Keeping busy with craft projects part 2

This project is a favourite of mine. I got the idea from Carrots 'n' Cake. I just saw the photos of the kitchen and thought:

I need a shelf next to my oven.

So I bought some wrought iron effect shelf supports from ebay to match the door handles and a length of wood from B&Q.
I then measured and cut the wood to length, levelled and drilled holes in the wall... Okay, I'm lying. I got my Dad to help do the technical stuff while SBB was at work.
But I did varnish the shelf and screw it into place via the pilot holes my Dad had drilled for me... That counts, right?

Ooh, pretty, right?

But what to put on it.....?

I had a selection of storage jars I bought a couple of years ago from Ikea. I'd planned to use them at the flat to 'dress' the kitchen.

I bought some 'blackboard' labels and a chalk pen from Amazon. I debated a little about what to put in the jars, but decided to use them for the three main pastas/rice we use (rather than lentils etc, which I have to sneak past SBB!)

Ta da! It's funny how such simple things can be so pleasing!

Starting to tile

Saturday was a good day and I don't mean in a Klingon way! (waves to fellow Trekkies) We headed into Newport to run a couple of errands and I popped into my favourite charity shop to pick up some more photo frames for the photo wall I'm planning for our living room. I don't know what it is about the charity shops in Newport but only one ever seems to sell a good range of frames.

It also stocks concrete lions - I was so tempted!

Our haul

 The only thing I tend to buy from charity shops is photo frames that I can strip down and redecorate (which reminds me, I need to upload the ones I've already done!) but this time even SBB picked up a couple of things - the copy of Les Miserables and the classical CDs.
I also picked up this:

I actually can't stand Stilton but something about the pot just called to me and I could see it sat on my kitchen window sill.

I also clocked this little baby in the window of Mia in St Thomas' Square. One size £10. Bargain.

I know it's nearing spring and orange is more of an autumn colour but I'm still looking forward to wearing it.
After our little shopping trip we headed over to B&Q to pick out some trim for the tiles in the kitchen. We dabbled for a while with the idea about having a brushed metal edge to match the sockets but in the end decided that it would make the edges too obvious and might make the tiled area look small. The fact that they were also about three times the price swayed us a bit too!

Up at the flat SBB got to work on the tiles while I finished off the painting in the bathroom and worked on the windows in the living room. While I was painting the frames I noticed some of the trim had come loose so I squirted some sealant in that I had to hand and smoothed it down.

Work at the flat will be more of the same for the next few days I think!

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

Week 3 - DIY Christmas Countdown

Right! So this week we worked on the kitchen. SBB was at work at the weekend so it was just Dad and I which was a bit of a father/daughter bonding experience.

We needed to trim down the worksurfaces and the initial idea was to cut them down with the circular saw and then use the router to get it down to a perfect edge.

Action shot

 However, just look at this baby:

That cut is by the circular saw and look how gorgeous it is!

When it came to cutting the shorter piece of worktop we had to cut the edge next to the sink at an angle because, as with any wall, it wasn't exactly straight.


But when we put both bits of worktop in place we discovered that the shorter side didn't line up with the longer side and the longer side didn't line up exactly with the edge of the sink. The difference of measurements was about 3mm which doesn't sound a lot but it was noticeable.

Dad came up with two solutions to the problem. A: he could rout out a bit of the frame for the sink to angle it to meet the edge of the longer section or B: rout down the back of the longer worktop to make it shorter depth-wise.

We went for option A as it seemed the easiest thing to do but a cloud of sawdust and three minutes of wiggling-the-sink later and it was clear that it wasn't to work. Womp womp :(

If you look closely you can see the small overhang of worksurface compared to the sink edge

Option B it was then!

We took the worktop off and Dad went along the back edge with his router which sounds easier than it was. Because he needed a long flat surface to run against he initially thought we'd have to leave it for the day but I managed to find some long 2x4s that we had left in the bedroom. Victory! (I think I may actually have shouted that).
Dad put everything together with an assortment of clamps and I left the room because I didn't have my ear defenders (doh). After the first cut we tried it against the sink but it was still another mil too deep so we had to take it off again, but after the final cut it was perfect and it looks so awesome.

