Rhubarb cruelty

So, another week gone and more progress on our remaining rooms.  We managed to borrow a scaffold tower from a neighbour on Monday morning and so could get on with skimming in the afternoon.  Having the twin towers up did make things much easier.  The two of them just fitted with about 3mm to spare (we had to make sure the wingnuts on ours were a certain way or they wouldn't fit, it was that close).  This did make moving them a little tricky - push one a couple of inches then the other and so on.  But it did mean that we could reach the whole length of the ceiling in one go and so could do each portion in one go.  There are four 'portions' to the ceiling - above and below the purlins times two for the two sides.  When we were skimming before, we tended to do one session and then do something else for the rest of the day.  You can only do so much in one session or the plaster starts to dry out before you are ready to do the next stage.  This time we managed to get more done in each session and also to do more than one session a day, so we had it all done by Wednesday.  We were really pleased with that because we did think it'd take us all week.  So, that room could now be painted I guess - exciting (I like that bit!).

Instead of painting though, we moved swiftly on to the bat loft ceiling.  We have got all the insulation in which has been a truly horrible job!  It has taken longer than the skimming! There is not much head height up there - before the insulation Bob could stand up (just) in the middle, but as we put each layer in obviously the ceiling has got lower and now, after 6" of insulation, Bob can't stand up anywhere.  We have stuff stored up there - cast iron downpipes, rolls of damp proof membrane and roof breather membrane as well as boxes and boxes of Laura's clothes.  So, all that needs moving around as you work.  To make life more miserable, it's a really dusty job and in a confined space that's not much fun.  We are using solid polyeurathane(?) insulation with silver paper on each side.  You can cut the 1" stuff quite easily and cleanly with a stanley knife, so that's not too bad.  When it comes to the 4" stuff though you have to use a saw which makes all this horrible dust.  It's quite static too so it clings to you.  Last night when we'd finished my black trousers were beige - I had to take them off and beat them against the outside wall (good job it was dark and no-one came past!).  So, we are really well and truly pleased that that job is over and done with and our work clothes are now in the wash!  Think that's all the insulation done in the house now.  Seems a little strange not to have piles of the boards all over the place.  We bought most of it about two and a half years ago when it was on special offer and it has been stored under the caravan, in the top of the wriggly barn, in the end bedroom, everywhere ever since.  Now we just have a few offcuts left which we can use when we box in the soil pipe (for soundproofing rather than for thermal insulation as the pipe goes down the corner of the lounge!) and we will also put some round the bath when we put a panel on the side to keep the water hot for longer.  So, next is plasterboarding which will also be a bit awkward, but the dust isn't so horrible (it settles!).

We are having our first rhubarb crumble of the season for tea tonight.  We have quite a bit of rhubarb which is sprouting nicely, but a few weeks ago I decided to try forcing some.  That is, keep it in the dark and it grows quickly trying to find the light and stays pink and tender.  Oh, that sounds a bit cruel doesn't it, like veal calves or something?  So, I have used the bit we cut off the neck of the septic tank (before it was used, don't worry) which is a fibre glass tube about two feet across with a bit of wood across the top - it doesn't look pretty I'll admit, but then neither does anything in the garden yet!  It has worked anyway and we have lovely pink rhubarb.  Next lot's going in some vodka ready for warm sunny evenings to come!  You make it like sloe gin, but with vodka and rhubarb and it is delicious chilled with ice in the summer.  We are still cooking most evening meals on the woodburner - I think we've only used the other cooker for one meal in the last month or so which is quite good isn't it.  I am currently perfecting naan bread cooked directly on the hotplate which works really well.  In a way, it'll be a shame when the weather is too warm to light the woodburner.  On the other hand, I can't wait for the better weather.  Last week was lovely here and really spring-like, but we were confined to our dark hole for most of it of course!  The birds definitely think Spring's here and are in full voice until after dark which is lovely.

