A night on the tiles

I forgot to pots This photo from last night.  The very last thing that we had to do before we went to bed was seal the tile floor.  It need to dry overnight before anyone can walk on it and as its has so much through traffic the only way we could achieve that was to seal it last thing at night.  We both did it together but here is G finishing the job.

G had a day off today and we spent a lovely with Hayley and Dan.  He did start the day with a few jobs including fitting a new electric socket in the hallway.  He had planned it two years ago but hadn't got round to it.  The photo shows Dan supervising him.

We walked to Sandymouth for lunch and back.  It wasn't the sunniest day in the world but the rain just about managed to stay away.  We walked along the beach there and back along the cliffs.  To top it off we managed to get a cliff top geocache in on the way home.  Here is a panoramic photo I took with my new iPhone app with G, Dan and Hayley in the distance.

On the walk out we went past the shipwreck SS Belem which was wrecked in 1917 off Northcott beach.  Sometimes the wreck sticks out of the sand and other days the sand covers most of it and you would hardly know it was there.  Today we were lucky to get a great view of what was the old boiler room and the photos show me wreck.  Dad went to look at with G when they were down last summer and Dad was a bit disappointed as it was one of the days that it was mostly covered in sand.

As soon as Dan and Hayley left the sun came out so we took advantage of it and chopped up some more wood from the building rubble pile and cleaned the front yard. We also had a bit of a planning session on what we are going to do with the front yard...more work.   As I write G is varnishing the oak shelves in the middle bedroom but I just feel exhausted.  He was keen to go for a sea swim but I forgot to save enough energy for it and I have just looked on the web cam and the sea looks a bit messy for me.  I think a G&T is calling me except we have run out of tonic.

While the cats away ........

Work has been a bit slow this weekend as G has had to work over the weekend and I have been a bit slow getting through my to do list.  My main jobs were to sand the skirting board in the hall and scrub the slate ready for sealing.  On Saturday I did managed to make a start on the  jobs before Carol turned up for a mammoth swim session in the sea pool which was great  we returned to a hot tub and then Sue arrived for a coffee and some interior design consultancy which I was very grateful for.  Its back to the drawing  board on the fabrics though the conclusion was none of them are quite right.  G was very happy to receive the news that there will be a further delay on the decision :-)  Dan and Hayley arrived in the evening and we had beers, homemade pizza and football.

Sunday gave me a second chance to be a bit more productive on the house and I managed to complete both my tasks!  Its a good job he only left me two jobs.  I also managed to get all the ingredients for another Jamie Oliver Meal and visit the church  flower festival where my friend Denise had created a display.  In the afternoon me Dan and Hayley went Geocaching.  It was something I was mega into a while ago but lost interest in.  I do tend to have my fads and of course the new fad is the iPhone.  Geocaching have developed a mega app for the iPhone so that you can geocache using it.  Its wicked and its got Dan into geocaching.  We had a fun afternoon and found 3 caches!  Most expensive app I have downloaded to date.

When G got home from work all four of us went for a swim in the sea pool which was refreshingly chilly an back home to a beer int he hot tub.  The evenings meal was Rib Eye Steak Stir Fry with Dan Dan Noodles and Greens.  We watched Jamie do it on telly first then it was all hands on deck.  The photo shows Dan in full swing cooking with G.  They are doing Jamie O impressions.  Check out that steak!

The second photo shows us all enjoying the results.  We really enjoyed the Steak and noodles but its not our most favourite meal from him.  The steak was awesome though.

Blogging from my iphone

Just testing my new iPhone app which means I can blogg from anywhere. This is the computer centre formerly our kitchen. Dan is here


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Victoria Rd,Bude,United Kingdom

Detective work!

Before I even start writing I think I might need to apologise to G for some of the photos I am going to post.  I can't tell the story without the photos thought so hopefully the photos re surfacing after 3 years will just make him smile.  I am blogging on Saturday morning and unfortunately G has had to go to work so he will get his on his i phone probably half way through arresting someone or probably and more likely half way through his third cup of tea and his pasty.

