WOYWW 358–Misc Decorating

Still nothing on my desk I’m afraid, because we’ve been very busy with other things this week. Gary finished decorating our sitting room last week, and then did some odd jobs around the house that needed attention, including some priming of bits that had never got painted when we moved and the builders had finished – you know how it is, there are those pesky little bits that you never get round to doing, that you learn to live with until you cease to notice them, until the decorating bug bites again and suddenly you say “enough is enough!” I have been doing a bit of gloss and emulsion painting and then sleeping for 2 hours because I was so exhausted from the effort!

We also have some lamps that weren’t working and I’ve been attending to those. The black Ikea uplighter ceased working several months ago and my hubby said it was the dimmer switch. I’m not fussed about whether it dims or not, so yesterday I replaced the defunct switch with a normal one and lo and behold it works again! Nice. The fibre-optic lamp’s halogen bulb had gone and you have to take the lamp apart to replace the bulb, so it’s now in pieces awaiting the arrival of the replacement from Ebay, promised to arrive today. It didn’t. The cable for my work lamp (LED magnifier) has mysteriously vanished when we moved everything through to Mum’s flat in preparation for decorating. It has yet to turn up. We are still awaiting the arrival of the new chandelier which has been on order, due to arrive this week, we hope.

Once the decorative lamps are all working again and nicely arranged on the side table, and I’ve finished bringing stuff back into the room, I’ll upload the blog post I’m working on, charting the before, during and after of the redecorating of our sitting room. We are now using it again and it’s looking great – so bright and fresh, and the stencilling has worked a treat and looks really stylish. Watch this space.

So – miscellaneous decorating. First of all, the bi-fold doors to the airing cupboard.

These, and the rest of yesterday’s painting, all require a second coat. This gloss takes aaaages to dry and it’s still tacky! My cleaning lady is here today so I haven’t attempted a second coat, and will do it tomorrow, energy permitting. The rest of the utility room really needs decorating because only bits were done when the builders were altering it, and I’m going to use up the remaining green emulsion from the kitchen so it all matches – there are no doors in the doorways and you can see right through.

Up to the en-suite bathroom. The builders penetrated the wall into the old bathroom and created a doorway using the architrave from the utility room. When they removed it, it was quite damaged and I managed to patch it up and fill it as best as I could at the time. It remained patchy with the old cream paint and filler. It now has its first coat of new cream gloss.

Viewed from the other side you can see the door frame and new architrave created by the builders. This was just raw wood, with filler in the screw holes. Now also with its first coat of cream gloss after Gary primed it for me. (You can see the other side of it, and the arch into the loo, reflected in the mirror opposite!)

The threshold – likewise. Masking tape to remain until I’ve done the second coat.

Under the basin, the plasterboard at the back was a mess, with scorch marks from the blowtorch to melt the solder in the pipes, and it was discoloured and patchy. It now has its first coat of emulsion to match that on the arch visible in the first bathroom picture, and I’ve also painted the pipes. This space is where I keep my trolley that contains all my stoma supplies. You can see that in the first bathroom picture, too.

Finally, the water pipe from the high-level cistern in the loo, beyond the arch. There was still some green paint below the last remaining piece of dado, and a messy part where the old lead pipe was connected to the new plastic pipe. The first coat of cream gloss doesn’t fully cover the green, but I’m hoping another coat will do it.

It all looks so much better and more finished already! I am ashamed to say that these jobs have been waiting 2 1/2 years to be completed. I also had 2 boxes in the sitting room which had also been sitting around for 2 1/2 years waiting to be unpacked, containing ornaments and some other bits and pieces, and these are all unpacked now.

A few more finishing touches in the sitting room, and then we’ll have the Big Reveal!

Also last week, while the decorating was still going on, the windows man phoned to ask if he could come in about an hour’s time to replace our cloudy double-glazed units – he had a slot. We didn’t want to turn him down so we rushed around clearing the relevant rooms in front of the windows. They took down the grotty Venetian blind in the kitchen and I nearly killed myself cleaning it, rushing through the job to be finished in time for them to replace it before they left! It was still covered with builders’ dust etc. because the window is so large and high that I couldn’t reach it. Phew. What a job. Never again.

