picture) and Andy took a long piece of the worktop out and laid it on the scaffolding that was projecting through the balcony, and we all sat there in a row, eating our lunch! It was delightfully cool, on the north side of the house, with a light breeze blowing. The whole house is cool, really, which is quite delightful in this heat wave, and I suspect that it will keep nice and warm in the winter, too.

I am hoping to go over again on Monday, by which time more progress will have been made, I am sure. We will take the new microwave over then. Andy has got a second-hand sink for me from his store, and once he’s got the base unit, that can be installed, and the microwave wired in. As soon as he’s got the office electrics in and the high shelves installed, we can ask our friend with his 2 strapping sons and a van to help get my office furniture over ahead of the main move, and then I can start moving stuff in!! How exciting!