Yesterday's dilemma was to try and figure out exactly what sealant we used on the slate tiles in the kitchen so we use the same on the new hall floor.  Initially we had not intended to have slate in the hall as we thought it might be too much slate everywhere. However we are so pleased with how it works in the kitchen as it is very hard wearing, doesn't show the dirt and is easy to clean so we thought it would be good to continue it into the hall.  We were lucky that we managed to source exactly the same slate tiles as we had used previously.  The next step was to get the same sealant to make sure it all matched.  G went out yesterday to buy tile sealant and was amazed with how many different varieties you could get.  Unfortunately he couldn't remember which one we had used previously so he came home confused and empty handed.

When he explained the dilemma I was quickly on the case.  First I remembered an incident three years ago when we laid the kitchen floor when G had got up really early in order to seal the kitchen floor where the washing machine was going to fit.  He couldn't have done it the previous evening as the tile fixing stuff had to dry and he needed to do it first thing so it would dry and that he could grout by the evening.  He woke up with this on his mind and immediately jumped out of bed with the job in mind.  It was summer and a warm morning so he didn't bother anything that would slow him down in getting the job done which included putting clothes on.

Hence when I got up I was greeted by a naked G sealing the tiles it made me laugh so I quickly grabbed a camera and took the following photo.

He never stops!

He saw the funny side and smiled for the next photo.  Which I am know extremely grateful for as it has a very good 'pack shot'.  That is an advertising term!  Finding this photo got me a bit further forward in identifying what sealant we used as I could now see exactly what make we used.

However much I squinted  I couldn't read the small print so I ended up having to zoom in on the photo.

Pack shot

Next step was to go on the website and luckily all the different sealants are colour coded and I was immediately able to identify the right sealant. 

Colour coded tile sealants...its the purple one!

I was very proud of my detective work until G suddenly remembered that we might have some left over down the garage.  After a quick search I immediately found a bottle that was about three quarters full and enough to do the job so really it was all a bit of a waste of time :-)

He did work very hard yesterday and is doing an amazing job.  We are pinching ourselves on how close we are too completion.  Well we were very close until I came up with the idea of the oak floor in the middle bedroom still making a final decision but that could be a bit of extra work.

The main jobs he did yesterday was fitting all the oak shelves and window ledges in the middle bedroom the chunky oak shelves looks fantastic against the white wall and gives it a quality finish.  The left shelves are for our books and the right will be my office desk (hence all the sockets).  I have been busy with my i phone panoramic photo app so here are two photos one is part way through and the other is after.

Part way through



book shelves on left desk on right



Loving that chunky oak

I have a list of jobs to do today that I am hoping to whizz through.  Sanding skirting boards and scrubbing the slate tiles.  I guess two jobs is not exactly a list!   Dan and Hayley are coming tonight and this evening as they are keen to watch the football I thought I would make pizza to have with a few cold beers.  G if you are reading this at work hope you are not working too hard and the photos made you smile.  Wish you weren't working x

Wow!

When I got home this evening from I came back to a wow moment.  I had been away overnight staying with my Dad whilst I was working Bristol and G had been busy in my absence.  The hall had been a big face lift as G has fitted the slate floor.  It looks great and its the same as in the kitchen so it all flows together.  He has asked me to tread carefully on it at the moment  as the glue is still setting.  I think that could be more of a challenge for me than it was for him to fit the  floor.

On the way home I picked up the oak shelving for the alcoves in the middle bedroom.  Big chunky solid oak with a lovely smooth finish.  It will look great against the white alcove.  My first visit to joinery workshop I was surprised how many men there were there - they all seemed to know Graeme.  I was a bit out of place in my work suit and by then end of it I was covered in dust!  I also took a sample of oak flooring that we may use for the middle bedroom.

The new slate floor

Same slate as in kitchen ..but hall slate not grouted or sealed yet.

A very tired G

Just in cases you thought it was only G doing the hard work today I thought I should mention about some of the background work that goes on behind the scenes.  After having decided on a colour for the chimney breast feature wall and getting G to agree so easily I instantly changed my mind and decided the colour was not good.  We wanted a bit of a beachy effect in the room and I realised that the colour I had chosen didn't fit with that scheme and the materials that would go with that colour would not give the right look.  So I am back to the drawing board.  This time I thought I would choose the material that I liked for the blinds then match the feature wall to one of the colours in the material.  This is still proving difficult as some of the materials I think look good I don't like the individual colours in. So the dilemma goes on.

Fabric Dilemmas!

