Sunday 30 August 2020

My favourite window cill

I have never had a favourite window cill before, but for some reason I really like the one on our top floor. Maybe its the interesting shape, and it stretches all the way along the staircase. I can picture it filled with house plants, although that's a bit of a way off yet. 


Today I really, really do think that I have put in the last piece of insulation. I used two bags of the stuff and even have a spare one to take back to the shop. Big cause for celebration, and hopefully I can throw away the very old and tired dust mask now. 


We bought some bright orange paint yesterday because I thought it a shame that once we were inside the house we couldn't see the lovely orange front door. The back of it is dark grey so it made sense to paint the wall surrounding it.


Interesting look, and it brightens up the hallway. 

Saturday 29 August 2020

Cocktail cabinet update

 A few days ago I mentioned the art deco cabinet that I bought for £50, which also included two bedside tables.


The plan was to drill a hole in the top and put in a little basin and tap, and maybe put a mini fridge in one of the cupboards. 

I was looking online for inspiration and found this picture. 


It is a beautiful looking piece, that is an almost identical shape to mine. It has given me lots of ideas to copy, and I am going to sand mine down, revarnish it and paint the top and legs in a nice dark grey too. 

However, this cabinet is up for sale for £1,595! One the one hand it's great news, but on the other, it now seems a bit crazy to drill holes in mine.

Changing the subject - I haven't bought any new clothes since the lock down began, and have gradually turned almost all of my jeans and trousers into work gear, and everything is now covered in paint. 

This morning we needed to take a trip to the shops, and I decided to wear my last reasonable pair of jeans to look a little bit smart. Ten minutes into the trip we bought ten 25kg bags of plaster. Before I realised what had happened, all of my clothes were covered in plaster dust. 

This afternoon I had to make an emergency trip to M and S, and bought four pairs of jeans. Fortunately one pair fits quite well so I can still go out, if we should happen to receive an invite. 

Wednesday 26 August 2020

Staircase transformation

 It's all happening at the plot while I am away.



Apparently the plasterers love the new little stairs and are able to put up the plasterboard without the stairs having to be taken out. 


Meanwhile, I have been busy packing in Nottingham, but I have also been down to Hyson Green and managed to find the most fantastic art deco style furniture to up cycle.


All this for £50, although I am not quite sure what I am doing going to do with it yet.

It's really good solid wood and has a date stamp on the back of 2nd September 1932. Quite a responsibility to do a good job I think. 

Tuesday 25 August 2020

Narrow stairs

I drove to our own house this morning because we have almost sold out it and I need to start packing up.

Darren has spent the day with just one of the plasterers for company, and in my absence he has transformed the stairs. 

He has cut the steps so that they are much narrower.

It looks a bit dangerous, but the reason for it is so that the plasterers can put the boards and then the plaster skim in around them. 

I will have to see what I think of it when I get back in a couple of days, as I am just looking at the photos that Darren hasn't sent me. 

Monday 24 August 2020

Pink plasterboard

 Yesterday Darren, with a little bit of help from me, put the plasterboard ceilings up in the downstairs toilet and storage room.

The plasterboard is pink which shows that it is fire board and is a safety precaution as it is under the stairs. 

He also sorted out the steps to the balcony in our bedroom, and the steps are pink too. 

The plasterers came back this morning and boarded the bedroom and it is really now starting to take shape. 

I spent the day painting, but it was all only white paint, so I haven't taken a photo. 

I have also fallen out with the double glazing people yet again which is very disappointing, although we have now come up with a plan B as to how to deal with them so we will have to wait and see how that unfolds. 

Saturday 22 August 2020

Bathrooms

 Our plan for our bathing arrangements, is that Darren will mainly use the ensuite, and I will use the main house bathroom.

We have both chosen our own design and colour schemes, and mine is definitely a work in progress. If I don't like it when I have finished then I will just change it, but here are my first thoughts. 



I am going to put the fish wallpaper on the walls around the bath, and maybe even on the ceiling. 