Phoebe, our younger cat, had another fit on Sunday evening, the second in a week. We phoned Auntie Megan, the vet, the next day and she said that it would be a few weeks till the increased dose of phenobarbital (started last week) takes effect. In a month’s time she wants to see her again and take more bloods and check her titre to make sure of the dose. This was the first time my hubby had seen her having a seizure – I’ve always had to deal with it on my own until now. She was very distressed and disoriented afterwards and needed lots of cuddles and reassurance.

In between all this, I have been trying to slot in at least 1/2 hour each day to practise my singing and guitar!

After all this work is finished, I’m really hoping to get back to my studio and do some ART!!

Happy WOYWW everybody, and a fruitful creative week ahead, in whatever direction that creativity takes you.

Our New House–Garage and Bathroom

The first of two posts today.

Andy was back on the case again today after his holiday in Italy – he and Paul and Chris, aka the Three Musketeers, or as my hubby will have it, the Banana Boys because of their strange habit of gracefully throwing their spent banana skins as high as they can into the nearest tree!! Andy told me he was thinking of me every day on his holiday because there were arches everywhere!

Andy has returned from being away with his attitude towards B&Q unchanged. They STILL haven’t got the kitchen cabinet he needs to construct our utility room… As a result of this, he and Chris (with a little assistance from Paul) were able to crack on marvellously well with the garage – all the more necessary because rain is forecast for tomorrow and they wanted to get as much of the roof done as possible.

The cladding has started to go up on the garage. I must say it is a lot nicer looking than I’d anticipated.

The window is now in. This window was originally in the annexe sitting room.

The side door from the outside.

Laying the roof felt.

The roof from the inside, showing the insulation. This material is space-age insulation and will make a huge difference to maintaining the temperature in the garage in the winter once my hubby gets some heating on. It has come out more expensive than Andy originally budgeted for, but we are happy with this because it will do the job so well. It should also make a difference in the summer and prevent the garage from becoming too hot. The insulation will cover the walls as well as the roof.

The window and door from inside. Having the glass side door will make a big difference to the amount of light in the garage.

The door from the inside.

Chris on the garage roof.

Yesterday my hubby took a lot of the flowers over – they have been in our garden for some time, and were bought for us by my hubby’s brother who has a trade account at B&Q. These troughs are lined up along the wall of the annexe patio. My hubby was worried that the flowers were starting to look a bit tired, but I suggested dead-heading them, which should make them produce a lot more flowers, and all being well, they should be looking great again by the time Mum arrives. I had a blitz on them before we left.

He also brought over the three hanging baskets. We decided to let Mum have two, and we’d keep the third. Once all the builders’ stuff and all the rubbish has gone, her patio will look so pretty. The handrail is now in place and painted, ready for its final coat of gloss. My hubby got into trouble with Paul today for painting Weathershield around the annexe door before the render was dry!! It’s all looking very smart now, but the paint may flake off and have to be redone.

The third hanging basket is now hanging in our little patio, which isn’t yet as pretty as Mum’s but once we get more stuff growing, it will be lovely.

Up at the top of the garden, where we’ve been sitting to have our lunch under the apple tree, the raspberry canes are producing a nice lot of fruit. Today I was able to pick a useable amount for the first time and we had them with our supper tonight.

Moving indoors, this is my hubby’s study. He has brought his rug over, and moved most of the boxes into the middle of the room, to allow the removal men to put the furniture around the walls. On the right you can see something propped against the wall:

This is the towel rail radiator for my bathroom. This is the first time I’ve actually seen it, as until now it’s still been packed in the box. Gorgeous, isn’t it.

My bath is making its way gradually to its final resting place in the bathroom! It is now on the bedroom floor, which is progress from my hubby’s study!

In the bathroom itself, Paul had laid the self-levelling flooring over the underfloor heating cables.

There was a problem when we first arrived, because the downstairs lights weren’t working, and kept tripping the switch. I was amazed at how quickly Paul identified the cause of the problem; he found a stain around the light fitting in the annexe airing cupboard, caused by some of the bathroom self-levelling flooring dripping down into the light fitting from above! He tried to fix it, and for a while the lights worked after he isolated the offending light fitting, but later the lights went off again. Tim the electrician is due back on Tuesday and he’ll fix it then.

Once the self-levelling flooring was dry, Paul was able to begin on the floor tiles in the bathroom.

The floor almost covered. There is a small amount still to do around the loo and shower tray in the further end.

