Decorating, again…

You would think that we would be happy with the house by now, but there is always something to do, and indeed paint. Sometimes it feels like we are doing the Forth Bridge or Goldengate Bridge because as soon as we get to the end we seem to start again.

Last weekend I changed the colour of the chimney breast in the lounge and the fireplace. The colour on the wall was a soft green, but I got sick of it quite early after painting it. The fireplace was a light fudge colour.

I had started this post 6 days ago, and for some reason got carried away and left it. Anyway, the lounge is finished now, and all the touch ups have been completed. Next is the kitchen, so far stripped of most of the things on the walls. Filling and fixing next, then this coming weekend I should be in a position to start painting it. I am looking for a new ceiling light though as I really hate with a passion the tube lighting we have in it. It is bright, but so 70’s retro. I am looking for an LED light, but we have no real lighting places here. There is one in the village, but it is horrifyingly expensive I would not purchase anything there, also there are a lot of ugly chrome looking items, so just not my style.

Hue Cher LED Light

There is a lighting place in Liverpool, but last time we went there we were followed about the store as though we were thieves, so will not go back, why give our money to people who look down on two guys shopping for lights. Ikea has some good lighting, but nothing suitable. I like a bright kitchen with backlighting. Currently, we have the striplight and LED backlighting and under cupboard lighting, so when not cooking etc., the lighting is subdued with just the back and under cupboards lights on. I have Hive & Hue lighting about the house, so everything is voice controlled apart from the bathroom, and I want the same in the kitchen, but god forbid, can I find anything suitable? No sir. The closest I can find is a Hue Cher ceiling light (above), but being a pendant puts me off. It is 3000 lumens, so bright as a 200w bulb or a 50w strip light, so should do the job, but as with everything, comes with a hefty price tag, £195. On saying that, there are lovely lighting in John Lewis for £750, so I guess £195 is a little better, but all in all a hard pill to swallow.

This week we painted the garden fencing, got rid of the last of the junk accumulated over the year, installed brushwood screening over the fencing, then erected the gazebo for the BBQ area. We only got a small gazebo, but when it is up it seems quite large, but we can and will live with it. The neighbours are blocked from gawping in now too, which is a bonus. I am sure I have told of my odd and freakish neighbours in the past, but all in all, we would like to be left in peace to enjoy our garden, and not deal with the hillbillies.

One think about taking accumulated rubbish to the dump is that one forgets to check things, and indeed this was the case when I put the parasol in the car with the fittings, that although seemed okay were full of water, stagnant water complete with old seed from the birds and god only knows what. The result was the contents spilling all over the back seats of the car, and giving off an aroma of what can only be described as vomit and rust. We have an industrial carpet cleaner with attachments that do furniture etc., so I had to get that out today and clean the seats within an inch of their lives. I just hope that I have done enough to rid the smell from the car and will know tomorrow when I go out in it. Fingers crossed.

Flower Arrangements With The Dalai Lama…

Well, not quite.

The paint rollers were out again.  This time to do the bedroom.  As I mentioned when M was away I did the feature wall, which is really nice, but it has changed the dynamic of the room, so much so that I wanted to do the rest of the room.  Not only to clean it up but to go with the flow and change the room completely.  We decided to go with a colour called Egyptian Cotton.  It is a very subtle colour and has a tinge of wheat in it.  Again, this has changed the room.  

One of the problems with doing work on the house is that I have to repair the floors too.  The house was built in 1890, and most of it has not really been changed, especially the floorboards.  As I am not going to pay out for new flooring, I have just repaired what needs to be done, and then seal it so that there are no gaps or gusts of wind coming up through it before the new carpet was fitted.  I did have the house insulated a few years back, but there is quite a cavity below the floor to the ceilings below, and wouldn’t you know, quite an air flow through it.  A lot less since the cavity insulation, but all the same, it is cold air that I wanted rid of.

Once done, we needed to buy new drapes.  Sounds easy, but we have two windows in the room, one really large, the other only a few feet wide, but getting drapes to match really did feel impossible.  We have looked over the 15 years living here, and apart from very plain ones we never managed to get a matching pair.  We have vertical blinds throughout too, but a room is not complete without drapes.  We did manage to get really nice ones in the end from a department store.  However, we got carried away and bought new poles for both windows, then decided to get new drapes and poles for the hall windows, both upstairs and down.

Although not to everyone’s liking, we have many Tribal Masks from all around the world.  Some are really scary, others amusing but all originals and they have always been a focal in the bedroom along with quite a few African paintings, again all originals.  Sitting in the lounge writing this, and I look around to see 6 more African artefacts, so maybe it is more of an obsession with us.  Our main hall has African masks in it along with other paintings and artefacts.  But we have toned it down in the bedroom, and only have 8 in there now, and moved 11 to the hallway.  The paintings we did not rehang as I thought less is better in the bedroom, and I like the clean edges to everything.

