Hello Everyone

Are you having a good week? Mine's been ok, busy as usual - here's some more photo's of the DIY we've done this summer

After the conservatory we decided to bite the bullet and finish it all off and do the kitchen and little lounge. The problem with not doing 'miminalist' is where do you put all the stuff you've collected - some of it went down the cellar, some of it in the summer house and the rest in the front lounge - well for 2 weeks that's where the fridge and freezer lived.

The kitchen units are hand made solid wood (circa 1980's I think) and it would have been sacrilege to have taken them out to put some mdf type in, because they are so solid and well made  - but there's only so much pine you can live with -  so after many weeks of painting pieces of cardboard and sticking them onto the different kitchen cupboards, we settled on Farrow and Balls  'Blackened' took a deep breath and started painting. We're glad we did it now - it's not quite a light grey and it's not quite a light blue, it's different colours in different lights

The floor in the kitchen was laminate that we put down 6 years ago so we decided to get a floor tiler in and get ceramic tiles laid - Well Chris the tiler turned up, took one look at the floor and made a sort of groan and proclaimed it goes up and down a bit doesn't it? but after they'd taken up the 2 old floors  (one on top of the other),levelled it, and laid the tiles, it looks brilliant and is so much easier with having the 3 dogs. But this was the worst time of all, we were in so much mess!

We've always had a range cooker in this house and one Wednesday night we decided that we'd change the cooker as well, I'm not keen on cooking with electric, so went on line had a look at Comet Electrical, we liked the Belling all gas cooker, phoned them to check that it was all gas and got the most politest young American gentleman who assured me it was, I paid over the phone and the cooker was sitting in the front lounge by the Saturday morning - absolutely brilliant customer service

Then we moved onto the kitchen worktops - as we put more coats of the 'Blackened' on - it became apparent that the wood effect work tops weren't going to match - so it was off to Wickes with a piece of the painted cardboard in Blackened, a floor tile and one of my Cornish Blue salt cellars (I knew the kitchen tiles which we weren't going to change matched the Cornish blue exactly) and after what seemed like hours of deliberation we settled on shiny black worktops.

Getting a carpenter to turn up to fit them was the next battle - carpenters have 2 excuses for not turning up - it's either the van's broken down or they've just come out of hospital! the 3rd carpenter turned out to be the most reliable!

After that it was a case of painting the walls (F & B Pointing again) re staining the doors changing the sockets, switches and light fittings to cool black and then moving every thing back into position.

I've taken some photo's but took them when I was doing some cooking so  please excuse the mess!


This is the bottom end of the kitchen which leads out to the conservatory

 

 

 

I sourced the new kitchen unit  handles from off Ebay and spent 3 days making the curtains - the same Laura Ashley material that I used in the bathroom but in a great shade of blue which matches the Cornish blue wear  beautifully,  again we changed the curtain tracks too and the taps and the sink top (again I nearly had heart failure at the cost of the taps!)

 

 

I'd seen a dining room set in Laura Ashley which had the legs and the base of the table painted white the seats and the table top were left pine, so out the paint brush came again and I spent a whole weekend painting my old set plus a base of a standard lamp - I think it's come up well and looks just as good as one from Laura Ashley's would have done!

This is the other side of the kitchen - sorry about the cooking!

New cooker - with lots of burners and 2 ovens........ brilliant!

Top end of kitchen

Ours is a 'live in' kitchen and sitting in front of the log burner is the best place in the winter months

So that was it - sorry the photo's are not that good - I'm no photographer - little lounge next

Have a good Friday (Sorry I'm rushing off...........tea's ready now!!)

Byeee xxxx



 

 

Evening All

Well what a week that was! I walked into work on Monday morning to be told that one of our blocks of flats had sustained a fire in the early hours of Monday morning - as the morning progressed and colleagues from my team were allowed to get a little closer to be able to send back photo's, we learnt how bad a fire it had been - one elderly gentleman had died, others had sustained injuries jumping from 2nd floor windows - it was terrible - the communal areas - the one area, that is the residents only escape route was completely wiped out by the fire. The gentleman who had died lived on the bottom floor right next to where a local youth had decided to set fire to half a dozen wheely bins, we think that there had been an accelerant used to make sure that they really went with a bang.

Once the local youth had set that fire going - he then went onto another property - a house this time and did exactly the same thing - put the whelly bin up against the door and set it alight - luckily the residents managed to escape. The block of flats have been a crime scene for most of the week and the police arrested the youth and have now charged him with murder, attempted murder and arson.