I think we must have gone back and forth with the two worksurfaces about 5 or 6 times and although it wasn't a great distance between the two rooms it was hard work for me. The problem was my arms weren't quite long enough to hold it comfortably upright so in the initial lift the arm gripping the bottom locked out (and that hurt) so I had to bend it slightly but then lean over at the waist so I could reach - all the while claiming 'Yes Dad I'm FINE' to his constant worries about straining my back.

I also bumbled around working on the windows while he was making piles of sawdust. I took the little bit of metal off the kitchen window that keeps it closed (I have no idea what this is supposed to be called) and filled the holes with caulk.

You'd think my caulk smoothing ability would have improved by now... (sigh)

 Then, in my wisdom, decided that as it had worked for the kitchen window it would also work for the windows in the living room and that there would be no issue at all with my removing said small metal pieces from all the windows. So, I happily removed them and filled them with caulk, glad that the windows were taking another step towards completion.

Can you spot the problem?

Yes. Without the small metal things and with the locks yet to be replaced I had no way of closing the windows. Major palm to forehead moment.

Dad was too kind to laugh at me for my mistake and after patiently listening to my attempts at offering options so that my work wouldn't go to waste then pointed out that the easiest and best thing to do would be to replace the metal bits and screw into the holes I'd just filled. A little crestfallen, I agreed.

But at least the worksurface is prepared for the hob to go in. Next step will be to attach the end caps to protect the cut ends, make any adjustments necessary with the 'added length' and then it will be time to put the hob in! I'm so excited to make this room look like a kitchen and I think a trip to Ikea may be needed to buy some accessories.

Week 5 - DIY Christmas Countdown

Well. Best laid plans... I said last week that week 5 would have lots of updates but... that didn't quite work out. Saturday was supposed to be The Day To Do Stuff.
Then Saturday came, I uploaded week 6's update and then SBB stumbled out of the bedroom and suggested we stay on the sofa in our PJs. We hadn't got in til gone 1am that morning after heading to Portsmouth. I tried to work up the enthusiasm for going out. In the rain. To a cold flat to work. I teetered for a moment and then plunged directly into the need to stay in my pajamas. So we did.

Week 5 my focus was mainly on the living room windows. I've never been keen on the latches and you can see why:

They're an unattractive dirty shade of gold and someone way-back-when wasn't too careful with the brown stain/varnish so, now that we're giving the room a makeover, it was time for them to go.
I removed the locks as it's still possible to keep the window shut with just the arm, then I sanded the frame and filled in the screw holes with caulk.

When that dried I sanded it down but it had shrunk a little as it dried so I went over it again...

And that was the last thing I did. Pretty pathetic, really.

But I was joined by this little guy:

I set him free on the window sill.

SBB and Dad spent their time in the kitchen preparing the worksurface before they can cut out the hole for the hob. Dad had to buy a new tool to cut the hole out (I know, I know, technical huh?) so the back of the worksurface is currently just an interesting collection of lines.

The new sockets/light switches arrived. They're gorgeous. I was a little disappointed that the isolation switches both have 'cooker' written on them. The picture on the ebay had no writing on it at all which was ideal as one of them is for the washing machine/dishwasher sockets. Oh well.

Excuse the fingermarks. SBB ignored my cries of 'fingers!'

So SHINY....

Must make more of an effort to get down there more next week.

Week 6 - DIY Christmas Countdown

Okay, so this is a little late and it's closer to the end of week 5 than week 6 but that's because we've been doing the work for the week 5 update! (Which has a bit more to it than week 6 - yay!)

Weekends have been taken up with other things: SBB has been working Saturdays and I've been trying to do the things I haven't been able to do in the week... Laundry mainly.

This week saw me finally start to tackle the living room window alcoves. SBB was rained off one day so he put a first coat on the smaller window and I did the larger window. The previous colour on the walls - a pale blue - seems to be quite reluctant to be painted over and it's taken three coats to cover it up.

