Day Seventy

Getting some sort of normality back today.  It's great to get my desk set up again.

Still lots to do but I wont be picking up a paint brush anytime soon !

Day Sixty Nine

WOW!

This has been such hard work but it look's absolutely brilliant.

Here's the old hall, stairs and landing with a lick of paint and the new carpet.

and here's the new stairs and converted loft.

Time for a night off I think.

Day Sixty Eight

The plumber was back today to install the toilet.  That's bathroom completely finished now.

A frantic evening as we tried to varnish the stairs with a couple more coats.  Also, 2 coats for the airing cupboard door frame.

Finally finished at 01:00am.  Must be mad but we've done as much as we could before the carpet comes.

"Why don't you delay the carpet fitting ?" we keep getting asked...."Because we don't want to, we want to get moved as soon as possible so that we can get the rest of the house back to normal."

Day Sixty Seven

Yet more brushwork.  This time varnishing the stairs.  Not worth taking any pictures.

Day Sixty Six

Groundhog Day.

Another full day painting.  The second coat was a little easier though, even though I had to cut in again !

The plaster work was easily covered but the walls with the old colour took an extra coat.

Next it's varnishing the stairs to get them ready before the carpet comes on Wednesday.

Day Sixty Five

I spent the whole day painting.  I did the cutting in for the new landing, stairs and old office areas.  That took hours.  I then did the rest using a roller, which also seemed to take forever.

The target was to get the first coat completed today so that the second coat can go on tomorrow.  So, as soon as I'd finished the first coat I packed up and called it a day.

Day Sixty Four

Well we're into November now and almost finished.

Everyone keeps saying "oh, you'll be done before Christmas !".   erm...too right, hoping to be in within the next couple of days.

So, today, our Plumber fitted the radiators in the bathroom and the office.  He also fitted the sink but did not have enough time to fit the toilet.  He'll be back next week to do that.

I finished off the primer coat for all the new plasterwork.  So it's ready now for 2 proper coats over the weekend.

Day Sixty Three

Back to normal today.  I managed to put the cupboard doors back on during my lunch hour.  Sounds simple enough but would they fit back in the holes...no !

Then after an hour or so terrorising the neighbours after work (trick or treat) it was back up the ladder to put the base coat on the new plaster.

The decorator finished today as well.  The colour we picked looks great.  Which is good news as we'll be doing a load more walls with the same colour at the weekend.

Got the Plumber coming tomorrow to finish off too.

Day Sixty Two

I took a day off today to see if I could make a dent in all the decorating.  It's half term too and Nikki took the kids out for the day so it was just me and the painter in the house.

Maybe it was just a slight dent but it was definitely worth taking the day off.

Day Sixty One

There is no way I could tackle all of the painting on my own so we had a painter start today.  He is doing the hall, cloakroom, stairs and landing.  It should only take him 3 days to complete the job.  Meanwhile I'm left to tackle all the new rooms !   Not today though, I spent the day in Chester  (working of course).

The lack of pictures is because nobody likes watching paint dry !

I'll post some more pics as and when areas get completed.

Day Sixty

I was on call today which meant a late start.  So I spent the morning having a bit of a tidy up and then tackled the bathroom flooring.

I'd never fitted vinyl flooring before and this wasn't the easiest shaped room to start with.  Once I had some momentum the stress levels started to drop and I managed to fit most of it.  I had to stop though as it was time to go to work.  I had to leave the fitting until 9pm when I finished my shift.

Luckily it only took another 15 minutes to complete.

Day Fifty Nine

Painting constantly now.  In fact, anything that moves gets a coat of paint.

Glossing doors today and giving the new office it's 1st coat.  We both got through a lot today thanks to the kids spending the day with Nainie and Grandad.

It' a bit weird having the house back to ourselves.  Although that won't be for long.  We've the electrician and plumber to come back and finish yet.

Day Fifty Eight

Saturdays have just got a whole lot busier.

We had a guy back in this morning to finish off the stairs.  Everything was done apart from one piece of beading that he didn't have the right size for.  He'll be back in the week to fit that.

Apart from a 2ft piece of beading all of the building work is done and we have our house back.