I mounted the TV and sound system on the wall too.  I felt that it made the room feel smaller by sitting on the double chest of draws.  When you came into the room that was the first thing you saw, this bloody great big TV, but now it is on the wall it is as though it is not even there.  Also watching TV in bed is very relaxing now. I also have led backlighting on it, so a soft warm glow emits from the back when the TV is on.  I put a couple of dove grey floating shelves in the alcove on my side of the bed, may as well use the space for my books LOL.

So, now it is finished, it is a very relaxing place to be, warm and very inviting too.  

Harper relaxing in her bed

Masks

That’s Entertainment!

My Teddy is called Fred and he is 52 years old now.

Breakfast In The Regency Period…

It is just after midnight Tuesday, so, technically, its now Wednesday.  Yesterday (Monday) was a busy one.  Up early as the girls insisted I began my list of “Things to do whilst M is away”.  Apart from several walks for the dogs I never stopped.  First was a deep clean of the kitchen.  I knew it needed doing but as our kitchen is so busy as can be seen in the photo (I like busy, but please note, the walls are a light green, not yellow, the photo was taken whilst the sun was out) you tend to miss things.  But with all deep cleaning in a kitchen, all the appliances need to be done, the dishwasher and washing machine are easy, add the product and they do it themselves.  Apart from the detergent draw in the washing machine, which never gets used as the liquid goes in the drum, so I had to do that by hand, and it was disgusting I am ashamed to say.  The cooker I removed all the parts and cleaned each one, and stripped the ovens (two) of everything and cleaned them thoroughly, and having a “Stoves” cooker all the doors have removable glass, so easier to clean.  Every object on shelves and units were removed and cleaned and put back, then the rest of the room was dusted within an inch of its life.

Next, was to shampoo all the carpets.  Luckily I had bought a new carpet cleaner, which is excellent, and one by one each room was done.  The living room carpet, the newest of them had that new carpet smell again, which is quite the sensory drug.

Bathroom next, which was not all that hard as we tend to clean the shower after each use, and always swill the basin out, and the toilet is always clean, so it is an easy room to do.  The biggest thing was polishing the giant mirror, but even that wasn’t hard as again I tend to keep polishing it, as I hate mucky mirrors.

Next job was to tackle the ivy growing around the house, mainly cutting it back from the windows, and trimming around the security lights so no shadows were cast.  As I was in the garden I planted new flowers for the baskets, the summer ones looked worse for wear and being summer plants and flowers do not do well in autumn, now we have cyclamen in them, and I will be doing some troughs to go outside the front gate when more come into season.

Final job of the day was to install a new electrical socket in the hall by the front door so the repeater can connect to the garden gate camera.  I have fitted so many sockets and changed so many from two to three ports over the years I thought I would have finished with this, but no, there is always somewhere else we need another.

Today, Tuesday, Mazikeen had a vet appointment, she goes every month to get weighed and get her worming tablets and a check over.  She is just over a year old and has never had a season, but the nurse said today that she was a little swelled up in various areas, so it looks like she will finally have her first, that is if this is not a phantom season, which can happen.  After that and a long walk with the dogs, I painted the master bedroom, only the first coat, but it was a start.  I was doing the edging and discovered the brushes I had were shit, that’s really the only way I can put it.  Off to the DIY centre to get a good sharp one, and whilst I was there, some magnetic catches for the cupboards and a new electrical socket with USB ports.  Apart from putting up some frames and making myself a curry from scratch, I decided I had had enough, and my lower back, right-hand side, was spasming, which told me to stop.

Tomorrow, Wednesday (which is now today as it is 00:38) I will be finishing off the painting, then starting my knitting again, which is The Great American Aran Afghan.  I had started it the other day, but it is in American English, which is an oxymoron in itself, translating it into correct English is a bit of a bind, to say the least.  For example, it states three ridges, which means knit six rows, so, why not just say knit six rows.  If you were next to me when I sussed out what this meant, you would have heard my eyes rolling never mind seen them with the added slow shake of my head.  I do hate that in English there is so bastardised, and do not get me started on spelling.  Anyway, I digress slightly.  I had started it, but due to this quirk in language the pattern reads wrong, and with wrong the WS rows are not mentioned, so you have to work that one out yourself, which my test showed that you have to to the WS as a reverse of the RS.

That’s the plan anyway, but as with the best-laid plans of mice and men, one can never be sure if it will change.

If you were wondering, yes, it is raining again, battering against the windows in fact.