Birthdays and bog brushes

We have finished skimming the oak room.  On Monday we did half the ceiling (too big to do all in one go).  Stupidly I had a shower when I got up and then did the plastering.    You can imagine what I looked like when I had finished - well and truly splattered!  So, I had to have another shower and wash my hair again before I could go to work.  This morning I was more sensible and left the shower until after the plastering.  Our skimming skills did come flooding back (thank goodness).  So, next job in there is to paint but we'd perhaps better let it dry for a day or two first.  The electrician is coming next week to liven up the sockets, light and underfloor heating.

It was my birthday at the weekend so we had a day off from building work.  I did still have to go to M&S for a 4 hour shift starting at 7am!  Still, once I had got over the injustice of having to be up so early on my birthday, it wasn't too bad and I was soon home again.  As Bob's Dad and stepmum (Arthur and Jan) were coming over in the afternoon, I made some scones.  Good job too because various neighbours called in and we spent the whole afternoon sat around the kitchen table with them and Jan and Arthur eating scones, drinking tea and eating chocolates (Ben had made me some homemade crunchies - yum, yum!) - what a lovely way to spend your birthday.  We then went out for a meal in the evening and I have to say that by the time I went to bed I felt just a little bit sick!

I haven't got round to making the blind for the utility room yet - not really a priority.  I did decorate a loo brush though!  Now, how many people do that of an evening?  Aren't loo brushes boring?!  We have one in the ensuite which we've had ages, it is ceramic with three ducks on it which is quite cute, but we couldn't find anything similar for the bathroom.  So we bought a plain white ceramic one and I got out my red nail varnish and black marker pen and it now has ladybirds climbing all over it.  Much better.

The plumber's coming again tomorrow - this is getting a tad monotonous isn't it?

Well, better get off to work now.

Dot, dab, dog, door

Hello again - guess what?  I have a job at M&S until New Year's Eve at least.  That's quite a relief  because finding another one would really be a bit tedious.  I'm not sure what will happen after the Christmas rush, just have to wait and see I guess.

Poor Elvis got got by a dog earlier in the week.  We were in the middle of cutting the plasterboard for the oak room when there was an almighty chicken squwarking (how the heck do you spell that, everything looks wrong) outside.  Bob legged it leaving me balancing a sheet of plasterboard and when I'd managed to manouver it back onto the trestles I joined him!  By then the drama was over, but apparently Bob found a dog in the garden with Elvis in its mouth.  After an awful lot of yelling from Bob the dog dropped the chicken and the dog trotted off up the garden and the chicken ran hell-for-leather in the opposite direction.  So, we then had to round up the chucks to check them over.  Peggy had missed the action, so we shut her in the run. We looked high and low for the other two for ages.  Meanwhile the dog had made itself comfy on our woody slope, wagging its tail and watching the action.  Eventually, Bob located a tiny mournful chicken sound from behind the chest freezer in the lean-to, but when we looked behind there was no sign of a chicken.  Then another little noise and then more in response to our coaxing, but still no sign of them.  They had squeezed behind the freezer and wedged themselves, two of them, in the space next to the compressor.  We had to very gingerly move the freezer because we weren't sure if there was a bottom to this space or whether they were standing on the floor and might get their feet trapped if we just pulled the freezer out.  After quite some time and with plums to entice them, they came out.  Bonny was fine, but Elvis was a bit shaky and had some missing feathers.  She wasn't quite herself for a couple of days, but seems fine now.  By the time we had got them out, I was covered in leaves and cobwebs and was in danger of being late for work.  So while I got cleaned up and changed, Bob went and coaxed the dog down, tied a rope around it's collar and, by phoning a neighbour, identified its owner who came to collect it.  Drama over.

All that meant, of course, that we didn't get far with the plasterboard.  So, the next morning we had another go.  With all the bits cut we were ready to dot'n'dab.  Bob mixed it up and I flung it at the wall.  It didn't seem quite like I remembered it, but that was a while ago so I dismissed the thought and we went ahead and pressed the plasterboard into place.  It just didn't seem to grab like it should, so we took it off again (it hadn't stuck at all).  It had set quite hard though in just a couple of minutes and stuck very well either to the plasterboard OR the wall, but not both.  So, we then spent an age scraping and chiselling it off!  We later found out that once the bag of bonding compound is opened it should be used within a few days or it goes off and we'd had this open for months - well, you live and learn!

