Patching up...

Ashamed to say that the whole month of August came and went without a single blog post (I really do suck at this).  We have still been slogging away on the house of course.  I often wonder if we will we ever be finished but looks like they'll always be something to keep us busy - I guess a house doesn't keep itself. At work I always insist that applicants restoring a historic property always include a long term management and maintenance plan that is costed with schedules including allocating roles and responsibilities. I think we need one too as things will inevitably break, need repaired, refreshed or just go a bit wonky.  To illustrate my point we managed to finish the ensuite with the final task of repairing the damage caused by the door jamming, and just as we had the satisfying scoring it off the list sensation the loo started to leak. Back on the list it goes...Although it should never really of come off (in my humble opinion) because it needs a mirror and a toilet roll holder fitted. More importantly however is the fact that the blind is now fitted and we are no longer exposing ourselves to the neighbours - I bet their pleased.

Other works keeping us out of mischief include painting the porch, weeding, painting some skirting, mowing of the grass, painting some more skirting, chopping up another fallen tree, clearing out the garage, sweeping the paths, more weeding/grass cutting/hedge-trimming and not to forget endless cleaning of white floors. I still ask myself why? If only we could learn to float they'd be perfect!

Anyway none of these activities warrant a picture. In fact, as you'll have noticed, I don't really feel that they deserve much blogging about at all. So what can I show you? Well our good friends had a gorgeous little baby boy so I whipped up another little blanket. I also customized some onesies (only a small bit of plagiarism involved). Despite appearances they've not been attacked by a permanent marker but a fabric pen. Screenprinting would have created a much more professional result. Live and learn. Here's the pics...

Making a right dog's mess of it all...

Our not so white floor

 

When I say making a right dog's mess of it all, for once I am not referring to our dubious DIY skills. Instead, I mean when we we had another little furry friend come to stay. We started off being very good at always wiping his paws but what with the constant downpour and his insatiable desire to be let out to play, we eventually relaxed this routine, I guess any floor would be just as dirty but it shows up more on ours. Until they invent the hover dog, I think we may need to be a pooch free zone. It cleaned up easily enough though and my top tip for glistening floors is bicarbonate soda.

 

Well, hello again! Yes, we're back on the house renovations and its time to get serious and get this job done. There WILL be more updates to follow.

flood alert

Another day, another mishap seems to be the pattern at the moment. Sold our dishwasher but didn't seal up the old plumbing so this is what happened the first time the washing machine went on. Doh!!! Anyway, a lot of mopping up later, the damage to the floor seems to be minimal. Phew.

Another incident to report is Craig locking himself in the ensuite which resulted in him jumping naked from the window and shocking the neighbours. Only Craig! He ended up having to take the door off to fix the problem (actually its not fixed) and this has damaged the paintwork. Paintwork that's an off white colour and I don't have any more off it and can't remember what it was so will now probably have to paint ALL the woodwork again. Sigh. Needless to say, I'm not feeling the DIY love at the moment. My mojo is well and truly lost - hence the lack of posts - and Craig is distracted by the new pool table so equally uninterested in all the 'little' remaining jobs.

Hoping May will be more productive and we don't get too distracted with all the birthday, hen and wedding celebrations that await us. And even if we do, maybe I should just tell you about that instead...

white and wood

 

Here's the hall as it currently stands - very light and bright. I'm hoping to make that back wall a feature wall with pattern/colour and also a big mirror (we have plenty). I like the contrast of the wood against the white and therefore hadn't planned to paint the door frames in the living room and hall. However, the husband's painting technique may dictate otherwise as I'm not sure I'll be able to get these emulsion marks off. I'll try. The doors in the hallway also give the desired effect so perhaps that'll be enough, along with our 'wooden' light shades. I don't think the glass doors will suit white however so may need to think of something else. We probably should replace them as they're not made of safety glass. Somehow, I think this is what Craig wants to do.

