POETS Day

In the English-speaking world Friday is universally known as POETS day, and for our bathroom fitters it's no different. They were out of here at 11.15. A short day, when all that was done was finish the boarding of the ceiling and the last bit of wall, install power for the underfloor heating, first-fix the plumbing for the bath and fetch the plasterer's supplies.

So no photos today, because apart from looking an awful lot tidier nothing much has changed. The room stands empty awaiting the hand of the master. Plasterers are always masters in my book. They can put a trowel-full of plaster on a wall and have it stay there (when I do it, it falls right off again); they can spread it out so that the surface is completely flat, square and plumb (when I do it, it resembles the surface of a swimming pool); and they can polish it so it looks like glass (when I do it, the trowel digs in and leaves holes everywhere).

Part of me thinks hey - they were here for about two hours. They could have made that time up yesterday and/or Wednesday and then the plasterer could have been busy working his magic all day today! But I can't really get excited about it. They're such nice guys, their work is of such a good standard and their price is unbeatable so I'm adopting a relaxed attitude to it all.

The tiles arrived today too (OK I know I said no photos but I thought you'd like to see them), so our worries that their trip from Portugal would be delayed and work held up were unfounded. They look every bit as nice in their little cardboard packets as they did in the showroom and I can't wait to see them on the floor and in the shower. We've opted not to have the walls tiled for now. We both agree a fully tiled bathroom looks too much like a public toilet and the debate was only ever whether to go for half-tiled walls or simply painted. The latter option gives us scope to change our minds later so that's what we went for.

Here's an attempt to give you a better idea what the colour of the tiles is like. Like a mottled mid-grey.


Now that the fitters have left and the front door is closed at last, I have to say it's noticeably warmer in the bathroom now the hole in the ceiling has been boarded over. The draft from the attic was quite severe. Once the heated towel rail and underfloor heating is installed it's going to be pretty cosy in there.