Darren's is very classy, and at last we are using all of the bathroom fittings that we bought in a closing down sale over a year ago. 

Ps, I turned my back on the courgette plants for a few minutes and suddenly today I found that we have monster on our hands. 



Friday 21 August 2020

A year and a day anniversary

 I don't know what I was thinking yesterday because it was exactly one year since we bought the plot, not a boring day at all. 

Today is the year and a day anniversary, which is not so well known, but still quite a good one. 

Things have changed a lot....... 



 

and its been a long year, but very eventful. 

We are getting near to the end, and our next anniversary is in October, which was the date that the first brick was laid.

Hopefully I will remember that one. 

Thursday 20 August 2020

Boring blog alert

 I have just realised that I am about to write, again, about the most boring subject in the world.

Watching paint dry. 

It is possibly even worse than that, because I am also writing about watching plaster dry too. Please bear with me through this phase, and surprisingly, I am finding it quite exciting. 


It will end, or at the least get a bit more interesting when I start to use more coloured paint. 

I tried to look at Darren's achievements today to brighten up the blog, but he spent this morning moving the temporary staircase to a new position, and this afternoon faffing about on doing I am not sure what! Only joking, I am sure that he was really very productive.


Tuesday 18 August 2020

Moving stuff around

 I seemed to spend most of today moving stuff around. I think that I have moaned about this before, but it's still true.

I can see that some things have reached their final resting place, such as a lot of the kitchen units are now actually in the kitchen, but there is still quite a bit in the living room. 

The bath is in the bathroom, but not plumbed in yet so might go on a mini journey soon, the toilets and basins are in the bedrooms at the moment, and the soon to be built wardrobes are on the right floor but in the wrong room. 

However, progress is being made and the plasterers finished the spare bedroom today and will finish the office tomorrow. 

They are also starting to plasterboard our bedroom tomorrow so we had a last minute race around to get it ready for them. 




Sunday 16 August 2020

Painting walls

 I have spent the weekend doing lots of little things such as siliconing round the showers, getting the office ready for the plasterers, lots of tidying up, and then painting.

I have painted the top floor room although I ran out of the grey paint and there isn't any more in the local shops. 


I also bought some pale green paint that looked medium in the pot, went really dark as I was painting it on and then eventually dried to quite a pale colour. Not certain about it, but it brightens up the room. 

I also bought some rather bright yellow for the bathroom, although I am even less sure about this one. 

The main wall isn't going to stay that colour, it's just wet plaster, although it's great to see the window cill finally in place.

Darren has been busy getting on with the kitchen, the utility room and has fitted the radiator on the top floor. 

Lots and lots of rain all weekend, so it was good to be inside the house. 

Thursday 13 August 2020

Amazing rainstorm

 After the garden was flooded a few weeks ago I put in some major flood defences, and they got fully tested today.

I have edged the back and side of the garden with large tiles and I didn't think that any water would get through. 

The rain started fairly slowly, but built up to a huge crescendo, and fast flowing mini streams charged over the clay soil behind us. 

A small amount of water got between small gaps between the tiles, "bad workmanship?" suggested Darren. But, overall it was a huge success.

My water butts are full again, although they couldn't cope with the speed that the water shot down the drainpipe and we had to stop the diverter until the rain calmed down a bit. 

Ps, further marvellous news today - our window cills eventually turned up today and Darren spent the afternoon fitting them. 

Tuesday 11 August 2020

Cleaning windows

 Today, amongst lots of other little jobs, I started to clean the windows. I didn't expect to notice much difference, but I was amazed at the transformation.

Hopefully you can see what I mean, I have only cleaned the door so far in the kitchen. 

In the garden we are still inundated with courgettes, the tomatoes are very tasty and we are starting to get quite a few chillies on the plants in the greenhouse. 


Monday 10 August 2020

Insulation and intumescent paint

 I spent this morning putting two layers of fluffy insulation above the ceiling of the garage. I really used to hate this job, and I have mistakenly thought about three times already that I had finished it, and then found yet another place to shove it.

