Hallway Plastering - before and after

The plastering of the hallway was a huge step forward for the hallway.  You can see the first part of the story here.  The ceiling was artex textured and the walls just looked like someone had taken a machine gun and peppered the wall with bullets!

Also, before we had the walls plastered, I took the opportunity to go nuts with paint sample pots to figure out what colour we wanted to paint the final finished walls.  I really loved the idea with painting the walls (or at least one wall) navy blue.  But on balance, I think it will make the room really small, even though the sun pours in in the morning.  I'm coming to have to save this beauty of a colour for another room...  I tried lots of 'vaguely beige' colours with a range from Johnstones and Dulux.  However, what looked like a lot of similar colours on the tester pots, became a mess of browns, lilacs and some really strange colours by the time they got on the wall!  The one that I was drawn to though was Dulux's Egytian Cotton.  I painted it in a few spots around the room, and it was interesting how it looked in different lights even in the same room.

Sorry about the really poor lighting in this photo!  But you get the gist of the colours.

The walls were also covered in cracks, including some quite large ones.  The plasterer suggested putting some fine mesh into the plaster to prevent the cracks propagating through to the surface and prevent them spreading.  It added about £100 to the quote, so I thought it was worth a punt.

This is the mesh being put in:

When it was all completed, I just came home from work and stroked the walls :) haha!  What an exciting life I lead!

(And by 'After', I mean 'Progress'!)

As the plaster was drying out.

I can't wait to get painting!!  What exciting projects have you got lined up?

Hallway Progress - Stripping Paint

Before the plastering, I tried to strip as much of the architrave around the doors.  With 7 doors opening into the hallway there was quite a lot to do!  You might ask, why even bother?  We painted them when we first moved in, but because the paint was chipped underneath, the patchiness just showed straight through the paint:

So back to the bare woodwork it was.

Tools I used:

• Heat Gun
• Paint Stripper Hand Tool (here is the one I use: http://www.wilko.com/preparation/wilko-5-in-1-tool/invt/0343146)
• Extension Lead (the lead on the heat gun wasn't very long)
• Protective Glasses
• Gloves
• Bucket of water - just in case the wood gets too hot!
• Palm Sander
• Dust Mask

Some parts of the architrave stripped really quickly, other parts were much more stubborn.  The key is to keep the heat moving slightly so it doesn't scorch the wood, then just as it starts to bubble, attack it with the scraping tool!  I damaged the wood in a few places where I tried to scrape it before the paint had softened properly and gouged into the wood instead - oops!  Nothing a bit of wood filler can't fix though.  That's just because I was so impatient!

The wood was then very rough so I sanded it down with my palm mouse sander:

The difficulty I have found, is I'm not quite sure where to stop...! You can see if the picture above I have done all of the wood that is visible from the hallway when the door is closed.  Trouble is if I keep going, I could go on forever with all the woodwork in all the rooms!

I managed to do the bathroom doorway, and started on the spare bedroom doorway, when all of a sudden... the heat gun stopped being hot!  It was still blowing air out but it just wasn't hot.  By the time I had gotten the heat gun exchanged (Screwfix were fab), time was flying and the plastering was imminent, so that was as far as I got before the plasterer came.  To be continued...

Motivational Monday - Elevator to Success

Happy Monday everyone!

Weekend in Dublin

In early August, we had a weekend away in Dublin, or more precisely Dun Loaghaire (pronounced "Dun Leery").  The weather was a really mixed bag - one minute it waas glorious sunshine and baking hot, the next the skies were black and it was pouring it down and howling a gale!  It was a gorgeous place though, with a nice long pier, sea front bars, and a lovely high street with lots of little independent shops and coffee places (as well as some bigger chain stores too).  There was even a cinema!

Here are some of the pictures I took from the sunnier moments:

#maybefiltered

#nofilter. Genuinely

We stayed in an AirBNB place with a family which was also a bit of a mixed bag.  However the home itself was beautifully decorated.  For example, this wallpaper (even though from this post, you all know I hate wallpaper, in particular stripping wallpaper!):

I've no idea where it's from or who makes, but I just appreciated it's beauty.

I just loved how there are bunnies on it!