Anyway, to put the remainder of the morning to good use we thought we'd start moving the stones away from the site of our next wood pile.  We had stacked useful big stones there ages ago when the septic tank was put in and they were now pretty much covered and overgrown with creeping buttercups.  So we got the wheelbarrow to move and dump them up the garden where we'll be building a wall to do a bit of terracing.  Got the first huge stone humped into the wheelbarrow and . . . . . . flat tyre!  Oh, the morning wasn't going well.  So, we just unearthed the stones and left them where they were and, once again, it was time for me to go to work and nothing much to show for our morning's effort.  To catch up, Bob got some more bonding compound in the afternoon and we did the dot and dab walls when I got home and it worked beautifully.  So, we have now finished the plasterboarding, taped the joints and filled the gaps against the stone wall and are all ready to get back to skimming.  It looks quite different down there.  I didn't realise quite what an interesting shape that end of the hall would turn out to be.  With the sloping ceiling and door diagonally across one corner, it's quite unusual.  It's also very high, unlike everywhere else.

We also have door number two up.  That's the one to the utility room, so we can now put the washing machine on overnight to take advantage of the cheap electricity without Bob having to jump down the ladder in just his slippers in the middle of the night to see what the noise was (as he did the first time we put the washer on timer!).  I slept straight through without hearing the noise this time, but Bob said it still woke him up, but he got back to sleep . . . . maybe when we have a bedroom door he won't hear it.  We have put some hooks on the back of the door for visitor coats and it all looks quite good.  We got some material this afternoon to make a blind for the utility room, but I'm not sure when I'll get round to that - it's not really essential and the oak room is priority at the moment.  This afternoon we also bought some roses for round the kitchen door - cliche or what?!  There were loads and loads of bits of wire, hooks, nails and pins in the wall around the door, so I assume that in the past something was trained up the wall and around the door.

Yesterday the settee was delivered.  I joked with the delivery man about it being a flat-pack settee and took his serious nod as a dry sense of humour.  Nope, we have a flat-pack settee!  We haven't built it yet, or even unwrapped it as it will have to live in the oak room while we plaster around it and so is bound to get splattered.

We had our first dinner guests last night and had a debate about when having friends round for a meal becomes a dinner party.  We decided this couldn't possbily be a dinner party as we haven't even got any table mats, we didn't have prawn cocktail to start and there weren't any estate agents or lawyers there (and you probably don't drink beer from bottles at a proper dinner party).  Definitely friends round for a meal - Phil and Ann in honour of their unerring support, help and chicken-sitting over the last couple of years and a very nice evening we had too.

Tommorrow, we will have owned this cottage for three years - can you believe that?!  Here's what the outside looked like when we got it - doesn't look so bad from outside as it did from inside and, looking at this picture, the garden actually looked a whole lot better then than it does now!  Do you see how the garden joins seemlessly with the inside (as they say on all the Grand Designy programmes) with the tree growing through the roof from the inside - bit extreme maybe?

We had to get up very early!

Yes, we had to be up before 7am today . . . and because I knew that I woke up every two hours through the night thinking it was time to get up and, of course, fell into a real deep sleep at about 6.15am!  It was a very exciting reason to have to get up early though.

Look . . .

