2nd April 2018

Last weeks update didn’t happen, I just forgot. That’s not to say that nothing had happened though. John has been on holiday since Tuesday and not back until the middle of next week but he did manage to get through more work before he went. The kitchen is pretty much plastered now including the ceiling apart from the very end bit which has been left exposed to enable us to get central heating pipes in and connected as well as water feeds. Downstairs toilet is also plastered out and the window has been replaced. From a plastering point of view there’s not too much left now. The back wall in the kitchen has been left as we’ve decided to replace the 2 windows rather than trying to clean them up. The window sill in the kitchen front window is now on which makes the world of difference, guess my hammer will live in the cavity forever now. I went last weekend and watered down some white paint and whitewashed the ceilings in the bedrooms and put a first coat of magnolia on the walls. Suddenly it’s looking like a new house upstairs.

It’s Easter weekend this weekend so a long weekend, also Sharon is back with me so we’ve tried to make it count and bashed on. It was quite cold when we first got there and I was all ready to fire up Bertha 🔥, only to realise John had taken her home. Sensible really as we try not to leave anything of value there. Friday morning we were there armed with takeaway bacon butties from Snackattack. First thoughts when we got there was that the kitchen was like a scene from the Krypton Factor. As John had been there plastering the ceiling before he went off to Spain, he had breeze blocks, scaffold planks and tressels built up so he could walk freely all over the kitchen whilst being able to reach the ceiling. It was a criss cross of scaffold planks and wooden pieces. So we made our first job the task of dismantling that lot. I have noticed he’s forgotten to expose the wiring for one of the kitchen lights which could be fun trying to find without ruining his fresh plaster !! Sharon then set about having a tidy and a sweep downstairs and I made it my mission to get a new toilet pan installed temporarily for obvious reasons. That was successful, what a difference after a sweep and the fact that we have a flushable bog (although only flushable with s bucket but beggars can’t be choosers)!!

We then moved on upstairs. Painting was the name of the game. It’s a slow job but we made good progress. We managed to cut in and paint the landing ceilings as well as cut in the 2 smaller bedrooms, put a coat on the walls and cut them in a second time. They have also had a further two coats of white on the ceilings. The master bedroom had 3 coats on the ceiling last weekend and a couple of coats on the walls so that’s just going to want a further coat on the walls. Was a long day and a 7.30pm finish thanks to the clocks going forward last weekend.

Saturday saw more painting, we’d been to get more magnolia for the walls but it was a very slightly different shade. However it seemed to cover better which reduced the number of coats from three to two. Sharon’s mastered the art of cutting in and the number of cups of tea we had was no longer limited as we have a loo. She concentrated on cutting in upstairs and I set to about getting the next coats on the walls. Between us we managed a second coat on both the smaller bedrooms, a third coat on the master bedroom (so the colours match), a second coat on the landing ceilings and the first coat on the landing and down the stairs. So all in all a very productive day. All 3 bedrooms are now emulsion’d and the stairs and landing has had its first coat.

Sunday was a day of rest as far as painting was concerned (well that was the plan). After breakfast at the cafe with Spok & Denise we dutifully arrived for day 3. My aim for the day was to get the downstairs plug sockets connected up and plugged in to the temporary supply to test and see if I had dropped any goolies. Sharon was to set about clearing the masses of amounts of wood, tools, electrical fittings and all the other accumulated crap out of the bathroom. We set about our tasks. I was doing quite well until about half way round when the wire strippers snapped, and my Stanley knife had done a disappearing act. I did find another knife belonging to JB which bailed me out. Sharon did a cracking job clearing out the bathroom. I managed to get all the sockets on including the isolating switches and I’m pleased to report they worked first time with no dramas. Pretty pleased with that.

As we were ahead of schedule we decided to get the bathroom ceiling cut in and painted and the living room ceiling too before finishing off cutting the bathroom walls in. Every time we add a coat of paint the place brightens up no end.

Easter Monday and we were up and about reasonably early. White over outside and snowing like mad. We set our stall out and decided we were only going until lunchtime today as we are both a bit tired. We had a spot of breakfast and off we went. Upon arrival, we went in, picked up the paint brushes that we had wrapped up and dutifully left again. Decided to go home and have a day off. We are very happy with what we’ve achieved this weekend and it’s certainly starting to look good now.En savoir plus