I was also inspired by the flooring.  It was gorgeous.

So much so as soon as we got home I carefully peeled up the laminate in the hallway to see what I had to work with.  More on that to come soon!

Have you ever found inspiration in an unusual place?

Shopping for Home Decor Inspiration

A few months ago I found myself in London with a lunch hour to kill.  The office I was based in for the day was a stones throw from Tottenham Court Road, so I got a hustle on and I was there in 5 minutes.

On my days, the shops.

West Elm. Amazeballs.  I just went in there to drool.  I had read about this shop on all manor of American blogs but just assumed it was just based in America.  How wrong was I.  I laughed out loud in the shop when I saw some rabbit screen prints.  I snapped up the details for purchasing at a later date.  Here is my favourite print:

Superhero Rabbit - available from https://www.hammade.com/

I have this print, and a few others from this company, lined up for the hallway when it's done.  They also have a "Rabbit of the Month" competition which I have just entered Rupert into for their October draw.  Fingers crossed, as the winner wins a free print!

Tiger. I actually first came across this shop on our recent trip to Dublin.  I snapped up a doormat for £5 for the hallway, and this cute coaster for my bedside table for a bargain £1.  I searched through the whole pile of coasters looking for a "D" too, but it wasn't meant to be.

By the time I had loitered in these two shops my lunch hour was up and I had to head back to the office.  But Tottenham Court Road seemed to be packed full of homewares shops.  I'll have to go back when I'm next in London for sure.

Gardening - Lessons Learnt for next year

I haven't had as much time this summer to devote to my the veg patch as I would have liked due to extra-curricular work activities, so I think it has not reached it's potential.  We have certainly learnt our lessons for next year though:

1/  Cover the veg patch with enviromesh.  We lost all of the kale and the broccoli so a very large family of caterpillars.  They demolished the patch in just a few short days.  This is how the patch looked at the end of July:

Days later, they were just skeletons of plants.  I was too saddened to take a photo of the destruction!

2/ Plant much more lettuce (as we couldn't keep up with demand at all this year), and protect from slugs.

3/ Make sure mange tout and peas are appropriately supported.  The eagle eyed among you will notice the leeks have been dibbed out where the mange tout and peas used to live.  The packet on the mange tout and peas said to plant at 2.5-5cm spacing.  Thinking not all of them would germinate, we went for 2.5cm, with the rows slightly closer together than the packet said.  Only for every single one to germinate!  They were closely packed and not particularly well supported.  By the time we realised just how much support they needed, it was too late, and too hard to retrospectively fit, so we propped up the masses with canes.  After a midly windy day, they all just fell over and snapped at the base - destroying nearly all the plants.  A sad day, but lesson certainly learnt.  We still just had about enough time in the season to plant a few more mange tout (in a pot, in front of some trellis for support!), and we have literally just had the first meal from these this week.

4/ Pick runner beans regularly whilst young.  Otherwise they just get too coarse.

And lastly,

5/ Raspberries taste great from the garden!

What lessons have you learnt or tips have you got about growing fruit and vegetables?

It always seems impossible until it's done

Quote: Nelson Mandela.  Print available from theloveshop.etsy.com

It's done.  My exam is over. 6 months of hard graft - almost every evening and weekend.  I forgot what that Friday feeling felt like, as Saturday and Sunday just meant studying.  But for now, it's done.  Utter RELIEF.  I say for now, as I don't get the result for over 2 months.  If I failed I will have to do it all again :'(

I didn't come out feeling particularly positive, but I don't anyone that ever has come out of that exam  feeling like they have passed, so I am clinging on to that hope for now.

The day after my exam I dusted off my DIY shorts.  Time to get back to work on the house :-D
I have a list as long as my arm of jobs that need doing.

I've also decided to focus all this extra time I have now on working on my blog.  You might have noticed the new blog title, to more accurately reflect the content of the blog.  When I first started the blog, it was a way of documenting all the baking I got up to, but now the focus is much more on DIY, with a dabble in baking every now and then.  I am aiming to blog more regularly and consistently - rather than my bunched and sporadic posts that I have historically done.

Time to get DIYing and blogging!