Exciting news all round

Well my exciting news is that the pointing in the lounge is just about done and I can move on to other things!!  We will have to do a bit of re-building around the flue pipe when we install that and I have left a bit of pointing around that (so that there isn't an obvious line if the mortar is a slightly different colour when we come to do it).  Bob also found a bit I'd missed at the bottom of one wall.  I think I must have run out of mortar, then had the next few days at work and things got stacked against it and, in my mind, I thought that wall was done.  There are also the fiddly bits round the oak shelves and lintel.  But, that's not much so i can say it's just about done.  So, to celebrate yesterday I painted the high ceiling - yeah, decorating in the lounge, can you believe it?!!!!  At the moment it has trade magnolia emulsion on it because it's cheap and does a really good job.  That is just a base coat to seal the plaster though and I think it's going to havve and earthy yellow on it.  The stone walls we are painting will have clay paint on them which is very breathable (important for walls made of natural materials), but that is quite expensive so we'll get some standard emulsion mixed in the same colour for the plasterboard ceiling.  It'll be nice to have some proper colour somewhere as everywhere else is just pale cream.  The lounge should be quite light as it faces south and has two door-size windows and so can take the colour.

We put the oak joist into place on Sunday.  It was a little awkward as it is, obviously, the same width as the room, very heavy and needed to be high up.  We lifted it diagonally onto the scaffold tower, but unfortunately did it on the wrong diagonal as and so had to turn it the other way (because of the stones, wall straps, etc it had to go in a particular way and we'd forgotten that).  This was the point that I turned and walked straight into it banging my head and rattling my teeth . . . . oak is quite hard you know and it certainly made my eyes water.  Once I got over my dizziness though we got on with it and it fitted first time (well done Bob).  It looks quite smart now and much more finished.  We are starting to believe that this might actually be a room some time!

On Monday, Lucy (Ben's girlfriend) came to stay.  She had an interview at Aberystwyth Uni for the teacher training course the next day which went well.  So, the other bit of exciting news is that she got an e-mail from them first thing on Wednesday and they were pleased with her interview and wanted to offer her a place (well done her!).  She decided to make a little holiday of her trip so she stayed on Tuesday night too.  On Wednesday morning she helped us with jobs here.  She did the second coat on the panelling in the lounge and so that is now ready for the oak shelf on top - I think Bob might put that on today while I'm at work.

For ages Bob has been wanting to double-glaze the rooflights in his workshop and we have had the stuff to do it for ages, but he has been doing house-stuff.  So yesterday while Lucy and I were painting he got on with those and Lucy went and helped him put them in place when she'd finished her painting job. They are sheets of polycarbonate with a wooden frame round which fix under the ceiling.  They should stop condensation building up on the wriggly plastic hopefully.

I have ordered the clay paint for the walls in the lounge and that should be in tomorrow, so then I'll be ready to get on with some proper decorating!  Trouble is, I'm at work for the next three days after that - how frustrating!