Seems strange in a way, we've got used to having the guys around.  They were a really nice bunch and we've had some good laughs with them.

Now it's all decorating and tidying up.   There is a lot of dust to get rid of before the hall, stairs and landing get painted.

Today we also;
Removed the stair gate...for good.
Stained the skirting in the bathroom (twice)
Gave the bathroom door and cupboard doors an undercoat
Brushed up a lot of dust
Measured up the bathroom ready to fit the flooring tomorrow
Got more masking tape (we'll need loads)
Picked the paint we are having through the hall, stairs, landing, new landing and new stairs

I know there has been a lack of pictures lately.  Now that the building work has been completed it means that we are now mad busy with the decorating so I've not had time to take any pictures.  I will get some tomorrow morning though before the next lot of painting starts.

I also have a couple of (sort of) time lapses I've been collecting pictures for.  It's great to see the transformation from start to finish.

Day Fifty Seven

Just a few small jobs left now;

The old loft hatch has finally gone, that alone makes the landing look a lot lighter.
All skimming has now been finished, great job overall by the plasterer.
The new airing cupboard now has shelves.
I managed a bit more painting at lunchtime.

The stairs are almost complete so they'll be coming back tomorrow morning (Saturday) to finish off.

We'll then have the house back to ourselves.

Day Fifty Six

The stairs were getting the finishing touches today.  The back of the stairs was boxed in and skimmed and they started putting all the beading on to tidy up the edges.

We also had the bi-folding bathroom door fitted, very nice.

They couldn't  put the handrails up yet though as we had to get the sofa bed up there.  It took a while but we managed it in the end.  That sofa bed will only ever leave the loft if we cut it in half or take out a window.

I made use of the morning (as I was on late's) and started painting the bathroom.  Need to get this done by the weekend so that I can fit the floor.

No pictures today, will catch up tomorrow.

Day Fifty Five

Yet more skimming today along with touching up all the other bits that needed it.  Some of the ceilings and walls have taken a battering recently so there were a few holes to fill in.

I've been busy working out a plan of action.  We need to have all of the decorating completed by the 6th November.  We're also looking at new furniture so no doubt we'll be visiting Ikea soon !

Day Fifty Four

Yet more plastering today and the place is looking really good now.  The ceiling of the old office has now been re-skimmed and the new light fittings are in.  We also have power and light in the loft now.

The roofer came to fit the vent for the extractor fan so that's another tick on the done list.

I found a couple more holes where the starlings may have been getting in, they've no chance now.

Highlight of the day though was Danny in his school concert this morning.  Oh, and not forgetting a much needed catch up in the evening with a good mate :-)

Day Fifty Three

Why is it the closer you get to the end of a Project the more intense and stressful it gets ?

I can think of two reasons straight away;

1) There is more work that we have to do ourselves now
2) The invoices will be coming in soon !

The electrician was here today fitting the lights and sockets etc.  He's not quite finished so we still don't have light up there yet.  Which meant of course that I got the evening off.
(not that sitting at my desk working was a night off though).

We also had the plasterer back so he could check out what is left to do.  He'll be back tomorrow to finish off.  I think the roofer will be calling in as well to fit the remaining vented tile.

I also spoke to the painter and reduced the amount of work we want him to do (thus reducing the cost).  The only problem is that means I have to do more work.  Work which includes staining the new stairs (several times).....I can't wait !

No pictures today (too busy) but i'll get some tomorrow.

Day Fifty Two

Painting all day.

Managed to get enough done before the electrician comes tomorrow to put all the lights etc in.

Unfortunately that means we will have lights in the loft so I will be able to paint in the evenings now as well.

So that's my evenings for the next couple of weeks sorted !

Day Fifty One

Saturday and the start of two days of painting.

But first a trip to the Carpet place to see if there are any other carpets that we like.  We picked one from the samples when he came to measure the other day but we wanted to be sure.  We eventually decided on our original choice and the fitting is booked for 6th November.

Then it was back home (via McD's) and on with the painting.  The first coat on new plaster is very messy. Using watered down paint is not my idea of fund.  Here's the before pic, before it got messy.

I also picked up the bathroom flooring today and yet more paint and various other odds n sods.