Throughout the course of my career, nearly 23 years, I've found dead bodies were residents have passed away naturally, I've had houses blow up and once a house that was literally splitting into two halves with heave - but never a fire and never a death in this way - it's been a really horrible week - it must have been horrendous for the elderly gentleman and for the other residents trying to escape - My Nan and Grandad lived in a flat and I've thought, what if someone had done the same to them - we all just feel for the residents - 9 families have been made homeless by this young man's actions. Terrible......

Moving on, I said I would post pictures of the conservatory next -

This is looking down into the bottom half of the conservatory - we painted it in some magnolia paint  that had been brought some time back and hadn't been used, all the beams were oiled and then all the doors and skirting boards re stained in mid oak stain. The floor used to be laminate but in the winter your body would be warm but your feet would  like blocks of ice! so I saved up through the spring and we had the carpet fitted - we have 3 little dogs, so that is why the rugs are there, as this is the route through to the rear garden.

I then decided that we would change the curtain tracks in here (we have curtains to keep the room warm in the winter, the nets are because we have an extremely nosey neighbour, next door but one, on that side and because she is higher than us can look straight in and does if given half a chance!) so it was off to Argos again for those - then I decided to buy new curtains - I brought these curtains from Dunhealm and they cost £300.00 - now to me that is a lot of money, I suppose in this day and age 5 pairs of curtains for £300 is a reasonable price to pay - pity the quality wasn't! they must have been made in a little sweat shop some where in India, where some poor soul barely got paid anything for making them - there isn't one proper mitred corner amongst them and  I had to sew some of them  my self because the hems were up and down like a dogs hind leg!! - Note to self - never buy curtains from there again!!



The TV was the one from the front lounge and the nest of tables came from Church Stretton antiques market. The plates were from my Mom and Dad and are Royal Albert and I even have the certificates for them!

I picked up the dresser second hand and I spent a few days sanding, waxing and painting it, the plates and tea set all came from Church Stretton again and the plates on the wall round it, did live previously in the kitchen

I like wind chimes  and I've had these for about 10 years now - they make just the right tone when the breeze blows through

Then we move back up into the top part of the conservatory now - the curtain above closes over the side door which leads out to the log store - the clock came from Morrisons and only cost me £4.00! and it's got a lovely deep tick to it.

We brought the oak desk from a little antiques barn just outside Montgomery - it's like the teachers desk when I was at school in the early 60's  and has the shelf which pulls out above the drawers which your book had to sit on when you read to the teacher (those were the days when teachers listened to the children read!) I saw the oak filing cabinet at the same time that we brought the desk and the lady told me that they had come from the same old house - they're not matching but seem to sit well together and it is so handy for keeping all the household paperwork, tidy and in one place.

To the side of the desk is where my washer sits and the ironing basket - we all have hidey holes like this don't we????

So that's the conservatory - we did the passage way next but that's too boring to post pictures off - after that it was the kitchen - more pics to follow

Have a good Friday evening - best night of the week isn't it?

Byeeee

Back again!

Hello All,

Sorry I've been away for so long - it's been a very long hard summer and even having time to read any blogs has been really difficult let alone time to write one.

So what's been happening, well if you can remember we had done a lot of work on the garden with painting the decking and clearing a lot of the overgrown plants away and we had always planned to decorate the conservatory whilst we were on holiday from work in August but decided that we would make a start before that with the bathroom.

Well that was it really, we decorated the bathroom then the conservatory and then the hall and then the kitchen and finally the little front lounge and we finally finished on Sunday with the fitting of a new front door. (we don't do things by half - as they say round here!)

I will post some pictures, all I will say is never again! when I was younger I used to be able to paint a room in a day - now by 4.30pm we'd both be cream crackered! with hardly anything done - or that's what it felt like!

Anyway - the bathroom -  that's been painted in Farrow and Ball's Lamp Room Grey and Pointing paint and I made pink gingham curtains with fabric from Laura Ashley

 

 

The bathroom mirror came from a lovely little  shabby chic shop that's situated in a garden centre just outside Bridgenorth, I love the little roses around the top of the mirror - we picked those plates up from the antiques market in Church Stretton. I did want new curtain tracks in black cast iron but couldn't afford them at over £100 each so settled for some from Argos - they look the part but don't have quite the same sound effect when you shut the curtains.

