Now that the person who was not to know about it is safely home, I can finally reveal the home improvement I recently had carried out:

Esse 100 SE
I am currently in the stage of getting used to it — and receiving vague offers of scrap timber right, left and centre, none of which have yet materialised. I actually had to resort to buying a bag of logs from a petrol station.
Here’s a picture taken without the flash, using just the light from the fire:

Esse 100SE -- by own light, no flash
I’m almost looking forward to a cold winter, now, with this.
And I needn’t have worried; she loves it!