Yeah, we have a cooker.  We ordered it yesterday lunchtime from Appliances Online and they offer a very efficient service, and it was one of the cheapest, I can highly recommend them!  Free next day delivery - they place the order and then during the evening you get an automated phone call telling you which 4 hour slot your delivery will be in.  So at 9.45pm last night the phone rang with a message saying the cooker would be with us between 7 and 11 am and at 8.30 this morning two very friendly and efficient delivery men arrived, unloaded and were off again within 10 minutes.  Poor things had left Bury, Lancashire at 5am so I shouldn't really complain about having to be up early should I?  I'm dying to unpack the cooker, but while we're still doing building things in the kitchen it makes sense to leave it safely wrapped and padded - we did sneak a look at the top though.  It is a modern cooker that gives a nod to cottage style by being cream and having curved bits here and there.  It has a double electric oven and gas top which we will have to convert to bottled gas, but the kit for that should be included so it shouldn't be a problem.

Today, as the day has been somewhat longer than usual, we have got on with loads of bits and pieces.  Mostly the sort of things that only we will notice like boxing in pipes here and there and painting in the alcove above the bread oven.  I also coated the bare bricks, which looked very dry and dusty, with a mixture of linseed oil and turps in an effort to liven them up a bit.  It has certainly brought the colour out, but they now look a bit dark - we'll have to wait and see what they're like once the oil has soaked right in although I'm not sure what we could do if we don't like them!.

This afternoon we did some skimming . . . . we nearly had to come and read this blog to remind ourselves what to do!  I skimmed all the bits of pipe boxing (quite fiddly) and Bob did the fire surround in the kitchen (we cement rendered it yeasterday) and it looks completely different.  We now need to find some new tiles for down the sides and then we can decide what colour to paint the plaster - in the meantime, a coat of magnolia like everywhere else I think.  I really don't like the highly decorated Victorian tiles that are supposed to go round fireplaces, so it'll have to be something different.  We did see some really lovely tiles in Fired Earth a while ago, but at £25 a pop for the picture tiles (line drawings of chickens) and over £5 each for the plain ones we had to leave them!

Phase One Skimming finished!

Yeah, skimming phase one is finished and that includes the ceiling in the leant-to which we did this morning.  So, we can now put the skimming equipment away for a while - we've given Phil the Plaster his modified short trowel back.  I think, on the whole, we've quite enjoyed doing it, but are probably ready for a change now.  This afternoon we've finished the lime plaster first coat (needs a slightly smoother finishing coat before it can be limewashed) and re-pointed the little chimney in the kitchen.

The plumber didn't turn up on Tuesday (surprise, surprise), but we didn't know he wasn't coming until the end of the day, so instead of getting on with big jobs we did itsy bitsy things that we could easily stop when he got here.  Although it was a bit frustrating, it did mean that we got all sorts of bits and pieces done that we've been meaning to do for ages.  He had written the wrong 'Tuesday after the Bank Holiday'  down in his diary, so has promised he will be here next week.

So, next jobs will be to do that smoother coat on the lime plaster and then get a couple of coats of white limewash on it all.  We have ordered some yellow and red ochre pigments so we can tint the later coats of wash to give a slightly warmer cream colour.  Should be interesting - you really can't tell what colour it'll be until the next day when it's dry.  When you first put it on all you see is the pigment (so it'll look bright yellow!), but as it dries the white of the lime comes through and lightens it.  A bit of a leap of faith I think.  We will then be ready to lay some more floors.  In the kitchen we are re-using the original quarry tiles that were in there (supplemented by some we got from the salvage yard).  They've been stored outside for a year though, so we'll have to pressure wash them or something and then they'll need sorting.  As I said, I think these are original and there was quite a path worn in them from the doorway.  When we took them up, we didn't intend to put them back.  Had we decided in time, we could have labelled them in some way to re-lay them in the same place and keep the worn look which would have been lovely.  As it is, they are all mixed up and some are thicker than others, so it'll be quite a job to try to lay them so they look right and you don't trip over raised bits.  I'm dreading it to be honest, but hoping it'll be one of those jobs that isn't as bad as I fear!  Let you know.  We also need to order the floorboards for upstairs and get them laid . . . and lay the tiles in the hall and utility.  Then there is all the decorating to do and tiles to put on walls, window sills, etc.  The electrician is booked to do 2nd fix from 25 May, so got to get on!  Actually, he seems happy to come and do a day and then leave it a bit and do some more, which probably suits us best.



