New Year's Resolutions...

C: Nope!

G: No chance!

C: Still in crisis management, so only able to plan for this month.

G: This Week!
G: OK, I exaggerate....

C: Have finally managed to convince Geoff to restart DIY on the house.

G: We've even agreed on what the next project is going to be. We're going to take a wall out.

C: Two.

G: I think it's just one with a corner in it.

C: We're knocking out the awkward wall by the dining room window, which will leave us with a larger dining room, direct access from kitchen to dining room and a longer wall in the kitchen to put appliances against.

G: We will be closing up the existing door between the lounge and the kitchen. Not bricking it up - just bolting it closed, so we still get some light through the windows in it. We have to move the fridge-freezer out of the alcove when we open it up to the dining room, but we just plan to move it to in front of the kitchen/lounge door.

C: We'll have to box in a load of ugly pipework.

G: And the boiler and fuse box, since they are also tucked away in the alcove. Another benefit will be more usable floorspace in the lounge, since we will no longer have to keep the walkway to the kitchen free of toys & children.

C: We're getting some help from a new friend through church, with payment through "meals of plenty."

G: And computer repairs....

C: He's done a lot of JOAT-style building work.

G: We plan to start by taking the old wall out and cleaning up on Thursday, then we'll be able to properly measure up for the timber to box the pipes in.

C: We'll have to take down the shelf unit that the kids kept a lot of their toys on, but that's mostly cleared out already. We're now making the kids keep most of their toys in their rooms.

G: Hopefully this will be a good start to a productive new year, and a realistic program of work. We're trying not to get too ambitious and plan too far ahead of ourselves.