Working in the garden

Well it turns out that God does indeed move in mysterious ways. In my last post I was feeling a little depressed about the state of things then, barely 48 hours later, I was struck down by a stomach bug that my sister-in-law thoughtfully brought down with her for our Bank Holiday family get-together. I lost about 9lbs in four days. I couldn't eat anything. It was awful and I'm not sure I've ever been so ill.
All I could think was how lucky it was that I wasn't pregnant and therefore didn't have to worry about anything other than being ill.
See? Mysterious ways.
SBB and I have been working in the garden. I had to tackle the front garden because, frankly, it was looking like someone had lost a game of Jumanji out there.
Then I turned my attention to the hedge bed which is currently edged with stone but I have plans to bed in some grey bricks that SBB rescued from being thrown in a skip. The webbing also has some weeds and brambles growing up through it so I'm going to replace that too.

SBB has been working in the back garden, putting a path in alongside the finished patio and digging out the garden path to our driveway which we've been working on (I'll post pictures later)

Happily, the sunshine and warm weather has brought out the flowers - and the bees!

Patio progress - part 3: The final push

SBB has been a real trooper, working on the patio, setting up jobs as part of his new business, constructing a new fence for the driveway, digging out the Mother of All Roots, digging a test hole to look at the foundations, breaking up a concrete path and pouring a new one... Like I said, a real trooper.

He's finished the patio and I'm absolutely thrilled with it.

Laying the slabs

Finished!

First steps on the (dry) patio

A couple of days after SBB had finished the patio we both got a bit of a bee in our bonnet about the state of the path (see huge ugly blue tarp etc in above photo) so we had a tidy up and it was like a huge weight was lifted off our shoulders. Then SBB decided to fill in the empty triangle with gravel. It's starting to feel a lot more finished now (just ignore the horrible red paint stains on the wall, I need to power-wash those off).

So, there it is. Did you see the flower pots? I went for some plain terracotta pots in the end. I didn't want to draw attention away from the feature wall (which is the real star of the show) plus, they were also two for £9. Bargain.

But.

Did you notice the deliberate mistake? You may remember that in my part 2 update I mentioned the pattern I was planning (lavender, forget-me-not, herb pot, forget-me-not, lavender). Slight problem with that, which I only realised when I put the plants in the four terracotta pots I'd bought. I have three forget-me-not plants - you can see the third one attempting to hide behind the loose stones on top of the wall. Oops. I may have to have a rethink.

Week 1 - Christmas Countdown and the last few days

A second post from me today as I wanted to finish the countdown before Christmas (and I've only got hours left!).
Spoiler: we didn't get it all finished but here's an update of where we've got to. We only managed to get Dad over one night during the week as he was pulling some serious overtime.

While he and SBB were working in the kitchen I started the gloss work in the bathroom. Remember how it last looked all the way back in week seven?

Painted on the left, unpainted on the right

It's getting there

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, SBB and Dad tackled the hole for the hob. This had to be done carefully - particularly when moving it after it had been cut as it could snap. They reinforced the thinner cut edge with another strip of wood and a couple of clamps.

However, when we slotted the hob into place there was a problem. We discovered that the support struts didn't allow the hob to sit neatly in the hole.

Area to be cut marked out

So we chopped out a segment and replaced the hob only to find that there was now a section on the left that was also in the way.

This was annoying to say the least and I wonder if everyone has this problem with B&Q kitchens and hob tops.

Once we got that sorted we moved on to the sink. There was a gap between the cabinet and the rim of the sink that, while not visible from standing, would be glaringly obvious when getting things out of the cupboard. Why, oh why, did B&Q design it this way? Anyway, our solution was to use an offcut of the leftover plinth and screw it onto the top of the cabinet.

There was one problem. The screws securing the center column sat proud of the wood so Dad used a little drillbit called a countersink to skim a little out of the top of the screw hole so that the screws sat flush to the wood. I was pretty impressed - I had no idea what that drillbit did!

We then screwed everything back together and I am so impressed with how it looks. It's really coming along don't you think?

For the rest of the week and the last few days I'm afraid life has gotten in the way of DIY.

Christmas buffet spread at work

Keeping warm at work - Sweet popcorn Options hot chocolate (couldn't really taste any popcorn)

Favourite steak meal at The Lifeboat - yum!

