Approved!!!!!!!

Yippeeeee!! Our loft conversion plans have been approved by our local council and they have issued us with a lawful development certificate!! We are so pleased. 3 years ago our neighbours (next door but one) applied for planning permission to do the same thing and were denied (they, like us, had used all their permitted development allowance for their kitchen extension). The law changed last October, and separate lawful development rights were introduced for lofts. We were so excited about this, as we had thought we would have to have a big planning battle to argue the point that a number of homes in the road had already converted from a hip to a gable end roof, so there was precedence for planning to be granted. This amendment has made our lives SO much easier. So now we just need to hash out a party wall agreement with our neighbours (the other side of the semi).

This will be long and protracted (and expensive). We have a very difficult relationship with them, they were not happy at all about our kitchen extension, and will be even less happy with a loft conversion. I am putting it in the very capable hands of a party wall surveyor. Once we have the agreement in place, we can start. Yikes. I will of course keep you in the loop!

In other loft related news (!) the marble tile sample in the shower is remaining unstained, I am going to keep it there until we need to order tiles, but I am hopeful that it will be ok. A forum that I was looking at the other day said that staining occurred after a year so I still feel a little nervous about it, but I also wonder how often this person cleaned their shower? I would be quite happy to wipe it down every day if it meant it would stay unstained.



And because I don't want to post without a picture:


I really want this lamp, and how TO DIE FOR is that view??








Also, we made some cupcakes last weekend













Am off to Ikea tomorrow as they have Rosali bedding back in. I bought a duvet cover and made it into curtains for Miss SLS's bedroom a few weeks after she was born, and have since wished I bought another to use as a duvet cover. Thanks to Lindsay at Notes from My Days (see the link in my blog , not to sure how to create link here!) I learned today that it is back in stock after 7 years!! So I am going to see if I can do a quick dash over to pick some up, and any other goodies that I can find as well!!! I will report back!! xx