Bonny helping to remove the flowers
from the chives



Did you watch any of the Royal Wedding?  I have been a bit fed up with all the hype surrounding it, but was quite pleased that the 'have a cuppa while the plaster dries a bit' stage of the lean-to ceiling skimming coincided with the bride arriving at the abbey, so I watched that and then we saw the balcony bit when we had lunch.  It's all quite nice really - makes you quite proud to be British, we do pomp and ceremony very well don't we?  So, I've just raised a bottle of Crabbies Original Ginger Beer (my latest favourite tipple) in their honour . . . . . any excuse, eh!



Peggy relaxing on the bench



So, onto chickens.  Elvis is now laying properly again.  Bonny has seemed a bit off colour all day and has been moping around on her own.  We were sat on the beer bench with Phil, Ann and their son Andrew this afternoon (tea and coffee only I'm afraid) and were speculating as to what might be wrong when she started acting in a very peculiar way.  She was almost squatting and waddling up the slope with her wings out - quite alarming in a very funny way!  After a couple of minutes of this, a shell-less egg shot out and rolled off down the hill - amazing, I've never actually seen them lay an egg. 

Don't quite know what that was all about - she laid a normal one this morning, so no wonder she was feeling a bit off, so we told her that one a day was fine from now on and she perked up immediately.  What entertainment, eh?

We had a lovely afternoon yesterday with Jan and Arthur and then in the evening we went to Wrexham University . . . . . I had no idea Wrexham had  a uni!  I guess it's an off-shoot of the University of Wales or something.  Anyway, last week Bob had seen in the paper that the lead singer of a band we have seen before (Tim Booth from James, for those interested) was playing there.  We didn't expect to get tickets as we saw James at the NIA in Birmingham last year and it was absolutely packed - 1000s of people.  We went along on the off-chance - there were just 3 cars in the carpark and about 3 people in the lobby.  At the box office they said we could have the tickets half-price as it wasn't exactly a sell-out and gave us seats next to the centre aisle, 3 rows back!  There was less than 200 people there for the support band and a few more for the main act, but it was really good.  The audience were really enthusiastic and, as there were so few people he could wander around among the audience, sit on the edge of the stage for a chat and answer shouts from the audience.  Brilliant - I'm listening to the CD we bought after as I type.  We'll definitely keep an eye on who else plays there - what a bargain and only 15 miles away!

I'm so excited!!!



Newly decorated wall on the 'landing'
looking through to our bedroom

 So many things to be excited about . . . . . but, I have to admit, probably not that exciting for anyone else!

1.  I have been decorating - real decorating!  I know we've done the utility room and the bathroom, but they were plain, new walls.  In the last couple of days I have done the en-suite and the landing and they include old walls and ceilings with oak beams and purlins and it was so nice to see the way the new paint highlights the old, gnarly oak.  We do need to clean the oak up a bit to get rid of chalk and plaster marks, but it looks lovely already.

2.  Skimming phase one is coming on well - just a couple of panels in the kitchen ceiling, the long wall in the hall and a couple of little bits and pieces left to do.  We did the ceiling in the hall over the weekend.  I was dreading it, but it was nowhere near as bad as I thought and looks fine.

3.  Forgot to tell you in my postcard from our 'olidays that we saw an adder on our walk.  It was sunbathing on the path and jittered away as we got close, but we had a good chance to watch it before it disappeared into the grass.

4.  Also forgot to tell you that one of the monks at Samye Ling let me bang the gong outside the temple for the evening service - what a priviledge.

5.  Tomorrow, the plumber is supposed to be coming to connect the wastes on the bath and the shower tray.  We moved the bath into the bathroom in readiness - now that is exciting!  Course, the plumber is a bit unreliable, so he may not turn up, but fingers crossed!