 

 

Not the best of pictures - but we painted the old corner cupboard in Pointing paint - the jug and bowl belonged to my Nan - all the other little bits and pieces were in the house except for the 2 vases on the bottom shelf and we again picked those up in Church Stretton - both Royal Albert pieces and very pretty. The plates on the other wall are all Royal Albert and are based on the Queen Mothers favourite flowers, again from Church Stretton - Do you like the silk petals overflowing from the little soap dish? I got those from Ikea and they are so effective





 

 

 Sorry you've got to crick your neck to see this one - But when you do - do you like the towels - I have coveted this particular towel range in Laura Ashley all year - they are so country cottage shabby chic.......and then Laura Ashley had a sale!!! and I thought it's now or never!!....so I got them - they are so soft and (sorry to use this word again!) pretty!

This soap dish came from the same antiques centre because it matched the earlier plates with the same type of edging

 

Some of the Queen Mother plates

 

I got the enamelled white waste bin from Ikea - it should be a plant pot but I thought it would just be perfect as a waste bin

And finally - I thought I would have to apply for another mortgage all over again for these little beauties

 

 

When did taps become so expensive???........... we've had the lever ones as I suffer with arthritis in my fingers, but blimey they cost a fortune!!

 

So that's the bathroom - cost a lot for us but for the first time ever, I've been able to have what I've wanted and been able to pay cash for it all too - I work hard so why not - Have you noticed too that I don't do minimal and I love country cottage style - I'll post some pictures of the conservatory next and then you'll see why I haven't been around for a while

 

Till then Byee

Is it here at last?.............

Do you think that summer's arrived at last?  it's certainly been like for summer for the last 2 days here so fingers crossed but it's come a bit too late now for the allotment. Oh well there's always next year.

Felt really tired yesterday so had an easy day and cut out the curtains for the bathroom and pieced them together (there's a drop and a half in each curtain) machined them and did the side and hem turnings - just got to hem them and they'll be ready for the linings to be attached.

I know that I've paid expensive for Laura Ashley material but it is so worth it - they have just fell together, you can't see the join at all and the corners mitred up perfectly. I did wonder about doing them with feeling so tired but it turned out to be quite relaxing and as I say so easy to do.

I've ordered a 20 metre roll of lining material off ebay which has only cost £28.00 so quite a bargain and they'll be enough there to do the kitchen curtains too.

The order from Farrow and Ball for the lamp room grey paint for the bathroom was delivered within 2 days - what a brilliant service and would definitely use it again.

Hubby has done half of the glossing in the bathroom and it is a classic colour - really nice, I have spent this afternoon painting a clothes basket with the 'pointing' white gloss  and I found an old mirror down the cellar, which I've painted the frame with the grey gloss. So it's slowly coming together.

I've only got one day in work this week and then 3 days having my grand daughters whilst my daughter is at work, Friday is for me and I will hopefully be putting the linings to the curtains.

Will you be watching the Olympics or not? I'll watch the opening ceremony and then that will be enough for me - I intend to get some sewing done whilst it's on every night - give me a gardening programme, or strictly come dancing any time.

Talking about gardening programmes - have you been watching Alan Titchmarsh's Love Your Garden? it's like DIY SOS but for gardens instead - he has created some fantastic gardens - no wonder he's the best TV gardener out there - Just wished the BBC would realise and get rid of the little shortie Monty Don  and his sidekick Carol Klien and bring back a 'worth' watching Gardeners World.

Oh well teas nearly done - hope you all have a good week

Byeee

Greed minus Morals = Idiots!

Thank God the week is nearly over - it's been a long hard stressful week - 2 days of which have been spent in court, giving evidence regarding a customer who you really wouldn't want as a neighbour!

When the young gentleman in question was cross examined, what became more than evident was the fact that he had no self respect, no thought for anyone else but himself, that society and tax payers should do everything for him, why should he be expected to give up his cigarettes to pay his rent arrears? - isn't that what housing benefit is for? Oh and he also thought that we shouldn't be upset if he speaks to us with foul language,  aggressively in our face's - cause that's just how he is - he's not using bad language at us - it's just how he talks to people. ( Sorry it's still unacceptable!)

But what was much much worse was his defence barrister - what an absolute arrogant idiot, who had the cheek to try and make out that a) we're all liers, all buying into a conspiracy against his client (there was 20 of us in court to give evidence on his unacceptable behaviour) and b) that the majority of our customers speak to us this way and also live in extremely squalid conditions (like his client does) that we should just accept this behaviour as the norm and not challenge his poor defenceless client. I would say that the majority of our customer are clean, hard working respectable people, it's only the few, like his client, who cause us all the work.

