OT - more progress (or at least more destruction to make way for progress!!)

We've had a bit more wall knocking down done this week and today Adam and I have been emptying our house of furniture into storage ready for the electrician who is coming in on Monday to start the re-wire and an empty house will make it easier for him to get it done quicker. We have also taken up the laminate flooring in our lounge/diner so he can take the floorboards up for the wiring. We have already ordered carpet to replace the laminate but now we've seen the floorboards they seem quite nice!

Here's some more pics...

Here's the latest 'hole' - we've had the old shower bit taken out, leaving a hole. We now just need the bit between this hole and the doorway taken out and then it will be one big room finally. Then it's a case of the builders putting pillars and RSJs in.




Here's Inko watching me attempt to cook in the shell that is our old kitchen - she loves watching, and now she has more space to do it in! See her 'devil eyes'!!

Inko watching from her den while we're clearing - feeling very annoyed at being left out!!

Sofas gone into storage and replaced with garden chairs so we could eat our lunch, before beginning the rest of the clearing...

There's quite a lot of stuff to clear out!

Nearly there with the clearing

Once most of the stuff was out, it was a case of ripping up the laminate flooring.

To reveal some nice old floor boards...

OT - first wall out!

Opening the ex-kitchen through to utility room is well one it's way. The wall is mostly out now and awaiting the RSJ. Next step is for the wall between the utility and back room to be taken out and then it will be one big space. Already we're getting the sense of space and it is very exciting...if a little echoey with no flooring and no furniture! Inko is having great fun running around it all desperately trying to eat bits of dust. Luckily we can shut off this part of the house because otherwise she'd be licking all dust off the floor!!

It was another take-away tonight as couldn't face trying to cook in this chaos! Even though we still have a functioning oven and sink in the old kitchen it was so much easier just to get a chippy tea!!

and some more demolishing...

Taking out the last of the kitchen cabinets...

All gone...just oven and sink remaining - and the old dishwasher kept in there to act as a temporary extra work surface while we're still living in here before moving out once the electric re-wiring starts in about a week's time.

Looks like there might be some nice quarry tiles under the old kitchen floor. Not sure if they will be all over in the kitchen but will have to wait and see. They are covered in a lino and then other tiles, plus laminate type tiles on the top. We are going to keep these down for now to protect ant quarry tiles that exist underneath from the building work and will then uncover them later and are keeping our fingers crossed that there might be lots of them and not just a few where we've already uncovered.

All looking rather bare!!

We've also had to take down the ceiling in the kitchen ready for the electrics and wall knocking down work. It was clad in wood, so all had to be pulled down!

Here is the little conservatory at the side of the house that runs alongside the rooms that we are working on, that we will be turning into a mini utility room. Flooring up and near enough cleared, ready for work to begin.

Flooring all up in the back room where the kitchen will be once the walls are knocked down. Now just need to find a home for the exercise machine that we NEVER actually use!!!

And finally, here is the scene this evening where we were doing our best to cook in our shell of a kitchen - not the easiest of tasks!! So glad we kept the old dishwasher in there diconnected so that we can use the top of it as a worktop. We have got a kettle, microwave and other bits and pieces on the floor...let's hope all the work gets finished fairly on time as this could get a little tiring!!

OT - more preparation for the building work

Getting rid of the last of the wall cabinets in the kitchen

Getting rid of the loo, sink and shower in the utility room

OT - starting the work on our house...finally, after over 2 years!

Not to do with Inko this time, but thought we'd post it anyway so we have a record of it.


Since moving into our house in July 2007 we've had quite a long list of work that has needed doing, most of it stemming from the need to get the electrics re-wired ideally.