The arch plaster is now pretty well dry. Paul has drawn a pencil line around it, indicating the position of the cut edges of the tiles. He will put some tiling bead around the edge, and then the exposed plaster can be painted. This seemed the best way to finish the tiling on the arch. Having a painted inner surface is a lot simpler than trying to cut the tiles to fit the curve.

At lunch time my hubby had bought some desserts for us – lemon cheesecake and chocolate brownie dessert – he had to leave for home before that. We shared them out and they were delicious! We were talking about why everybody is getting so fat these days and they looked at what they were eating! Paul started on some long rigmarole about what scientists now believe about how we are programmed to eat food when it’s available because we can’t store it or something, but I said “I am fat because I eat too much and don’t take any exercise!” Andy said, “That’s honest, anyway!” I said what Paul had said was just a good excuse for being overweight, and the reason people were overweight was that they ate too much. They then told me that Ian Iron said that the reason people were fat was that the hole at the top end was bigger than the hole at the bottom end!!!! ROFL!! (Ian Iron makes brilliant things out of metal and can fix pretty well anything. He lives in our village. Not to be confused with Plastic Mike who does all things to do with UPVC doors and windows!)

They won’t have finished the work by the time we move, but it shouldn’t be many days after we move in that the work is completed. Once Andy has got the right unit for the utility room sink he will start work on that, and the garage can wait a while. I told him that a few days after we move, I shall need to do some washing, and will need my airer up, and the airing cupboard functioning, and he said that should be done early in the week.

Today I started to clean the worktops in the kitchen, including the new hob, in an attempt to tackle the ubiquitous dust. I made a start on the Venetian blind the other day – it is absolutely filthy and covered with dust, and I won’t be able to reach the full height, unfortunately. I think I need one of those special blind cleaning dusting tools.

I also switched on the fridge freezer and put a few things in the freezer from home. My big old freezer is now empty and defrosted, and ready to go to the recycling centre tomorrow along with some other stuff – my hubby has arranged for some helpers to come tomorrow with a trailer and some strong arms to help get rid of our last bits and pieces – there’s a big old TV and some small cabinets, and once I’ve had a chance to go through my stuff in the garage, some old paint tins etc.

My smart new grab rails for the bathroom arrived today, and at long last the new kitchen table has arrived, after much messing us about by the firm – I ordered the blessed thing back in July!! Unfortunately there isn’t room for our present kitchen table, but my hubby will probably have this upstairs.

I shan’t be going over again till Saturday, which will be my last visit to the new house before we actually move. There is a huge amount of work to be done in order to be ready for the removers. Andy says he will make sure the bedroom and sitting room are cleared of stuff, and the freezer will probably go in the outhouse tomorrow, and when Tim comes on Tuesday they are hoping the garage will be weather-proof enough to set up the electrical supply in there, and then he can run the cable back to the outhouse for the freezer, so I shouldn’t need to use a temporary extension cable after all.

The rest of my time today was occupied in clearing all the boxes and remaining stuff out of the spare room – my hubby was concerned about getting the furniture in there on Monday. See my next post to see what I did with it all!!

As the team were leaving, Paul and Chris were by the back door while Andy was up at the garage, and Paul told me I should wind Andy up by saying I was unhappy with the lack of progress on the utility room, and I was going to employ another contractor to get the work done properly! I told him he should tell Andy, but he said Andy would know for sure it was a wind up if it came from him. Poor old Andy… We went up to the garage, and I started to say to Andy, “Andy, I’ve made a decision. I’m fed up with the mess and lack of progress in the utility room…” but one look at the other two’s grinning faces and I simply dissolved into laughter and said “I can’t do it!!” Paul said “I knew you wouldn’t be able to do it!”

My New ARTHaven–The Unpacking Finished

The second of two posts today.

Great news – the boxes are all unpacked! There are a few more bits and pieces which I unpacked into the spare room at the beginning, which need to be carried through, but pretty well everything is now in my new ARTHaven. Of course, it’s all chaotic still, and it will take me months to get it sorted to my satisfaction (if ever!) but it will become workable eventually.

Great excitement this morning – the blind man came! Again, he was well able to find his way and do his job, all without the aid of white stick or dog, and in fact he and his sidekick had my new Venetian blind installed in exactly 8 minutes! Really impressive stuff. It looks gorgeous – a much cleaner, smarter look than the curtains which have now gone, and with the added advantage, of course, of being able to filter the light how I want.