I also wanted to add this photo that I took with my Dad.  I have recently got and i phone and like many people when they first get one I have become a bit obsessed with getting new apps and playing with my phone.  My favourite app this week is called auto stitch.  Its designed to make panoramic photos.  You take lots of photos and that overlap slightly.  Then it 'stiches' them all together to make one photo.  How clever is that!  Dad thought it would be funny to be in each photo so know it looks like he has two brothers!! 

It was really good to see my Dad last night.  Mum is away in Florida visiting my sister and family.  We had a quiet night in front of the fire with bottle of cointreau and managed to stay up too late it was great to catch up but I was exhausted all day yesterday.

More painting, less flaking

After work G managed another coat of paint, each coat is getting easier and staying on better and flaking less.  We are having another problem that has particularly affected the hall which is colours from within the wall seeping through and discoloring the paint.  G thinks he will probably have to seal the wall to stop this from happening.  Every day we are getting closer and closer to finishing!  In fact we are already planning our end of renovation party.  Hopefully end of June beginning of July..

After finishing the painting managed to get a few lengths of the sea pool in.  It was a beautiful evening and felt quite summery.  We then had quick showers before jumping on our bikes for an impromptu supper invite at Mogsy.  She was cooking her infamous lasagna.  She doesn't cook much but when she does cook she does it well.  Horace was over too and when we arrived they were relaxing in the hot tub.  Mogsy and I have started planning her 42 mile challenge which she is going to run in memory of her friend Bern who recently died of cancer.  We are currently trying to think of a catchy name so if anyone can think of one let us know.  I had a little play and came up with the following logo but I think its more of a tag line than a name for the event but we like the picutre.

It was a lovely evening and I took my camera as we felt a photo of another white wall (slightly flaking in areas) would not add that much to the blog.  The first photos are the four of us with the timer on and the second photo is supposed to be me on the cycle home with the sea and all its moonlit reflections on unfortunately you can only see me and not the sea.  It was a beautiful cycle home.

That was easy!

Unfortunately I am not referring to the work that G did this evening.  Which was a never ending nightmare!  He has been rubbing down the flaky paint and sanding and filling.  I was away in London for the day so by the time I got back he had already been for a sea pool swim and I didn't have to endure any of the heartache about those pesky walls.

The easy bit was getting G to agree to the paint I had in mind for some of the feature walls.  For a while I have been mentioned to him that I wanted one of the walls to be purple/lilac/mauve.  I have had an exact colour in mind but have been finding it really hard to describe.  He has been hating the idea and said that he was really not keen on it.  So tonight on the way back from the train station I stopped to get some colour charts and started preparing my sales talk to persuade him it was the right colour.  It was all unnecessary preparation though as soon as I showed it to him he said it looked great!  I feel a bit cheated I was up for a bit of persuading.  Oh well will have to save my persuading for something else...mmm what else do I need

Moon shadow 3 (Dulux)

Sunday Sunday

Loads of work done today, without being too stressy.  We also managed a coffee break and an lunch break at the new cafe - a full hour.  Obviously sleeping with the boss has finally paid off! Or it could have been that he took pity on my hangover :-).

Today we managed to get another coat of paint on the ceiling and walls of the tricky middle bedroom - it still has some real problem areas with flaking paint patches but overall its looking a million times better.  We also did some painting in the hall way.  G also glossed the bits that need glossing.  The photo shows him saying 'Tada'.  He also glossed a few doorways something that he normally avoids when I am at home as he is paranoid that delicate little me will bump into them all.  He has put lots of wet paint signs up in the desperate attempt to remind me about them.

'Tada!'

I also managed transform the pine bed that we have with liming wax.  Its given the pine a whitewashed beachy look that we are loving.  We have Sue to thank for that one.  She lent us a tub so we could trial it on a small area.  Strangely the whole bed done looks even better than the trial patch so we are very pleased.  Can't wait to put it all back together and in the room when the carpets are laid. The first photo shows me doing the job in the garden.  I know it looks like I am wearing a bib but it was because I had to wire brush all the pine first to bring up the grain and it created loads of dust.  So the 'bib' is actually a make shift dust mask that was round my neck.  I did ask G it taking one photo was enough but he said it looked fine.  When I mentioned about my eyes  being closed he just said I thought you looked happy.  The other photo shows the the completed bed ends and you can also see the grey paint in the photo that we have painted in the hallway.

