Let's hope it's all worth it

We've finally got around to having a chimney liner fitted for the wood-burner stove in this room and as you might expect in an old house like this one, all was far from straightforward.  The two men who came were delightful and as you can see they covered everything up and even put cardboard down on the floor.  I, for my part, plied them with coffee and  a bacon sandwich.  (So they tell me they will be vying for who comes back to finish off the job.)  They had to knock a hole in the chimney breast within the roof cavity so they could sort out a blockage and get the liner down, but they tell me that the brick/stonework of the original chimney is in need of rebuilding as the fabric has really deteriorated.  We certainly don't need it collapsing on us.  We're going to have to make changes to the fireplace lintel too and it looks like our lovely cedar wood is going to have to be replaced by a stone one in order to comply with the fire regulations.  We thought we might be able to raise it but it's looking increasingly unlikely.