Hard to photograph well, because it’s obviously against the light, but around the edges you can see that the colour is a neutral beige to co-ordinate with the room. I did not want to introduce any colour into the decor of this room as it would compete with any art work I might be doing, or want to display.

After months of neglect, sleeping soundly in her box in the spare room at our old house, Sheba is now sitting on her new work bench! OK, she’s still in her box, but when she is released, she will be placed across the corner, ready to do her stuff, cutting whatever I tell her to cut! She has featured so little in my blogs of late that many people may need to be re-introduced to her – she’s my Cougar cutting machine from Thyme Graphics. (The Thyme Machines forum is so wonderful – despite the fact that I have been such a passive member of late, featuring almost exclusively in the “chat” section and not cutting anything at all, I am still considered a full member! What an amazing group that is.)

Are you ready for this? The next photo shows my main work area, looking organised!! It is really beginning to look like home now. I still need to do a great deal of organising, fixing various things to the wall above the work surface, but you can see the general layout! The little black cabinet in the centre came from Dad’s workshop, and contained his taps and dies. It is very dirty and oily, and one of the small white ceramic handles is missing, but once I’ve cleaned it up and painted it, it will be used to store smaller stuff. You can also see my new Stickles carousel to the right, and Dad’s two pipe racks which now hold scissors, tweezers and pliers. Watch this space to see the organising taking place over the next few weeks. I’ve got lots of ideas!

On the right on the work surface, beside my craft mat, you can see the door plate I mentioned in my previous post. Probably my first project in my new ARTHaven, once I get settled in, will be to make a mould of this, and create more of these beautiful art deco pieces for use on the doors downstairs.

The office section is a nightmare. I can’t do anything in there until it’s organised. There are heaps of stuff on the desk, and piles of packs of paper everywhere, and I’ve had to rethink my storage in there because I am asking far too much of the new shelves, which will not support the weight of all my storage. I am now thinking of storing my paper in the bottom of the wardrobe in the bedroom, and keeping the shelves for lighter stuff and maybe some photos and ornaments to make it look more homely.

Last bits of work to be done in this room: the tiling above the sink has to be done, and the shelf fitted for the microwave, and a small wall unit above the sink. I can’t put my stuff in the cupboard until this is done, but there’s lots of other sorting out to be done in the meantime, and it will happen eventually.

Good news over the last couple of days – my hubby has sold my Cricut machine on Ebay for me! That’s one big box that has left this house and not ended up in the new house! I am delighted that it is now sold, and I hope the new owner enjoys using it. That machine got me going on my cutting career but I outgrew it fairly soon, as I was making demands on it that it couldn’t meet, and I am delighted to have moved on to the Silver Bullet Cougar machine.

My New ARTHaven–The Sink and the Blind Man

The second of two posts today. When we arrived at the new house this morning, we offloaded some stuff, and then we set off for the curtain and blind shop to choose and order a Venetian blind for my ARTHaven. It was arranged that someone would come in the afternoon to measure up. When my hubby came to collect me, I told him that the blind man had come, and he’d managed to drive to the house, cross the hall, negotiate the stairs and walk into my ARTHaven and then measure up, all without the aid of a dog or a white stick, or me having to lead him by the hand. My hubby told me that the man had rung him twice on his mobile for directions to the house, and I said, “Well, you have to make allowances. He was a blind man, after all!”

I’ve chosen a neutral cream-beige colour with a matt finish, really plain, which tones well with the floor and work surfaces. I don’t want anything that’s going to shout its presence aloud, but which will blend in. It will be neater and cleaner looking than the curtains which are going, and I will be able to filter the light as I want.

The basin in the corner is in the process of being removed now.

The cabinet has been removed and the pipes disconnected. There is a spare base unit from the original kitchen which is going in here, with shelves for storage, and the sink also from the original kitchen. I ordered a pull-out tap from Ebay a couple of days ago, (really cheap) and when we got home today it was waiting for me, so I’ll take it over on Monday ready for them to install. There will be splashback tiles the same as those going in the new kitchen, annexe kitchen and utility room, and where the small shelf is, on the right, Andy will fit a shelf for the small microwave.

After this, all he will have to do is fit the deep shelf over the freestanding storage units, and then the room will be complete, and ready for me to start filling with all my stuff.