However, I have got a bit more relaxed about doing it now, and the morning passed by quite uneventfully. 

A much nicer job was to paint our metal posts with intumescent paint. This morning a delivery man turned up with my one litre pot of paint, and he also took away the ten litres that arrived a few days ago. 


I used the right amount of paint and it went on quite easily. Two coats equals half an hour of fire resistance, and three coats allows up to an hour. We only need to be covered for half an hour, but I have enough paint to do another coat, so I might as well use it up. 

If I had taken that attitude with the ten litres that I previously ordered then I would have been going for 30 coats. 

Even I don't have that much patience. 

Friday 7 August 2020

Tiling the showers

 A much better day today with some good progress. 

Our tiler, Richard, arrived and it was immediately obvious that he has high standards. In a nice way he criticised lots of our preparation, but then he set to work. I usually like to do the tiling, but in comparison to him I am a real amateur. 

This is the shower in the ensuite and I have no idea what all of the little suckers do. I did notice a mistake in the main bathroom, but he is going to sort it out tomorrow. 

The plasterers also got a lot done on the top floor. 

And I have arranged for the ten litres of fire retardent paint mentioned yesterday to be collected, and replaced with a one litre pot. 


Thursday 6 August 2020

Frustrating day

I spent a lot of time this morning dealing with 'issues'. These include the window cills that I ordered over three weeks ago, and that were supposed to arrive in three to five working days. They were actually sent after 15 working days and due to arrive in three parcels yesterday, however, two of the parcels are now lost in transit and the one that did arrive included a window cill that was the wrong size.
Then I checked the fire retardent paint that I ordered for painting two steel beams. I was told bymmany sources that the paint would be incredibly expensive, so when it cost £249 then I was not too surprised. However, on reading the instructions it turns out that I actually only needed one litre, but they have charged me and sent me ten litres!
Also, still waiting for the window company to confirm that the balconies that we are having to buy from them meet current building regulations. Apparently they have never checked this out, but the only reason we are buying them is to correct their mistake in supplying windows to us that also don't meet building regulations.
Anyway, that's enough moaning for today.
The plasterers have got on well and have prepped the ceiling on the top floor. 

I spent the afternoon painting the bathrooms because the tiler is arriving first thing tomorrow to tile the two showers and one floor.
Our electrician did a good day's work and Darren started sorting out the boxing in on the staircase. 
Our skip is filling up nicely, and the little play park opposite our house is looking very good. 

 

Tuesday 4 August 2020

Vapour control layer

I spent this morning covering the two timber frame walls on the top with a vapour control layer.
This is a huge plastic waterproof cover that keeps any possible damp or moisture in the air from getting in to the structure of the  house.
That makes it sound a bit complicated, but basically I covered the walls in a giant plastic bag. 

Before 


After 


It looks very nice, but we can't now see the wooden beams so it will be more difficult for the plasterers. 
Darren has been busy in the kitchen and we now have units, doors and drawer fronts.


Give it a few days and we will have the kettle, fridge and cupboards in use. 
Ps, the cupboard doors don't have a pattern on them, they are covered with plastic to protect them. 

Monday 3 August 2020

Painting

Things are starting to come together a,nd I have spent the last couple of days painting. It might sound strange, but one of the first things that I have painted is the inside of the garage.


Darren wanted to put up some heavy duty shelving, so I painted the walls before he started. We wanted a nice colour, but the ones that we could find in the shops were really boring, so we mixed our own. 
I had a spare half pot of bright greeny blue wood paint, so I poured some in to white masonry paint, and ended up with a lovely toothpaste colour.
I took a more traditional route in the kitchen and bought some dark grey paint to accent with the white in the kitchen. 


Darren has also started fitting the kitchen and is putting up the full height units along the back wall.


There is lots more painting to do and the plasterers are here too so I need to try to keep up with them.