 All of which finally leads us up to tonight. Christmas Eve. All the presents are wrapped, I don't have to do any cooking until Boxing Day (when SBB and I have our own belated Christmas Day) and Midnight Mass is hours away unless I fall asleep first... :)

Hope you all have a lovely Christmas. x

Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree

Last week was the week that Christmas decorations went up - both at home and at work.

The Christmas tree at work

The star on top

 It's not really my taste - I'm not really fond of tinsel - but putting the tree together from the measly amount of decorations that we have was an excuse to get away from my desk and to play Christmas music!

Decorating at home was a whole lot easier. Mainly because I was in charge but also because I only have four items that I regularly put up!

Anduril gets festive!

My decorations are all that you can see in the picture - with the exception of the advent calendar that Mum sewed for me when I was young - that goes up in the hall.

Instead of a full size tree I've opted for the small wooden one for the mantelpiece. It saves space and is much more eco friendly than a full size artificial one!

Plus it can't be nibbled by a certain pair of rabbits :)

Blimey, where did that time go?

I'm a little shocked to realise that SBB and I have been back for two weeks. We went away on holiday to Cyprus and it was lovely. It was thoroughly relaxing and I came back feeling happy and content (of course that feeling promptly disappeared after being back at work for 10 minutes but that's another story!)

Ah, Cyprus... I miss you already.

But, being back in England means only one thing: time to get back to work at the flat. We decided to 'ease ourselves in' by tackling the living room. You may remember the before pictures from a previous post but more recently the living has looked more... well. Messy.

We'd cleared almost all the stuff out a while back so it was pretty empty while I filled in shelf holes and prepped the woodwork. Then I got to the window sill of the large window (the window in the photo above).

I scraped it.
I sanded it.
And yet... the paint could still be peeled off. So...
I scraped it.
And sanded it.
And STILL I could peel paint off. Like this:

So. So. Frustrating. I must have done the scrape/sand combo about four times before we went away. I was almost ready to give up - to say 'to hell with it' and just prime it - but I was determined not to be beaten.

So the other night whilst SBB and my Dad were drilling holes for the kitchen spotlights I tackled the window sill once and for all. And finally after a LOT of scraping.....

Ta Da!!
I just need to go over the really stubborn bits with sandpaper just to soften the edges then it's priming and painting time!

Also, we painted the walls:

Just excuse the fridge in the middle of the room (which is an entirely rational place to keep a fridge, don't you think?). I think the light magnolia really makes the room look bigger - much better than the blue even though I loved it at the time.

I really feel like we're getting somewhere now, even though it's just paintwork. The only room that hasn't been touched is the bedroom. Apart from the hallway, but that doesn't count as a room, does it? Hopefully we can start putting in the kitchen soon which will not only mean we're one step farther on but I'll also be able to go to Ikea to buy some accessories!

Wildlife Wishlist

A couple of months ago I bought this scarf from not on the high street:

It was on sale and I absolutely fell in love. I didn't really need a new scarf so I justified the purchase to myself by saying that SBB could give it to me for Christmas. It's so gorgeous I can't wait to open it on Christmas Day ('Oh Darling! How did you KNOW?') but now it's left me with a small obsession with country wildlife accessories.

Unfortunately it seems to be a bit of a trend at the moment so almost everywhere I look there is stuff I want to buy! It seems to be mainly foxes that I'm attracted to although I've noticed a couple of owls and hedgehogs too, but I think SBB would object if the house turned into a wildlife ornament menagerie...

But, just because I can't resist here are a few of my favourites:





 Fox pillow from red bubble

 
 Owl tote bag also from red bubble

 
 Fox duvet set from John Lewis

 
Hedgehog tealights from Next (I actually gave in and bought these with a gift voucher that was given to me by the guys at work as a wedding present... 3 years ago...[bashful face])



 Small acorn from Dunelm Mill (I know it's not wildlife but it's still part of the woodland theme!)

 
Fox doorstop from amazon

 Then on a walk through Newport town centre I saw this little guy:

Isn't he cute? He's in a shop called Available Light and I often stop to drool over the amazing prints and photos they have (which can also be seen here). I stopped in today to ask about the price but was a little worried that SBB would not be impressed if I bought it (considering we're saving up to our eyeballs) despite how much I really need want it.

However, to my surprise when I showed SBB the photo above he really liked it (yay! Happy dance!) so I'm going to go down to Newport tomorrow to see if the little guy is still there and, if so, to bring him home with me (after paying first, of course!).

PS none of the links are affiliate links - I just really like all the above stuff!