Me putting lime wax on the pine

Finished result of limed pine

G was also busy this afternoon fixing his car that just failed his MOT.  Failing his MOT is an annual occurrence that does not stress him just means he has to do a few jobs.

We finished the day with run and a sea pool swim and G has just cooked up another Jamie Oliver meal for us.  This time its 'Lemon and herb chicken and mash'  I have downloaded a new free app for my i phone that has 13 of Jamies recipes.  It gives you the shopping list that you can tick off in store and step by step instructions of how to cook it.  It was well yummy and well quick!

Harder than painting the Sistine chapel?

I honestly think Micheal Angelo had it easy compared to what we have tried to achieve today.  I am sure the Sistine chapel did not have walls with paint that constantly flaked off.  Maybe I should take that back I have just googled about him and apparently he had to deal with mould and plaster that would not dry so full respect to him, he would have understood our difficulties.

The walls we are trying to paint onto are a nightmare.  Despite the thorough sanding and preparation they old paint flakes as we try paint over it. The job today was to paint the whole of the bedroom and we have completed this with a coffee break!  However when we went back to look at the wall it looks like a cat has scratched it all and it is flaking off in patches as it drys.  So we have to rub this areas down and G is filling it all in so we can try and get a second coat on tomorrow.  We also managed a first coat in the hall.

The 'before' photo

Arghhh! Fresh paint peeling off the walls as it drys.

G also created the first oak shelf for the alcove.  Actually its the second but the first was not successful as his ruler hadn't been calibrated.  He just shouted that over to me I think in lay mans terms it means he messed up on the measurement.  He was really disappointed as it meant the piece of oak could no longer be used.  He has turned the disaster around this afternoon as he has made it into an oak chopping for me.  I have been after one for with groove for carving roasts on.  The photo shows him in his 'workshop' creating it and the other photo shows the shelf as it was meant to look cut from another piece of oak.

My new chopping board...previously a shelf

The shelf as it was supposed to be

We finished the day with a run and a sea swim and then rushed back to cook supper for Mogsy, she was supposed to be coming over with her new man but a family crisis meant he had to rush off.  We had a lovely supper and it was great to see her.  G had to retire to bed as he was shattered.  Mogsy has only just left and after me saying all day that I was not going to drink much she and I finished the evening by finishing my anniversary bottle of cointreau and a few glasses of sloe gin.  I think I have now hit an all time record of how quickly I can get through a bottle of cointreau. G has stirred from his slumber so I think I will join him in bed.

Supper with Mogsy

Maybe G shouldn't have left Mogsy and I alone with the Cointreau and camera!

Working on three floors at once

Busy day on the build yesterday

Three main things happened.

1.  The new glass shower screen arrived
This was a big tada moment and finally the loft is finished apart from the carpet being fitted and some finishing touches.  The glass was especially made to measure.  The man who measured it made a plywood template to ensure that all the measurements were correct.  When he arrived with the glass he was a bit nervous that it would fit and there is no tolerance error of the measurements.  It went in really easily except for the fact it was heavy and tricky for the two of us to manoeuvre.



The new shower glass Tada! G looking stern.

 2.  Preparation of the middle bedroom
G spent most of the day chiseling out channels for the electrics.  When we bought the house each room had one socket in it!  As I ran my office in one of the bedrooms you can imagine how many extension leads I needed for the computer, printer, phone, phone chargers etc.  G says he hates chasing.  His arms and shoulders ache from all the chiseling and every now and then he misses the chisel and bangs his hand.  He must have been working hard yesterday as he managed to break a hammer!

3.  The Hall striped of wall paper
In the morning we got rid of all the old furniture that we no longer had any use for  and that was being sorted in the hall way. Our friend Trokey's (the builder) son is moving out of home to a new flat so he took the lot as a job lot.  They arrived early and it was great to have the space back in the hall. 

Stripping wallpaper - it was dead easy to begin with!

The hall stripped bare

At the end of the day we were both well tired so the planned run and swim went out the window and were replaced by a G&T in the hot tub and a quite night in. Watching my new favourite program about B&B's called 'Three in a Bed'.  The one we watched last night featured a B&B in Newquay that did help yourself Continental breakfast - my sister Karen had told me about it - I thought it sounded like a fantastic idea.  Not having to cook a full fried breakfast was music to my ears.  However after watching the program I could see it  was ideally suited his establishment and location but not for us.  His place was more like a travel lodge than B&B he had 18 rooms.  Sadly however I think it would not suit our place so I will have to go back to practising the dreaded fry up!

