Tag: sand

Preparing the chair

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OK, so I’m delaying things until I get paid, but in the meantime I’ve got one book from the library about reupholstering to look at (which I haven’t yet actually opened), I’ve ordered the foam to replace in the arm bits and I’ve been for advice from (ie, facebooked) my friend Michelle about what to do with the actual frame of the chair and stool because she’s amazing and does this kind of thing all the time.  In the meantime, Charlie’s sewing machine is sneaking me little looks and making me feel guilty, but I get paid at the end of this week and I’ll order the fabric and press studs then.

Michelle’s response to my DIY SOS was that she would sand the existing varnish off, prime it if I can be bothered (I think I can) and buy a spray paint made for wood. Then seal it with a matt varnish.  I’m pretty sure I’ll have to do all of this outside as well, which doesn’t help as we’ve just had a load of snow come down.

In the meantime, I’m a man with a plan – I’m in town on Friday and Monday meeting people, so thought I’d nip into Wilkos for some primer.  I daren’t start sanding until I actually have the primer, so I’m basically delaying everything for another few days.

What I don’t want to do is get all the bits and then have the baby early, because, let’s face it, that fabric will be thrown over that chair in the blink of an eye and the poor chair will never see a sewing machine or a paint brush.

Depressing visual representation of all the jobs left to do: the kitchen

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This is part one of a two-part mini-series whereby I put all the work we’ve already done into perspective and think about just how much more time and money we still need to dedicate to these two rooms of the house that are taking over all of our free time and finances. This is part one: the kitchen. Tune in tomorrow for an exciting look at the long list of tasks still to do in the living room.

1. Sand and repaint the ceiling

2. Cut skirting boards to size and repaint

3. Fit skirting boards

4. Finish painting the kitchen walls

5. Finish sanding and fit the peninsula

6. Tile the kitchen walls

7. Paint the stairs wall, handrail and ceiling

8. Replace all of the switches with brushed silver ones

9. Get a condenser tumble dryer

Here we go!

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The flooring is here!  We had a manic day yesterday.  Barry had the opticians in the morning, and of course, that was the time when the pallet of floorboards came.  The man couldn’t get the pallet trolley thing up the path, so left it in the road.  I was literally running in and out of the house, just in case a car reversed into the pallet.  Then Barry came back, and wondered why I was running round shouting “Cones!  Get some cones!”.  We don’t have cones, but he thought it was funny.  I did not.

He then started laying the flooring in the living room.  I tried to help, but I’m relegated to underlay (because it doesn’t matter as nobody sees it).  I’m also permitted to put little protective feet on furniture and unwrap the next pack of flooring.  Oh yes, I know his game.

We also squeezed in a cinema trip (Wrath of the Titans, 1.5/5, don’t bother) and a trip to Nando’s to see some old uni friends.

We’ve got two sets of visitors coming over the Easter weekend, so the pressure’s on to get the flooring in (although we still need to paint the skirts and radiators in the living room before putting the beading in, but that can wait).  The paint’s cracking at the bottom where we’re hammering flooring against it, so that needs sanding off and redoing.  Also, Barry’s working in London all week, so he’s not going to be productive from there!

Sunday is supposed to be the day of rest.  It isn’t in our house!  Onwards!

Photos of the flooring so far…

Something for the weekend

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Along with going to see The Hunger Games on Saturday and Sunday dinner on Sunday (both with our best buds Charlie and Jaime, hi guys!), we’ve got a few kitchen tasks for this weekend…

  • Paint the alcove. If you aren’t thinking quotes from In Bruges right now, I pity you.  This is the alcove (right).  Or do you say nooks and crannies?
  • Sand and paint the ceiling.
  • Cut the peninsula to the right size. Barry’s just bought a shiny new circular saw and is itching to try it out, despite the fact we can’t put it up until the flooring’s in.
  • List the radiator and butcher’s block trolley on eBay.  Because we all know how much I love my customers.
  • Order flooring. We’ve made the following mathematical calculation:

a + b = c

Where a = concrete flooring, b = £100 off online sale and c = credit card.

Barry put one of those pop up plugs into the worktop yesterday. Scary drilling a huge hole into our shiny new worktop, but it looks fine! A post for the peninsula is on its way. eBay is good for so many things!