Finally, after over 2 years of saving and planning we are at last about to get it done. We are going to be knocking through 3 small rooms at the back of our house to make one big open plan kitchen/dining room. We have spent today starting to clear the house ready for the building work to start in mid-October. We have got a lot of stuff everywhere so this is lookinhg like taking some time! We spent most of the day clearing out our third bedroom...our junk room...to put stuff in the loft, the shed and the bin! This evening we have started the task of demolishing our current kitchen which is being knocked through to make the new big room. We have taken out all of the stuff we rarely use so that we can start by taking the wall units down. So far we have removed one wall of units. We'll be gradually removing the rest over the next couple of weeks, in between clearing the rest of the house. Think the next few weeks may be quite chaotic and a little stressful...will be worth it once it's done though. Here's a few pictures so far...

Starting to empty out the cupboards into storage boxes!

First wall of units down

Corner unit gone now too (seemed sensible to have a glass of wine to help keep the energy levels up while working!)

Inko has been somewhat confused by all the activity. She has been pottering round watching everything but has sometimes seemed a little unsettled by it. Not surprising...we're not normally known for much DIY so she's probably wondering what on earth is going on!

Lappies and their love of dens

I've often heard that lappies love having dens, and Inko definitely loves her crates.

Today I was looking for something in our spare room (where most junk ends up!) and came across the little cat box that we had when we first picked Inko up as a little pup. I brought it downstairs and put it on the floor to see what Inko thought of it. Without hesitation she squeezed herself into it, wriggled round in the tiny amount of space there was in there and settled down for a snooze! She spent several minutes in there before squeezing back out. She now keeps going back in there...think she likes it! As she kept going back in I settled down with my camera to try and capture her getting in...it's quite amazing how she manages to sqeeze into such a small space and turn herself around!

Lappies clearly do love dens!!

Birthday and holiday in Devon

On 31st July, our little Inky Dink turned 1! Can't believe how quickly the last few months have gone, and the Devon Nine have already had their first birthday - time has flown!


To celebrate we headed down to Devon to meet up with her fur-mum, fur-dad, a fur-sister and fur-brother and her fur-half sister for a walk on Slapton Sands. Very nice to have a catch up and for the dogs to have a play.


From Slapton Sands (and a night staying with Inko's brother, Tarkka, and his hu-family - thanks Jo and George) we headed down to a lovely farm cottage near Holbeton in South Devon, about 30 minutes from Plymouth for a lovely week's holiday with two friends and their sprocker spaniel, Sammy. It was a fantastic dog-friendly place to stay and it was great how quickly the two dogs settled down together. We spent days at the beach and walking the coastal paths and the dogs had never had so much fun. Inko even got extra brave and had a go at swimming in the sea!! When we first had her she would barely walk through a puddle but she has gradually got braver and braver with water and she had a fantastic time at the beach! All these walks meant we had lovely quiet and sleepy dogs in the cottage every evening.


The cottage we stayed at was lovely. It sleeps 6 (one double room, one twin and one room with bunks) and accepts up to 3 dogs at a time. It is great having a crate-trained dog because Inko settled perfectly well at night in her crate because to her, it was no different to being at home so she didn't feel at all unsettled, and slept really well. There was a nice enclosed garden that they could run around in too. Inko and Sammy enjoyed running around chasing each other, and occasionally barking at the cows on the farm when they walked past the end of the garden. Inko also enjoyed exploring in the shed in the garden and on one night came out eating a dead mouse...ew!...lappies can be so unpleasant with their eating habits sometimes!


We did have one scare on the last night though when Inko, who had been spending quite a bit of time playing in a big hedge down one side of the garden, managed to find the one hole in the wire fence behind the hedge and escaped into next door's garden and then across to the cottage opposite ours, and ran round their garden before heading back towards us...I swear she had been plotting it all week while she had been playing in the hedge!!!


All in all a very nice week away, and we'll definitely be storing the details of the place to visit it again.


Managed to get a lot of pictures, and a few short videos of Inko and Sammy. They are all on Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/22914982@N08/sets/72157621856191963/), but here is a few ones that give a good overview of our first proper holiday with Inko.