6.  The wren is sitting on the nest in the lounge.  We haven't seen them for a while and just this morning we had decided that they'd given up on that nest and were using a different one.  The next time Bob went in there the wren flew out right across his face!  When I went in a bit later I could see a little face looking out at me, but it didn't fly away and was still there later on.  We actually had a wren in the caravan this morning - must have flown in one of the open windows and Bob had to help it out.  Also had a chicken in the caravan who'd managed to get in through the lounge door and then flew out, over the wire mesh we'd put across the kitchen door to keep them out!  The woodpacker/nuthatch drama seems to have ended as a bit of a non-event - we haven't seen anyone on the beech tree for ages, but have heard/seen the greater spotteds across the lane in the woods.

7.  We were invited to join Bill, Maggie, three fairly grown-up children and a girlfriend from America for their Easter meal yesterday - delicious roast dinner eaten in the garden under a parasol - followed by an egg hunt.  Maggie and I hid over a hundred eggs of various sizes and then promptly forgot where we'd put the special bigger ones - think they found all but half a dozen little ones though, so not bad.  They'll be a bonus for whoever next does the gardening I think.  All good fun and lovely weather too.

8.  We have visitors imminent - Bob's dad (Arthur) and stepmum (Jan) are coming on Thursday afternoon.  They haven't been since last summer, before we'd even started putting up the oak-frame bit of the extension, so they should see a huge difference.  It'll be nice to show them around and have a chat.  Then mum and dad are coming for a few days from Sunday (staying in the local Travelodge) - a few changes since they were here too.

9.  Elvis laid her first real egg for about 10 days today - she had a few days of laying them, but forgetting the shells before we went away, then hasn't laid one for about a week, but managed one with a shell today!

10. Finally in my excitement list is that Carol (my sister) managed to get Bob a pair of Levi 501s for just £25 on her recent holiday in Florida, wow, Bob won't have to wear patched jeans anymore!

NOT on my excitement list is that the caravan is currently being bombarded by may bugs (or cockchafers - that name for them makes Bob squirm!).  They are huge, very solid and just fly constantly at the windows, banging quite relentlessly and loudly on them for about half an hour each evening from about 10 o'clock.  We have to make sure all the windows are closed by then because if they get inside they are horrible - really big and flappy/buzzy, a bit scary really!

Whitewashing and window-washing

Blimey!  Nearly a whole week since I last wrote anything - sorry!  We've been fairly busy.  On Monday we went to Peterborough to collect Laura who has now packed up her old life into plastic boxes (quite a lot of plastic boxes) to be stored in various lofts and barns across the country.  On Sunday we are taking her to Scotland to start her new life as a Buddhist nun at Samye Ling (near Lockerbie).  In the meantime, we have put her to work here!  Bob has passed on his new-found skimming skills to the next generation.  She did really well and it has been inspected by Phil the Plaster and approved . . . . pity it's going to be hidden by the sink and tiles!  So, we have now skimmed the whole of the bedroom ceiling and half the walls, all the en-suite except one ceiling section, all of the landing, all the bathroom, all the utility room, half the kitchen walls and several kitchen ceiling sections.



A rare photo of us working together - synchronised
skimming (is that an olympic sport?)



We have also had a go at traditional whitewash - now that is a bit weird!  You scoop the putty lime out of the tub (where it is covered in water), mix it with a bit of water and it seems to take ages to get rid of the lumps.  You then seive the whole lot into another bucket and mix in some more water and then seive it again back into the first bucket.  Now, If you've just seived it once, you wouldn't expect there to be any lumps in it would you?  But, as if by magic, lumps appear and you have to push them through again.  You then add water until it looks like milk (we decided it would be full-fat because skimmed hadn't been invented in the days of limewash).  You then dampen down the walls with water and paint the 'milk' on.  It looks awfully thin and see-through, but as it dries it gradually goes a bit more solid looking . . . .  not very solid I have to say, but apparently the key to good limewashing is lots of thin coats, so we'll see.  We did the second coat today and, as soon as you spray it, it goes see-through again and you can't really tell where you've been.  I guess the theory is that it is gradually building up a solid coat.  We have also finished putting the strips of plasterboard on the kitchen ceiling between the new oak beams.  Just one more bit to do, but we can't work out how to attach it.  Most of them are screwed onto battens attached to the oak, a few have pipes and cables running along the oak and so we have had to improvise brackets out of bits of the metal studwork we used in the end bedroom, but this section is next to a random stone wall, narrow and has pipes and cables running along the wall.  Mmmmm, not easy to attach directly to the stone at the best of times, but with limited space for drilling and pipes to avoid as well it's a bit awkward.  No doubt we'll think of something.

