Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Room based progress and parties

So the bedroom has gone from magnolia to white. We had some very helpful friends come to paint, including Jon, Ben, Laura, Robin and Olivia. Tom tried some different base paints to see if we could even up the texture a bit, including the Polycell Basecoat and Smooth Over. The Basecoat has filled in the tiny hairline cracks in the plaster nicely, and the Smooth Over seems to work well on the patches where we tried it, but was a faff to apply. Here's Tom inspecting his handywork.




We've now progressed even further and the colour is on the wall - time for a final sand down of the wood work and top coat, then fun things like buying carpet, lampshades and curtains.

We had our big housewarming and birthday party for Tom this weekend. Thank you so much to everyone who came. I think we reached peak people about 2:30pm when there were approx 40 people in the house. Lunch was a buffet, I made 48 scones for an afternoon tea to go with lots of lovely cake, and then there was a greek feast for dinner. We managed to end up with a wine surplus which was a nice surprise too, I think because it was Tom's birthday so he got lots of bottles as presents. I also achieved my goal of fresh flowers in all the party rooms to make the place look nice.













It was a lovely day. Jess, Andy and Ethan, and Martin stayed on Friday night, so it started then with Lula dropping in for a bit. Then on Saturday we baked and prepped together, and whirled around chatting to friends and family from all parts of our lives. Sandy. Martin, Lula and John stayed on Saturday night, so there was a big cooked breakfast on Sunday morning followed by a day out in Riverside Park. Some people had three ice creams in one day! The Smith's kids had left their jumpers behind, so we stuck them on some toys and took them on an adventure too.

What a lovely weekend.





Tuesday, April 21, 2015

April update

Bedroom: caulking in woodwork. Want to get to painting this week.

Rest of house: amazing new fence by Tom and Phil making me want to garden. Need to knock down the brick pillars next.



We've also got a new bed and some snazzy bed linen:




Tom's dad is staying for a few days on his way back from his holiday. We were proper tourists on Sunday and went on a little boat trip from Lymington.








We also had our first roast dinner of the house, and rounded Sunday off with a pint in our new local, the Butchers Hook.






Wednesday, April 08, 2015

Polyfilla nearly done

Tom's started giving everything a coat of cheap magnolia, to help make the polyfilla less absorbent. Next is carpentry to replace missing skirting and picture rail, the last bit of sanding, then a coat of the extra thick white paint.

Paint has been bought for the top coats.

Now thinking about bed buying, lighting, mattresses and furniture.

Saturday, April 04, 2015

More bedroom progress

So we've stripped all the wallpaper, getting one of those steam strippers was a great idea.





Thanks to Robin, Olivia and Dave for helping with this bit.

I've been going around making patch plaster repairs, and using Polyfilla to fill in rough patches. Tom bought me some posh Polyfilla One Fill. This is one of those times where paying for the brand name is worth it. Like using a light whipped icing, barely needs sanding if you're good at applying it. I do love plastering things.

Hopefully painting next week!

This weekend we're at Sandy's housewarming in Sheffield. We've done a 7k walk along the River Rivelin, and are sat around drinking champagne and eating tasty things.

Here he is sat on a chair in the middle of the River.

Guard bear installed in lookout location at the new house.



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