After a big push before Christmas, we were looking forward to a break and a chance to recover before getting back to work in our week and a bit off after the festivities were over. What we forgot, as we do every year, is that you don’t leave Christmas feeling rested, but simply exhausted in a slightly different way.

Still, returning to a particularly horreduous level of dusty chaos, we didn’t have much choice but to get back to work on the concrete floor.

Having finished the initial grind, we now did the second grind, then three polishes before spreading the concrete hardener.

As I don’t have the upper body strength to control the machine, I concentrated on doing the matching grinds and polishes with the hand tool on the edges, as well as brushing and bagging the mountains of dust.

However, once Chris had moved on to the later polishing levels the machine was much easier to control, so we thought I might be able to manage it. Optimistically I took the reins… and ran over the cable. Luckily, Chris was able to rewire it, but that was my last attempt at pushing the grinder.

Post concrete hardener it was back onto polishing the floor, with five further grades of polishing pads. With each pass there was less dust, and a clearer grain in the floor.

Finally finished, we’re very pleased with our concrete floor. The grinder hire company were very kind and didn’t charge us for the repaired cable, so in the end the total cost came to around £400. This is around 10% of the £4,000 we were quoted by a professional company. Of course our finish isn’t as professional as an expert would have achieved, but we like it so that’s all that matters.

Floor finished, we clean up and carried the kitchen back in. While I did the tedious job of emptying all the cupboards, dusting them down and cleaning everything within, Chris got to work leveling the island units.

With the final set up finished we’ve ordered the hob and worktops, which will be exciting to install.

Chris also did the fiddly job of installing the cupboard that goes over the underfloor heating system.

After a long day of kitchen installation, we somehow got up the energy for a midnight walk up a local hill to watch the New Year’s fireworks in the moonlight.

With the island in we moved in the other furniture to make sure everything would fit as we hoped. Idris is looking forward to the day when the kitchen has a permanent sofa.

Kitchen on hold until the worktop is delivered, we move on to the study. The study has long been the tool room as we don’t have a shed. Over time it’s become an unholy mess, making it difficult to find what we need.

As we wanted to move the study on, we spent two days empty and sorting the items. There was plenty of rubbish, then some things we needed to sell, and most of course just needed reorganising. I did a general sort, putting items into boxes for electrical items, plumbing items and so on, and then Chris went through each box to see what we did and didn’t need. It was a slow processes, but well worth doing.

Once sorted, we set up our tools in the much smaller showerroom, which will be the last room to be finished.

One of the boxes we found in the tool room included a number of lights and lampshades we’d bought before we needed them. In order to get rid of the box Chris set to work installing and hanging up the lights and shades.

Another small job that got rid of some bits in the tool room was putting in some more doorways, which Chris got on with while I was sorting through other bits.

With the doorframe for the cupboard completed I cut the doors to size and added the door stops. The challenge lay in the wobbly nature of the chimney, meaning the door had to be cut on a curve.

With the study finally empty, we got to work plastering. To make the work go quicker we hopscotched around the room, with Chris doing the first plaster on the first wall, and me following to smooth it out, then me moving to plaster the second wall, while Chris put the second coat on the first wall, and so on.

On our final day of DIY we had our first volunteer of the year! Our friend Daniel was heading home to the Lake District from Aberystwyth and foolishly offered a hand moving the big pile of soil on the drive. Him and Chris wheelbarrowed loads up to the garden while I collected the larger stones for the sinkhole. A few hours cleared around a third of the pile, making it much more manageable for myself and Chris to continue with on our own.

I also took the opportunity to get a few more bulbs in the ground, planting some dutch irises.

Although not really a DIY job, I was pleased to finally repot our 60+ houseplants. Very neglected and dusty, they will certainly benefit from a little attention. Chris had also brought me two small planting troughs so I could plant a large number of cactuses and succulents in one pot, something that will hopefully stop our plant collection looking like a load of clutter.

So that’s it, a holiday well-spent, though as always we’ll return to work exhausted. It’s felt like a big step forward and a great start to 2024. Finger’s crossed it’s a sign of a good year to come.