Not a lot of building done

We both had busy days at work but G managed to get back and do something with the electrics and get a swim in before I got home.  When I got home it was all hands on deck as G and I prepared a Jamie Oliver 30 minute meal for Sue and Don.  There is no way one person could do the meal in 30 minutes but within a an hour both of us had easily prepared it all .  G kept on finding things to clean in the cupboards so was slightly distracted!  Good job I remained focussed ;-). 

It was a lovely meal with a raspberry sprizter (we modified it slightly and used champagne) Crispy Salmon with jazzed-up rice, baby courgette salad and gorgeous guacamole.  The food sas lovely and Don and Sue were great company. At the end of the meal G got out a bottle of rum from his submarine days that he had not drunk for 20 years.  I think we will all be feeling a little jaded this morning.  Happy birthday to Sue for today!  We are going to the cafe for a birthday lunch today which should be good.

Here are the photos unfourtunately we forgot to take it a the beginning with the food all laid out  - so the photo just shows the empty dishes! woops.

The remains of the meal!

The best photo of G & Don & Trafalgar Rum
(at least they both have their eyes open in this one!)

When your dreams turn to dust, vacuum!

What a dusty day!  Loads of work done today.  All the sanding done of the walls, skirting boards and dado rails.  The walls very old and not easy to paint.  So its a full on job to sand them down we had loads of  problems in the previous bedroom with the painting.  The amount of dust this created was amazing.  The other jobs we did were making good jobs fixing sockets, sorting out radiators, fixing window bits, filling bits etc.  I am not exactly sure about the other bits as I just did the sanding all day long. 



G filling holes and hating the dust! (spots on photo is dust in the air)





We did get a coffee break down the cafe but fortunately the wind had picked up and although it was sunny its was very chilly so we didn't feel too bad about being indoors.  The main thing problem today was the dust and as there is no door on that room at the moment it crept round the rest of the house.  G hated it and the messiness of it all made him feel a bit stressy.  I hated breathing it in as it was giving me a sore throat.  As G has appeared to have lost all the safety masks I have bought him I had to makeshift my own out of an old towel.

Makeshift face mask to protect against the dust.

We were happy to down tools at the end of the night, we skipped the exercise as I felt too tired and were straight in the hot tub with a G&T.  We also made a last minute dash to the supermarket to cook another Jamie O 30 minute meal.  The meal was Chicken in a mustard leek sauce, accompanied by quick dauphinoise potatoes and greens and followed by a Black Forest Affogato .  We loved it all except for the desert which we thought was pants!  The quick dauphinoise potatoes would have been slightly quicker if I had remembered to put the oven on.  We were crashed in bed very early ..definitely a tiring but very productive weekend and we are pleased with what we achieved.

Jamie O Mustard Chicken mmmmmm!

Middle (and final) Bedroom ceiling plastered

This morning I am trying to blog again before G gets up.  We had such a busy day yesterday I was too tired to blog by the end and he looks exhausted this morning.

We worked hard yesterday morning with me stripping wallpaper and G preparing for plastering the ceiling and he had a quick trip to the builders merchants by 10:30 we had a good mornings work in hand so we walked down to the beach cafe for morning coffee.  I had decided to try and get a few more photos with me in them for the  blog.  G works so hard and is so focused he would never think to stop to take a photo of me working and in fact he doesn't even like to stop and smile for the camera when he is working as he so focused.  Consequently I think it may be beginning to look like I don't do any work! Obviously G does far more constructive work than me but I do try to do my bit.  So in this post there are more photos of me unfortunately the best time to get the photos taken were on breaks so now it looks like all I do it take breaks!

This is us down the beach cafe in our work clothes

G took this one

When we got back from the cafe G finished all the jobs that needed to be complete before the big job of plastering in the afternoon while I nipped up to the supermarket to get some nice stuff for lunch.  It was such a beautiful sunny day and I knew we would have to be inside plastering all afternoon so it was nice to sit outside for lunch.  We had a lovely spread of bread, cheese, ham and chutneys so for some reason we decided to have a glass of wine and a beer - very relaxed and very unusual for us.  Maybe G is still trying to get over the shock of the engagement card I bought by accident!