Laura and I had a bit of a laugh this afternoon trying to clean the rooflight windows which had got filthy (almost green) over the winter.  A while ago we went to the Grand Designs Show at the NEC and impulse bought a magnetic window cleaner.  I knew it would be really awkward to get to the rooflights so it seemed like a good idea at the time.  Basically there are two very strong magnets (warnings all over saying not to put them together without glass between because they'd mysteriously pull your fingers in and trap them forever or something).  Each has a sponge at one end and a rubber blade at the other, so you dip them in soapy water, put one on the outside and the other on the inside and as you move the inside one around the other follows. the sponge end cleans and the blade follows and dries.  Probably excellent on big windows, but the glass in our rooflights is only slighty wider than the cleaner, so not much room for whizzing around scrubbing clean, but it's do-able.  Now we got these traditional rooflights from the 'Cast Iron Rooflight Company' and lovely they are too, but the name should have given me a clue!  When I tried to put the window cleaner on the outside of the glass it attached itself to the iron frame and , with soapy water running down my arm and my wrist being squashed by the wieght of the rooflight (haven't attached the winders for holding them open yet), it was jolly difficult to pull it off.  Very funny though!  Then when we'd finished they attached themselves to the stepladder and while they were drying on the draining board the tea caddy tin slid up and attached itself!  We'll have to watch these I can see!  Oh, you're not supposed to use them if you have a pacemaker fitted as they'll re-set it!

Guess what we've been doing!

Very exciting today!!  Decorating, real decorating!!  We've put the first coat of paint on the bathroom and utility - they look like real rooms now!  Guess what colour . . . . . . . builders' standard . . . . magnolia.  It's actually quite a nice colour and probably would be good in most places, but I just can't bring myself to have it as the final colour - it's just such a cliche.  We bought a trade-size tub for base coats everywhere though - much cheaper than Dulux.  We thought it'd be really patchy after just one coat as the plaster just slurps it up, but it's done quite a good job - guess that's why the trade uses it. 

I got absolutely covered in paint spray from the roller and had to get the pan scrub to my arms to get it off!

We have the final paint for the bathroom.  It's one of Dulux's light-reflecting paints which is supposed to maximise the amount of light in dark rooms.  As there is just a rooflight and the tiny draft-hole we thought it may be a bit dim in there.  We used it in the old house when we were decorating ready to sell the house and several of the estate agents commented on how light and airy the bathroom was, so fingers crossed it'll work here too.

More skimming this afternoon - ooh, my right arm aches now!

The wrens were still in the nest in the 'lounge' for a couple of days, but we haven't seen them yesterday or today.  As I said, they have several nests to choose from each year, so maybe this one has been rejected again.  We'll have to keep an eye out and see if we can tell where they do actually nest, it was lovely last year to watch the babies leave the nest.  Bluetits are taking a lot of interest in the 'Quarry Workings Keep Out' sign across the lane (or rather in the pole it's mounted on).  There is a square hole in it half-way up and bluetits nested there last year - keep you posted.  Spring is definitely here - the daffodils are out at the side of the lane, our little wood is covered in violets, primroses and sorrel and the woods have taken on a bright green tinge.  The hawthorn has changed from having millions  balls of palest green all along its branchest to having tiny new and shiny leaves.  Everything seems full of promise - a really lovely time of year.