Can anyone tell me how does this idiot sleep at night? - if you're a decent respectable person, then you have your own set of internal rules i.e. morals that you live by, this middle aged, well spoken, well educated man just can't possible have any morals -  if he can stand in a court of law, and defend this type of person against a group of hard working people and try to make out we're the liars.

I know some people will sell their soul for money and a 'lifestyle' but there has got to come a time when this man looks back at his life, and feel nothing but shame, because on the last 2 days performance he has nothing at all to feel proud about - how does he meet people and tell them that he spends his days defending this type of person.

Plus he was rubbish at his job - he came into court without reading our statements - he would then read a paragraph from out statement and ask a question, you would answer it and then he would stand there for another 2 mins and read the next paragraph and you would have to stand there and wait for the next question.

The judge lost it with him on a number of occasions and spoke to him like the absolute idiot that he was.

I went into the witness box determined that this idiot would not put me down - every time he tried I gave back as good as I got - and then got a mention in the judges summing up that I had given  good quality evidence and that I should not have been doubted by this idiot.

It just puzzles me how he lives with himself - his poor Mother must be so ashamed to say he's her son - because he really isn't anything to be proud of.

Till next time......... going to have a stiff drink tonight - I think I've earned it!

Byeee

Rain, rain, go away.....

When is this rain ever going to go away - it is really getting to people now isn't it? We've just really given up with our allotment - the onions have keeled over along with the 120 runner beans - strangely though this weather doesn't seem to have the same effect on the weeds - they just keep growing stronger and stronger.

I feel for the poor farmers - the vegetable prices have already gone up in Morrison's and I can only see it getting worse and worse in the future for all of us.

So, for now,  we're going to concentrate on the house, and getting a few jobs done, the garden is looking really good now and I'm so pleased that we went with the green and white theme

We're going to paint the inside of the summer house next, and then start in the conservatory, it needs painting and we want to put a carpet down in there to make it warmer under foot for the winter.

Then it will be the bathroom -I've ordered a large tin of Farrow and Balls Lamp Room grey for the bottom half of the walls which is panelled and then it's going to be Farrow and Balls Pointing for the top of the walls - Laura Ashley have a sale on their materials at the moment, so I have been and  have chosen some rather nice pink gingham, which when the curtains are made will set it all off very nicely - all I have to do now is find the time to make them!  (then again if I'm made redundant I'll have the time to make all these home improvements but not the ready cash - hence the reason why we're getting all the paint etc., now whilst I can still afford it!).

Then it's the turn of the kitchen - it's a hand built pine kitchen - too good to take out but pine's dated now so we're going to paint the units and then put a new floor down  - I would love a new range cooker, mines 9 years old now - but we'll have to see how the pennies go with that one..............and then it will be Xmas!!

Has anyone else noticed - someone, somewhere seems to make the hands of time go much faster on a weekend than in the week - I hardly seem to blink and the weekends gone!

No other news so I'll wish you all a good week

Byee xx

Anyone seen a little blue police box?...........

When I was little, back in the 1960's I used to always go up to my Nan's, early on a Saturday evening, I would wait there, whilst my Dad went and fetched my Mom, who used to work on the biscuit counter in our local Woolworth's.

I used to sit on my Nan's little black leather pouffe (which more than 50 years later is still as good as the day it was brought and sits in my little front lounge) watching their little black and white T.V. set - I used to sit and watch Dr Who, who used to take on the dreaded Darlek's (remember them and their dreaded monotone voice saying 'Exterminate, exterminate') Dr Who was the good guy and no matter what the Darlek's tried to do to him, after  a few episodes he  always defeated them and came out on top.

The situation at work,  is now getting worse and worse - we're an organisation, who don't make colleagues compulsory redundant is what they tell us - that's why 2 ladies who had a combined total of more than 50 years service have recently been made to go, although they didn't want to.

The dreaded Newbies, keep taking over more and more, what does it matter if the customers suffer, just think how many bright university qualified people we have working for us now and how many more could be working with us if only they can get rid of the older ones - you know........ colleagues with  years and years of experience  of knowing our service and our customers - that counts for nothing these days. Well not according to the Newbies.

They perminate through our new clinically white soulless office, on their kitten heels, with their Armani glasses and sharp business suits and don't they think they are something special and as they go you can almost hear them saying under their breaths when they look at us older ones (with all our years of experience) 'Exterminate, Exterminate!'

Hopefully by the end of the year, I shall know whether I still have my job and my career till then, my work and my ability to earn my salary is at the mercy of the Newbies

Where's Dr Who when you need him?!

Byeee