Relaxed lunch!

After lunch it was straight to work on plastering the ceiling its a big ceiling and it all need to be done in one go.  It was really hard work for G.  He was constantly up and down the ladder and as the plaster drys more he has to put more effort in to smooth it.  He is also working overhead which is hard.  His shoulders are aching like mad now.  My job is to mix the plaster and bring it up to him, to change the water bucket and wash the buckets out.  Also I mop plaster off the floor.  It was great when it was all completed and marks another milestone.  We now only have one ceiling left to plaster which is a much smaller on in the hall way.  It really feels like we are on the homeward stretch.

No wonder his shoulders ache!

After we downed tools we went for a run to Northcott and then down to the sea pool for six lengths, back to the hot tub for two large G&T's then chilled in front of the fire till we were both nodding off! 

We are on a really big push at the moment to try and get finished for summer.  We are planning to have the summer building free.  However we keep thinking that we are having some lovely weather at the moment that we are missing a bit as we are having to be inside to do the renovating and that as soon as we finish the work and down tools the weather will change and it will start raining.  If its a nice day today I think I have persuaded G we should have lighter work day and maybe take a walk to Sandymouth cafe for lunch.

Woops that was not supposed to happen....

Yesterday G had a window fall on his head!  We are now working on a new room the middle bedroom that used to be my office.  G want to have an oak window sill to match the other window we have done in the house.  He ripped of the alcatrave round the window and was going to re plaster that bit however when he turned his back on the window the whole window fell inwards and on top of him.  This should never have happened as that window should have been fixed in place - apparently it was only held in by silicon which is a sealant not used for fixing the window in place.  He was shocked that it was not held in with anything and also shocked when it fell on his head.  I was sent on an emergency visit to the builders merchants to fetch some expanding foam and its all sorted now.

Our next stage is to get this bedroom finished which involves plastering the ceiling (that will be done today), stripping the wall paper, and rubbing down the walls, painting, plastering the window, putting in the new window ledge and deciding what we are going to do in the alcoves.  I better finish this as G is already hard at work and my job today is stripping wall paper - which is a job I love doing.

I had wanted to write and tell you about a B&B opportunity that may be coming our way but I have run out of time.  I will just give you brief outline...G's friend at work runs a B&B with his wife, they have sold there B&B (sold subject to contract) to someone who does not want to take on a B&B business.  There is a possibility we take on the guests but his wife runs the business and we split the profits.  Ready made B&B business overnight and G & I can carry on with the day jobs. 

Anyway gotta dash the wall paper striping is calling me. 

G reenacting the shock of the window falling in.

The window back in place and some of the wallpaper striped

Window in the stairway

This was G's idea to let more light in the hall way.  We are going to change our ugly front door which is an all glass door for a door that is solid so wont let as much light in - G is now awake so I have definitely failed in trying to write the three posts before he got up - he is now playing with the electrics as I am writing we had a bit of a flash and spark and cracking noise as he had a screw driver in the light switch.  Its freaking me out slightly but as always G is completely nonchalant.  I forgot to mention last night when we got home from the pub for supper we had our supper by candle light not because we were being romantic but because the lights kept shorting out.  This morning he has decided it maybe because he has screwed into an electric cable under the floorboards.  I think I may where rubber shoes around the house today - G is totally not phased by any of this.

Whilst I have been writing G opened his card and loved it then shortly after the blog came through on his iPhone and he burst out laughing as he realised why the card was stuck over the message inside.  He thought I was re-using an old card!  He can't believe I bought an engagement card by mistake.  He just dropped a wet paint roller down the stairs  - very un-G like - I think it must be the shock of the engagement card!

Anyway this is all distracting me from speed writing three posts - So I may just let the photos tell the story of the window going in the stairway.  The bit I like is when G drills lots of holes to make the shape of the window and then bangs it out with a hammer and chisel- its a bit like joining the dots.  Very dusty and very messy.  Here are the photos.

Join the dots!



Making space for the lintel



Lintel cemented in - making the window hole.

Ta da! Finished window   - with oak window sill and with a darker grey paint going down the stairs.