Home Improvements

In the last week or two we've finally got around to making a few improvements to our house since moving here late last year.

The Garden
Firstly, we wanted somewhere that the little uns could play safely and although the back has a nice raised and fenced area, the ground was completely paved with pinky looking slabs. So the decision was made to take it all up and to replace it with a grass lawn which should provide the ideal playing area for the kids come summer. The work was started a couple of weeks ago, took a couple of days to complete and now looks great.
Here is the transformation:

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1) The back how it was when we moved in. Nice pink slabs!
2) Slabs removed, ground soil laid and the turf being placed. It was a very dreary and rainy day and certainly didn't make for pleasant work I guess.
3) The garden immediately after being laid.
4) Three weeks later looking lusicously green and being used for what it was intended :)


The Bathroom
The second most needed change was the bathroom with it's ugly sit down shower bath thingy-ma-jig (you need to see it to know what I mean), it's broken shower and the ridiculously small basin shoved in the corner. We decided that it would be best to completely gut this room and so all bar the towel radiator was replaced. The work was completed by a builder who handily lives just 5 doors up and took around a week to complete. Once completed I painted the untiled areas a new color and finished off with a new roller blind. We're very pleased with how it's turned out.
Pics of various stages:

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1) The bathroom when we moved in. Stupid bath...
2) The walls had to be replastered as the tiles seemed to have been put on with crazy glue resulting in the wall coming apart when they were removed!
3) Bath and basin out. The floor we thought was lino was actually mosaic tiles. Looked like lino to me, lol.
4) Walls boarded and bath installed.
5) The finished article and straight in with the rubber ducky :)

So, two of the biggest jobs now complete and we'll probably leave it for a little while now before undertaking further change which will either be the kitchen or the windows/doors.