So close to finished now

I'm back for the update for Friday, having not forgotten about it this evening. It's been a productive day, and a glorious one, but without Hikmet.

An absolutely stunning start to the day

Studs being fitted to the wall

Insulation in the gaps

Final section of plasterboard to be fitted

Joint stripped before lunch

She gets a UK socket

All day has been blue sky, light winds and very warm sun which has been absolutely lovely as we've all got outside a lot; Rosie loves the fresh air. The men arrived on time and set to what should be near enough the final day in Rosie's rooms. Bekir and Sally put up studwork on the new wall, then insulation and then plasterboard, with Halil helping along the way, and just before lunch they got the joint strips on the walls. Bekir also found time to finish the plugs, including the UK one, and fit the extra double socket that A picked up in town today.

Thelma just LOVES the sun

So great to be out on the balcony again

Getting started on the plastering

Channelling for the electrical cables

Bekir drilling to fit the light in the playroom

Light fitting colours selected

As I've said it was glorious today and the puppies were loving being outside a lot of the time. We had our lunch on the balcony which was also amazing and then it was back to my desk sadly. The workmen cracked on, however, with Sally plastering and Halil doing bits and pieces like mixing up the plaster, then getting the hammer drill to chisel out channels for the electrics to pass through. Bekir, for his part, was up a ladder fitting the lights. A had picked out four colourful light switch surrounds but with the decision to not have wall lights we were left with too many; Rosie chose the ones she wanted and so these were given to Bekir to fit.

Running machine is moved into the gym

Final tiles are fitted

Only one bulb, but we have light

Lifting the badly fitting tiles

Air-conditioning pipe is now secured

With the work so close to done this means that the gym was empty of tools; I took this opportunity to get the men to shift the running machine, and the multi-gym, into the empty room. This will enable us to tidy both the bottom corridor and me to get into the workshop and clear that largely. I will need to do that this weekend so on Monday we can move the toilets into the workshop to have a good look at them and start planning their installation. After this Sally got on with tiling while Bekir connected all the electrics. Our friend Lee popped over during the afternoon and it did make me laugh (and wince) to see Bekir up to his elbows in the distribution unit working on it, while it was live. Scary stuff. It is great to have lights and power in there, though. Towards the end of the day Bekir noticed that some of the tiling wasn't up to scratch so he chiselled up a couple of tiles and replaced them. Sally, meanwhile, filled the holes around the air-conditioning pipe. And their day was done.

Night sky. Good night.

Left to do is the grouting of the new tiles, painting the new wall, tiling the windowsills (and also the little bit into the kitchen) and the 5cm edging around the new tiled area but basically we are done in there. So exciting. I'll leave you with a picture taken from the balcony this evening after dinner - just
beautiful indeed.

Thanks for reading.