Dot'n'dab

Yesterday we did a spot of dot and dabbing!  Most of the walls have had to have studwork to attach the plasterboard to because of pipes or insulation, but this wall in the bathroom is one of the few that didn't need it.  This is another of those mystery arts but is actually quite easy.  You literally dob the cementy stuff all over the wall and then press the plasterboard against it and dah, dah - that's it!  You do need to get the plasterboard all cut to fit first of course and, if there's more than one piece, you have to be careful to get them level with each other.  Much quicker than putting up studwork though.



Mixing plaster in my new bucket - what
do you think of it?!  £1 from Travis Perkins
in aid of Breast Cancer Research
 . . . Bob's not too keen on the colour!



After doing that, we got started on the long wall in the hall.  This is a good, long run of straightforward, square plasterboard, so dead easy compared to most of it.  We got the bottom half done before lunch and were really pleased with progress.  While I was getting lunch sorted I heard a loud 'Oh, damn it!' (or words to that effect) from the toilet.  What on earth there was in the toilet to remind Bob that the wall was supposed to have insulation in, I don't know, but yep, we'd forgotten to put the insulation in.  It was all going so well too!  So, after lunch we had to take all the plasterboard off and put the insulation in and then re-attach the plasterboard.  It didn't actually take too long and we soon had the whole wall done.  The insulation is just for sound rather than thermal.  Anyway, that is all the plasterboarding in this phase of the project done - yeah!





This is the dot and dabbed wall in the bathroom
having its first coat of plaster. Soon be painting!




We had another skimming lesson on Monday morning - just to consolidate what we'd learnt - but have been skimming solo since then.  We tend to do a skimming session first thing and then move onto something else.  It's gone OK - not quite as smooth and polished as when Phil is supervising, but still very acceptable.  We weren't sure we'd be able to do this and thought we'd have to pay someone to come and do it, so it's a real bonus! 

Here's a chicken having a bit of an explore.  This is a bit like a cat-flap for chickens between the utility room and the bathroom.  We put it in so that when we all move in we can shut them in the utility at night and they will have free access to the bathroom , but won't be able to wander all over the house.  We wouldn't want that would we?

Ha, ha, only joking!  They're not really moving in with us!  They may actually be in for a bit of a shock when they're not allowed to just wander wherever they want! 
This hole is there for a more cunning purpose.  This is under the sink in the utility room and goes through to behind the bath in the bathroom.  As the bath has the taps in the middle of the long side, you won't be able to get to the gubbins underneath once everything's installed and tiled in, so the plumber suggested leaving a hole (blanked off with a piece of ply from the utility side) in case we ever need to get to the taps - good idea and really easy to do.  He had a customer once who did have a problem and had to rip the tiles and everything off and tried to claim for that from the tap manufacturers only to be told that she should have put the taps on the accessible side of the bath!!!  Where you have to climb over them to get in - great idea!

Getting plastered!

Yep, we got plastered today!  Well, to be more precise we had a skimming lesson from friend Phil.  It's his birthday tomorrow, so I scrawled a big Happy Birthday message all across one wall (I think you can just about see it in this picture).  So, when someone renovates this cottage in 100 years they'll wonder who Phil is!

Skimming is one of those mystery arts that sounds just too tricky to do yourself and, actually, I don't think it is really!  It's quite amazing to watch.  Basically you put a really thin layer of plaster (just 2mm) all over really spreading it out by pushing quite hard.  At that stage you don't wory too much about lines and marks, just try to get it fairly evenly covered.  Then let it dry a bit and put an even thinner second coat on which is really to fill in any uneveness.  Then you have to have a cup of tea.  When you've done that, the plaster should be beginning to harden and you use a water spray and clean trowel to 'polish' it.  Again you have to press quite hard with long sweeping movements and the water softens the high points so you are removing the excess and at the same time filling in any scratches.  The finish really is quite polished.  We did two walls in the utility room - well, I'm not that sure quite how much was our own work.  Phil had to keep going over our bits.  Be interesting to see how we get on by ourselves!

While we were doing the walls, Phil had a go at one of our curved window reveals - it looks brilliant!  You really start to get a feel for the finished article.