Operation Central Heating

When you have filled your house to capacity (and have squeezed in things right to the edges of rooms) getting a letter saying your heating is being replaced is the stuff of nightmares! For the last couple of months I have been rearranging furniture and selling excess stuff in the hope of making everything accessible. It's hard when you will have to continue living a property during major works as some jobs have to wait until the last minute. 

So this weekend I found myself dismantling beds with help from my dad. We had had lots of fun constructing the high sleeper in a box room 4 years ago and it was just as interesting to dismantle! At least my bed wasn't as tricky as it just needed some gentle persuasion:

I am very lucky to have a decent size shed that I had decluttered as it is currently full of things such as dining chairs and recycling boxes (only problem is I should have left lawn mower accessible!):

The results of all this manual labour?

So the workmen could access all our radiators. Phew! It did turn out they had to move my filing cabinet to be able to turn back the carpet but that's only minor...

Day one a man came and swapped out the boiler, took off all the radiators and left new ones in position. I had stayed well out of the way by taking my son to his athletics course at Sedbergh. Day two and unexpectedly 3 men working together to get everything plumbed in with new pipe work. It was a bit disconcerting to come home to this in my lounge:

 I used the opportunity of basically only being able to be in the kitchen to tackle the cupboard of doom. This had become a glory hole so I have organised the shelves properly and put away some bits that were cluttering the kitchen. I just need help to get the rest of the Ikea storage system in properly...

The engineers have now finished so they just need to tidy up. Then I will have to start the reverse process of putting everything where it should go! At least this gives me a chance to start over again in some rooms and put things in slightly different places. It has also helped me reevaluate furniture and whether it fits this house. A case in point is our dining table which has to be in our lounge due to its size and takes up far too much space for the uses we make of it!

My son is now too tall for his high sleeper and, with impeccable timing, I was given a free double bed. I am claiming the newer to us one and he will be having my old bed. The high sleeper was given away and the box room will become an office/study. This will mean transferring shelves from my bedroom wall and relocating storage from my son's new room. It will take me most of the summer to get it all sorted!

I just wonder if I will have got it all done before they come to replace our windows...


I wonder if I will have