SBB also did a first coat of primer around the skirting board

The kitchen is still coming along too and measurements have been taken to put the worktop on and the rest of the lights have gone in! Look how pretty they are:

SBB also managed to plaster the hallway ceiling! This makes me more happy than I can say.

Yucky stippled ceiling

I'm not a great fan of artex - especially the stippled kind - so I was glad to see this go. We'd had the kitchen ceiling done by a professional as the ceiling was such a large area SBB was worried he wouldn't get it flat (and would injure himself in the process). However, while the guy did a good job I felt myself a little underwhelmed. Some of the edges close to the ceiling weren't straight and in a couple of patches near the window I could still make out the pattern. To be fair, I could only see it if I stood right underneath it and stared straight up at it and how many people actually do this on a daily basis? My Dad came round and I pointed out all my little niggles and he was a bit disappointed - the plasterer has done several ceilings at my parents' house and they've all been very good. Dad suggested that I call the plasterer and give him the opportunity to correct the mistakes but SBB and I decided that we needed to crack on with the painting as the vinyl was on it's way (and I had no intention of trying to paint with my lovely new flooring down!).
As it happens, we painted the room and the 'problem areas' weren't that obvious, unless you knew where to look. It doesn't help that SBB, Dad and I are all perfectionists. SBB and Dad most of all because of their jobs. So, I'm not going to mention the plasterer's name because he did an okay job and we didn't give him the opportunity to sort out our issues so it's not fair to 'name and shame' the poor man.

Right, back to the hallway ceiling. After our experience with the kitchen SBB was a little reluctant to get the plasterer back in to do the job, but also didn't really want to do it himself. He ummmed and ahhhed over it for a while and even, at one point, suggested that we leave the ceiling as it was.

'How important is it to have a flat ceiling?' he asked.

I scowled at him and reminded him that I'd bought lovely new spotlights and didn't want them ruined but having them put into a crappy ceiling. Spotlights and stippling? I don't think so.

My knowledge of plastering is fairly limited - being only what I happen to see when I pause from whatever I'm doing to wander in see what SBB's up to - but I think the process is this:

1. Prepare the surface. In this case that meant scraping off the stipples - or 'blunting' them. This was SBB's job - I don't have the arm muscles for that sort of thing! Essentially you just have to wear down the worst of the 'bump' to get the ceiling as flat as possible. (The first time that SBB did this, in our hallway at home, he scraped off almost ALL of the artex which we later learnt wasn't necessary!) Then it's time to glue. This is always my job and I always end up with glue splodges on my glasses. In this case I only did one coat of glue but previously it's been two. We waited for the first one to go off, then applied another coat and when it's reached the correct amount of 'tackiness' SBB moves on to...

2. Apply the first coat. This coat seems a little thicker than the subsequent coat and when it's on the board it looks like chocolate mousse to me - a really think luxurious one. At this point I don't think it's too important to get it mirror flat but it is important to get it level. Wait for it to go off a bit then...

3. Apply the second coat. As I said, this one is a little thinner than the first coat and, if I remember correctly, looks a bit like chocolate yoghurt. This is skimmed over the first coat and worked together to make it smooth.

4. After waiting for the plaster to go off for a while, it's time to spray with water and smooth off with the finishing trowel any bits that need attention. This is the bit that takes a while because this you don't want a bumpy wall/ceiling and you have to make sure you don't over soak the plaster otherwise you get dribbles and it looks bad. This is the bit that I really enjoy watching (and not just because I get to 'help' by pointing out bits SBB misses) because with each go over with the finishing trowel the wall gets smoother and smoother - like magic. (Although I'm sure SBB would prefer me to think of it as his hard work, rather than magic...)

5. After the plaster is dry any remaining bumps - usually at the edges of the adjoining wall/ceiling - can be sanded down.

I'm not, by any stretch of the imagination, an expert and I've never picked up a trowel in my life other than when SBB asks 'Can you pass me the...' so this is definitely not a 'how to' (!)
Luckily for me though I have a man who does know how to plaster and -

SHAZZAM

A plastered hallway ceiling. It's so pretty that if I could reach, I would stroke it.