Lots still to do. The skirting need yet another coat in places and bits and pieces need tidied up. I should also say friends that are moving house kindly gave us their pool table. I love a game of pool but at the moment it sits, in pieces, in my hall and I'm not loving that. Husband thinks it's fine and its too heavy for me to move - or even him plus me. Next time there's an extra able bodied bloke in our house they'll be getting coerced into helping shift this somewhere more suitable. The ultimate plan is to convert the garage into a man cave but that needs a hell of a lot of work.

Here's a pic of our new rug - a wee cowhide number. I'm quite happy with it as it takes some of the harshness away and works well the retro table. The table, my gumtree find, still wobbles however.

Another new addition are the cushions Craig's Aunty made us. V. retro and blend in well!

And finally for today, perhaps the month, is a wee shot of how the kitchen is looking now. Still to be added are some shelves for my cornish-ware jars and we need to tile around the cooker. One day we'll get new windows but until then I need to decide what window treatment. I'd like a wooden blind but they're too expensive for that big window. Perhaps just a strip of funky material in a mock blind fashion (I know what I mean). Over and out for now. x

Silent but deadly

Thought I'd pay homage to The Festival of Silent Film this month at the Bo'ness Hippodrome by pulling together a little sequence of Craig's handiwork in the Garden. Some of you may understand the title of this post, and for that I apologise (on Craig's behalf). It however seems appropriate especially as Craig 'forgot' to put on his safety trousers in creating this little masterpiece. Thankfully this is not in the style of "Itchy and Scratchy' show and all limbs remain in tact. Don't do that again Mr Dunn! So, sit back and relax at the wonder of Craig's workmanship.

Butts at the Butts

So my second update of 2013 and what do I have to tell you? The dining room and kitchen area are starting to take shape. That said, the kitchen units still have their plastic protective coats on, the sink unit is on the floor and the leaky tap is still just that.  Things are still looking a bit white, well migrane inducing white is probably how I'd describe it. The white paint tin is still out however as the skirtings are still being painted-such a laborious task. I had three blistered fingers last week just from caulking!

Will soon be jazzing up the walls with paintings, piccies, etc and we even made a start to this as you can see with our nudes. Very impressed with Adam's screenprint interpretation of a photo I took of Craig doing the Loonie-dook up at the Black Isle a few years ago. My pencil sketch I did for Craig's Christmas looks so amateur in comparison. In my defense, I drew it with a pencil from a cracker, similar to an Ikea pencil. I see I need to up my game!!

Looks so good someone actually thought it was a Banksy!

What a cracker!

 Welcome to snowy Kinross-shire! This photo is just a light dusting compared with whats going on outside now - inches upon inches has settled and it's also blowing a hoolie too. All the white outside is merging with all the white inside. Where does the house stop and the garden begin? It's all a bit too white quite frankly and we need to get some rugs down. I'm following Craig around with a mop at the minute...Can't jump the gun however as there's still painting to do.

The dining table, our 70's habitat gumtree find, is up however. It went up for New Years Day and has stayed put. I'm obviously not showing it off in the best light here, I should be photographing it fully set with the best china. But I don't have time for that.

The photograph below shows the kitchen before Christmas. It's moved on a bit since then; the floor is now done and the plinths are on. James, Craig's brother-in-law, has done a sterling job fitting it just in time for Craig (not so) surprise 40th birthday party. All went well...apart from the hob getting chipped. Not even used yet!

Three weeks on and the blue plastic is still enveloping it all leaving us eagerly anticipating the big reveal.  Unfortunately, just before finishing, we have a view snagging points. Most significantly, our handle-less kitchen from IKEA turns out to need handles! The current mechanism are not fit for purpose. So on to their customer services yet again and so they sent different ones - they're even worse! Another call later, they advise that they don't recommend the kitchen as we've got it. Err, say what?? That's how they sold it to us!! I'm now waiting for them to get back to me with a solution, which most likely involves handles (FFS). Another issue is that our new tap from B&Q leaks. Groan. Still need to tackle this one. In the meantime however, I don't want to take off its protective coat until all work is complete. So here's our blue kitchen.