Finished! - almost

By dint of family working 16 hour days, and a massive last minute effort from all, the house was finished at 23.30 last night ready for the first visitors, who are involved with the Isle of Wight Festival -www.isleofwightfestival.com/

At the beginning of the day, the freestanding bath had a tower for taps but no taps or shower - completed by mid day, polished and gleaming by mid afternoon. The other 2 bath and shower rooms were already 'sorted', needing only mirrors to be put in place.

The furniture started arriving at 8.00 from our base here at the farm where we've been preparing some period furniture, collected over the last year. We've been polishing 1930s period mirrors, stripping varnish from old wooden pieces to replace with white stain - so we'll have some older pieces together with new sofas, beds and dining table and chairs. Older furniture, made of wood, and refurbished for today, gives back some character and has no plastic in it!
The kitchen is unapologetically modern, as new 'white goods' are so much more efficient on energy.
Heroic efforts were made on the cleaning - thank you Anne for working a 10 hour day!

The flooring is also a mixture of old and new - the old pine floorboards have been stripped and sealed - rescued from the dark border of stain which must have surrounded most carpets of the date. Ceramic tiles through out the kitchen and new sun lounge/living area, should be low on upkeep, needing little electricity but maybe some elbow power in pushing a mop.

By 19.00 hours we were making up beds for 8 - which takes plenty of energy ( who needs a gym subscription?); by 22.00 starting to fit low energy bulbs to all the side lights. Why are so many light fittings being produced which dont take low energy bulbs?
We've spent much time researching and checking, and still find some will only take a 60 watt equivalent, the 100 watt equivalent being quite a bit bigger.

By 23 .00 it was the final round up of tools and unused bits and pieces. Remembering to leave some lights on ( low energy, of course!) for our visitors to find their way in, we staggered home, where we ruefully realised we had taken no photos.
Our visitors leave early next week, so we'll return to finish.... the utility room, the garden, and find all the bits we missed.