The story so far.

There's still much work to be done. Cover strips are needed, pipes need boxing in, tiles need wooden beading around their edges, the windows need refitting (there will be a whole post dedicated to that job in the future), shelves need building - It's a home and therefore there will always be something to be done - but I thought it about time to record how far we've come since I last posted photos.

This then, is a tour of our home.

Our boat is of reverse layout so this is the view when looking in from the back deck:

And the galley is the first "room" you enter.

We opted for a big double oven in this boat. I've recently been learning how to bake bread. It's not going terribly well so far. The oven, therefore, is mainly Rob's domain.

The worktops are pretty cluttered at the moment. I'm hoping for some shelves soon and a nice rustic looking spice rack to hang onto the wall to free up some worktop space. We still need to add the cupboard door to the washing machine but need a replacement from B&Q first as they supplied us with the wrong one.
We also need to reconfigure the steps. Our friend made them and he's done a wonderful job but I'm worried they're a little too steep for people. I also really ought to find somewhere else to store all those shopping bags that have collected behind them.

 

Above is a jug painted by Les who wintered his boat with us. There's a little Lolly on the bottom edge. We love it very much. We love Les too - Wave to him if you see him and Tramp on their travels on the cut.

We've kept the galley and saloon open plan:

There is a door to the walk-though bathroom but we leave it open so Lolly can get to and from the bedroom. We hung the curtain to obscure the view of the bathroom from the galley and saloon so the door can still be shut when the bathroom is in use but the cat can come and go as she pleases when it's not.

The door on the left in the top photo leads to the "shed" which will one day be a music room/study. It currently looks like this:

 

The shelves need finishing and we need a little futon so the room can be used as a guest room but it's looking a lot better than it did even a month ago. You can see the floor for a start... We need better accordion storage too (boxes on the left)

This is how our bathroom is looking:

Now you can see the view the curtain hides! Our marina manager had the mahogany worktop made for us from wood removed from his house during renovations. It's one of my favourite pieces.

We've a little corner dedicated to the green man with some of our plaques and pictures from the old boat. I also love my shower curtain. It was a gift from Sam and is another of my favourite things. Sam bought it for me after my reaction upon seeing the one she owns!

The bathroom leads to the main cabin. We've yet to find curtains to hang over the wardrobes  and we need a new mattress as the current one is from the old boat and too small for the bed frame. It's nice to be able to have full size furniture though.

The beautiful cross stitch above the bed that you cannot see very well in the top photo was made by mum C. And that blue thing on the floor by the drawers in the bottom photo is a cat toy.
There's still a lot of work to be done in this room. We need to address the step in here too. It's currently the old sofa box from The Green Man and it doesn't quite fit the space. It's also too big a step for mum L to use without having to be manhandled by one of us onto the front deck.

And this is the front deck that we manhandle her onto:

There's not nearly enough plants out here yet. I'm still getting used to the space and how difficult it is to grow plants in it. Plants flourished on the back deck of the old boat but I think the vast amount of steel radiates more heat and some plants struggle with it. I can also be guilty of over watering. The lovely bay and lemon balm were gifts from friends and the bergamot, strawberries, beans, courgette and butternut squash are from mum and dad L.

And finally, a tour of our boat would not be complete without a certain someone showing her face:

Oh...

Salad gardener.

I have been inspired of late by Zhoen's beautiful garden as she transforms and develops it and so have returned, once again, to gardening on a small scale. There's not enough room on the back deck of The Green Man for much in the way of plants but as long as it's edible it's allowed onboard. I'll have much more room on The Gabble Ratchet but for now I am content to see little pockets of life spring up around me.

My pot of trusty rosemary, that has seen many stunted seasons pass, has been joined by a basket of thyme, mint and oregano with nasturtium seeds scattered between

A tin of wild strawberries waiting for the sun to blush the fruit, leaves dance in the cool summer breeze.

Sentinels of celeriac, young and still to form ball roots.

Tomato for Rob, though it's frail after a cat attack.

Rocket behind, peeking through the soil, and spinach already eager to grow five days after the seed was planted.

Coriander, another solely for Rob, a favourite in his curries.

Basil, chives and parsley.

There's something so calming and fulfilling about having plants around me again. I never realised how much I missed tending them.