It’s been a pretty hard week all in all; okay blood, sweat
and tears is a bit of an overstatement but there has been blood, certainly lots
of sweat, no tears but an awful lot of stress.
I feel like I am climbing a steep hill and getting nowhere fast. Actually to be really truthful, I feel I like
I am fighting a loosing battle. Why? For
fucks sake, it’s a 1 bed flat and we have faced and conquered far worse. I feel
my age plus ten this week.
As I said, it’s been a tough week. I don’t why I feel that this project is so
hard or difficult for that matter. But
it has; Tuesday, Phil wall papered the feature wall. I used the same old black and white floral
which I used in number 11 which Phil moaned about but it works for me, it ties
in with my white gloss furniture and it is still current. They do the same paper in black to white and
I really wanted to use that but Phil thought that it would have been too
dark. It wouldn’t, it would have been a
good contrast with the white walls but it’s too late now.
After Phil wall papered, in record time I might add, we went
to IKEA to buy the laminate flooring. I am not a massive fan of laminate
especially in a kitchen but with an open plan kitchen-cum-lounge area I didn’t
want to limit my options, i.e. I didn’t want to have a firm boundary line between
the kitchen and lounge, I really wanted it to be a flexible area. If I had of laid
a ceramic floor area for the kitchen that that would have definitely defined
the kitchen area and I didn’t want that.
At the moment the floor space looks massive but once the furniture gets
moved in, then who knows.
We have been in the GP flat all week; I have got away with
only 2 coats on the ceilings but the walls have needed 4 coats. It’s been
nightmare because the walls, stripped of wallpaper have been so bad. The
plumber went in on Tuesday and Wednesday evening to lay new pipes and refit the
new radiators. He did a good job apart
from fitting the new bathroom towel radiator in the bathroom on an unpainted and
un-sanded wall. Obviously it needs to come off and Phil must phone him to sort
it.
Wednesday was a frustrating day in many ways more than one.
The electricians were in fitting lights in the loft and new sockets for the kitchen
and they made a right old mess. Phil was
hoping that he could get the lino up in the kitchen area but there was no
chance. I had already planned on taking
the day off because I was meeting Christine (ex boss) for lunch at half midday
but I had also scheduled a part of my day to help Phil with the flooring. It just didn’t happen I’m afraid, the rain
came down intermittently almost on the hour and we spent most of the day
dipping in out of Sue’ in different cars, mostly missing each other. I felt sorry for Sue, having both me and Phil
popping in and out of number 2 all day but she said she didn’t mind.
Lots of you ask me
off line how Sue is doing and the answer to that is she doing really well since she came out of hospital. The daily injections are definitely helping
and she is feeling so much more positive and more like the Sue of old. Her energy levels are back to normal and she
looks great. Sue’s surgery is scheduled for the21st of August and she will have
a 6 wk recovery period afterwards.
Talking of Wednesday and Sue, it was supposed to be my turn
to cook on Wednesday night, and because Sue has been told by the hospital doctor
that her body needs red meat, I had promised
to cook her my infamous beef in red wine with creamy mash. Sue seemed really keen but somehow in all the
flat frantic chaos, Sue offered to cook and I quickly and very gratefully accepted. Sue cooked a lovely veggie roasted lasagne with salad
with a balsamic vinegar dressing; not only did she do supper but she also
cooked a lasagne for Phil and I to take home.
Bless.
Phil wasn’t feeling none too bright on Thursday
morning. I let him sleep in until 9am
and then went to wake him up. The
electrician guy was coming round to test the electrics and we wanted to be on
site to meet him. We weren’t that
pleased with the electricians work on Wednesday. They fitted a new fused box which was fine
but they made a right hash of the walls when they were channelling out for the
new sockets. Phil could have made a much
better job.
On Thursday I carried on with the painting in the hallway
and the bedroom. Having already got rid
of the carpet, the underlay, the gripping and another layer of lino which was
not only in the lounge, but also in the hallway and the bedroom, the last job
before laying the laminate, was to get scrape up the lino in the old kitchen
area. God it was stuck like glue. Phil started digging it up but gave up after
an hour. I tried with a Stanley knife
and a scraper but it was so difficult that I too gave up. Phil laid 3 rows of the laminate at the far
side of the lounge but had real difficulty getting started with it. We used the same laminate from IKEA that we
used in our last house but they have changed the locking design and it’s not as
easy to lay any more. We went back to
Sue’s for lunch, we did a couple hours of work afterwards and then gave up and
went home at half three, we’d had enough for the day.
Yesterday we had left Overstone and went to MK in the one
car. Phil cracked on with the laminate
and I touched up with the white paint. I
stupidly changed paint halfway through painting and the finish in both the
bedroom and the hall was patchy. I spent
so much time touching up it would probably have been easier just to paint
another coat over the whole lot. Sue
stopped by in the afternoon to see how we’d progressed at the flat. She hadn’t been round since we had been
plastered and although I think we are still in a right old mess, Sue said she
thought the flat was looking good.
There is still so much to do. We really wanted to have a day off today with
it being the weekend but Phil wants to finish the laminate and we also want to
go and buy the skirting board and some new light fittings. The plan is to fit the new skirting on Monday
in readiness for the new kitchen arriving sometime on Tuesday. So much to do and so little time to do
it. Right now though, I must get
dressed, clean my teeth and get ready to get on the road. We have absolutely no food in the house so
our first stop is going be the bakery in Newport Pagnell to pick up a bacon
roll. An indulgence I know but it is the
weekend after all. Enjoy everyone and
have a good one.
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