something good is brewing in the center of Clapham

im so far happy with the contractor we chose for the refurb. people in general have a lot of horror stories about builders and these type of work, schedules not holding up at all and whatnot. so ive worried a lot. we basically did not pick the cheapest but one but one who works in the area and has like over 200 stellar reviews at Checkatrade. it felt like the safest choice in lack of a friend recommending someone. ive met everyone working at the flat (which is several people). and they seem nice and it seems to me like they are on schedule. James the plumber was suspicious that our chosen shower mixer wouldnt fit and overall critical of some of the bathroom furnishings....  i respect his opinion but not sure why a 200£ toilet wouldn't be "quality enough"... we'll see. maybe he is right and i'm wrong. im learning a lot though about everything, easy as i started with not knowing anything. and i have been stressed out over deliveries and everything else as expected. have to choose the skirting boards, tiles, towel heater,  kitchen tap...  we ordered samples. went to ikea, i've been running around in some stores...  but its a lot. im not sleeping well as my brain is on overdrive.  

the place looks a bit rough now as expected. the kitchen disappeared pretty quickly between yesterday afternoon and today midday when i visited. they are making a new floor and then tiling it, and the new kitchen is arriving tomorrow morning. putting it together will take at least a week i think. maybe 2, including the new floor. i asked when do they need the appliances and the aswer was mid week next week, so we need to make some decisions.. i was hoping we couldve benefitted from Black Friday which is not happening exactly now but luckily many of the stores are doing an early start and have put things on sale already. we chose the fridge a couple weeks back and it was suddenly about 200£ cheaper so that was nice. i think we are going with an IKEA hob, which will be normal price AND expensive, but such is life. ive never bought an oven and anything more than a basic dsishwasher or washing machine so i'm struggling with those. we keep exchanging links with doctor but it's exhausting. so many features to consider...

bathroom is rough too. James had to take some of the tiles out to fit the shower mixer which he didn't like. i bought replacement tiles which are of course not exactly the same (apparently every bacth is slightly different) but close enough. we dont want to to re-tile the whole bathroom now; white is nice enough, we are short on time and not millionaires.

 the floor is starting to look ok too. Patrick is the carpenter, really nice fellow.

dealing with the tradesmen is interesting though. i’ve never been in this position at least in this magnitude. they treat me as the ‘boss’ which technically i may be but i can tell there is some cultural confusion over my un-bosslike friendliness (bringing juice & cookies) and when i get physically involved, carrying stuff like toilet and tiles to the flat etc. this is definitely not expected. also they were surprised that i have a job, but maybe that’s just cos i show up often at times when normally people would be at work? 

meanwhile in brixton we started collecting boxes and packing. i will be away in Helsinki next week so better start now...

needless to add, i haven’t had time for anything else.