After the quiet period over Christmas we have quite a lot of progress. It rarely feels as if we are galloping along, but as long as it all keeps moving in some part of the development, it keeps the spirits up. It has definitely been a long haul and there is still a way to go, but this year will see it all finished. Absolutely. Definitely.

A hastily purchased dehumidifier has been working flat out and is gradually bringing down the humidity - today it was at 76% which is a vast improvement on 99% (!) when we first installed it. It has been moving around a bit and has had a little holiday upstairs to dry out the first floor bedroom and en-suite. The good thing about the dehumidifier is that it can be connected into the drains which is essential because it's internal bucket would have needed emptying several times a day. The next step is to get the log burner installed. This is being picked up on Monday and hopefully fitted next week. We are having a hearth for the fire and have today been scavenging around looking for a suitable surface. We were going to use the same slate tiles as in the kitchen but there was just too much wastage to even have enough for the downstairs wc. So, back to the scavenging. We have a few very large pieces of sandstone from the courtyard. Unfortunately they didn't survive too well being hauled out of the ground by the digger so they were no good for the fireplace. We also have some quarry tiles that we 'discovered' in one of the barns aeons ago after removing an enormous thicket of ivy. I think they were from the dairy in the farmhouse. After some mortar cleaning and washing, they are looking like a good candidate for the hearth. They are currently drying in the barn awaiting judgement from the builder.

The MVHR unit has been fitted in the mini loft above the utility room. It looks bigger than I expected and a bit untidy looking so I'm glad it's not on view downstairs. It's such a voyage of discovery, this barn conversion mullarkey!

Most of the tiling is finished. The ensuite bathroom and downstairs wet room are tiled in travertine and it looks absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, we hit a snag with bathroom furniture as the originally requested units are no longer available so we have had to do some rapid rethinking. Also, the electric wiring for the bathroom cabinets has been missed out, so some creative problem solving is underway(!) This has also set us on the case for sorting out the bathroom and shower room layouts in barn 2 to pre-empt any potential 'doh' moments when stud walls are fitted. The kitchen floor slate tiles look really nice too. They were chosen over a year ago and with the intervening interior design research I wasn't sure at all if I would like them when they were first being laid. Now they just need their final wipe down and sealing to really bring out the colours. Phew. We haven't re-booked the kitchen fitting yet, but I hope it will all look lovely together when it's in.