We also bought one of those paint pads with the tiny wheel a few weeks ago. They’re supposed to create a straight line at the edges when you’re

painting, but Barry’s had another crack at the black paint and it doesn’t seem to have made a blind bit of difference.

Barry put the shiny new curtains up yesterday too.  They’re a lot thinner than our last ones, but they’re pretty!  I could always line them if it’s a problem.

Up and running

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The oven is now functional! As evidenced, we plastered the last wall and had pizza last night. I can honestly say, it’s the nicest meal I think I’ve ever made in that oven.

It’s so satisfying, removing the plastic wrapping that’s around the oven. It will have to be popped back in its box while we sand and paint, but soon it will be free.

We spent last night checking we had what we thought we had from B&Q. Sadly, we don’t have what we thought. We’re missing:

  • 2 x cornice/ pelmet
  • 2 x pelmet

Fair enough, we knew about these. However, we’re also missing:

  • 2 x cooker hood filters
  • 1 x tap
  • 1 x wooden maintenance kit
  • 1 cupboard door (they sent us cream instead of white)

So our jobs list for this weekend is thus:

  • Ring B&Q to sort the above ASAP.
  • Sand.
  • Paint the ceiling and some walls (the important ones).
  • Start putting units together!

 

Old fashioned couple

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I was cooking tea the other night while Barry was plastering the very same room, when I realised that we were fulfilling stereotypical gender roles without even thinking about it.  When I pointed this out to Barry, he asked me to get him a beer from the fridge.  I did.

Is DIY divided into boy jobs and girl jobs?  I’ve been doing some jobs like painting, following Barry around after he’s done the manly rollering with the little brush to do the edges.  When he ripped the walls down, I was tasked with sanding the bits of skirting board that came off.  I made curtains for the spare room, but I’ve never been in our loft.

I’m fine with being the ideas person and wandering around with tester pots and a camera.  I’m not saying I want to do the heavy work, I’m just wondering whether it’s implied that I shouldn’t.  Is it just us?

Kitchen update: preparing a special three-course Valentine’s meal was fun with everything in boxes in the living room. We’re going to have a few days of having to get water from the bathroom, but Barry thinks he should have the shiny new oven up and running shortly, and the washing machine and dishwasher have just been moved into their new homes.  Photos of the practically empty kitchen below; we haven’t unpacked any of the new one yet.

Neither a borrower nor a lender be

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My ex-uncle (he used to be married to my dad’s sister) lives about five minutes from our house and loves DIY.  He has any possible conceivable tool, power or standard.  He can advise on plastering, putting up kitchen cupboards, decking, etc., etc.  This gentleman kindly lent his ex-nephew-in-law (can you be an ex-nephew-in-law if we were married after they divorced?) and I his (used) Bosch power sander and a set of stepladders for the various jobs we need to do.

Complicated family politics aside, the sander broke after we’d had it a few hours and so we faced the dilemma: to buy or not to buy the replacement?  Of course, we did, but I really begrudged shelling out £33 on a sander we won’t get to keep and barely got use from.  I’m hoping the stepladders don’t jump out of the car when we’re returning them!

You live and you learn; we will probably just buy a tool next time we need it – at least we’ll get to keep it!  On the plus side, my ex-uncle will be happy and if we do need to borrow something again, he will hopefully be obliging because we’ve been honest.  I say hopefully, because I’m actually telling you before I’m telling him…

On an unrelated note, I thought I’d put up a couple of photos of the kitchen before we do anything to it for posterity’s sake.  Excuse the mess, we’re decorating!

This is the wall (both sides) that will soon be no more.  It holds two radiators, a thermostat, and three light switches that need moving.

There’s a little bay window which would be nice for a table once we’ve got some more space.  The blinds are down because we don’t want people to think we’re complete layabouts without knowing why the kitchen’s in a state!  Not sure where we’re going to put the oven when the wall’s come down, think we can just shuffle it about.

We’re keeping the fridge…

Yes, we had pizza for tea that night…

We’re also keeping the dishwasher and washing machine…

The kitchen is perfectly serviceable and we would probably have kept it for years if we hadn’t have been extending it, but it’s not what we would have chosen ourselves.