2 Down, 4 to Go

Catching up on the blog...

We hung wall paper--well, lining paper, which I painted. Paulster glossed the skirting boards and we also glossed the doors/frames & radiator...And the amateurs re-hung the radiators and it does not leak!!!

The gloss paint for the wood and metal work had a really, really strong paint smell. It took us two days to do all the gloss painting and the first night, Paulster was nearly overcome with the fumes. His technique slows him down a bit, but it sure did make for a nice finish.


When I was telling how stinky the gloss was, one of my colleagues told me of a little trick to keep the odor down...Half of an onion in each corner of the room.
Odd as it sounds, I did it for the 2nd day of glossing and it really worked.


So all the painting was done in time for the carpet to be fitted on Friday, and company was arriving on Saturday afternoon.

We also built beds and dressed the rooms...Gee. that was a short sentence, but let me assure you, it was not nearly that simple...Flat pack furniture that nearly shows everything you need to know and almost has all the diagrams that are necessary not to have to guess at a step or two.

Anyway, now we have two rooms of 6 that are as done as they were going to get before our first visitors arrived. And we couldn't be more proud that we were able to work our buns off to get it all done in time. We'll take the rest of it at a more leisurely pace.

Blondie and Drama's rooms are now just missing curtains.
Here's how they look.
Blondie's Room first.


Now for Drama's Room.


So that left us with several happy campers with lots of places to sleep. Blondie, Drama and SuzieQ trying out Drama's bed.


The family arrived and we had several days of fun. I missed out on some of the good times because I had to go to work, and then an emergeny trip to Dallas cut my visit with them short.
But it sounded like there was lots of fun had touring Wembley Stadium, Seeing Houses of Parliament, Riding the boat out to the O2 Arena, and exploring Ruislip.
Here's a picture of the whole fam damily! ;)


Hopefully, the first of many visitors to the new house!

Weekend of R&R?

If R&R stands for "rest and relaxation"...then NO. We worked our fingers to the bone this weekend and have surprisingly little to show for it. Pictures will be forthcoming, but we're racing against the clock to get bedrooms for 2 little girls all painted so that carpet can be installed on Friday, so that beds can be built and guests can come on Saturday. We'll have a houseful of people in less than a week's time when Paulster's sister and her 3children come to visit.

We're really looking forward to having everyone together for a week this summer.

Paulster sanded the walls in Blondie's room where wallpaper clung desperately to the walls for the last 10-15 years. And I primed and painted Drama's room. Paulster's up there now putting an undercoat on the wood skirting boards, window sills, and doorframes. Positively toxic. We're running a nearly military operation to get everything done in time for the carpet to be installed on Friday--and so that if they bash into things a bit, that it doesn't destroy the paint job...curing time.

Tomorrow night is hanging wall paper in Blondie's room. It's really "lining paper", which means that the wall plaster isn't in good enough shape to just paint...so you hang this stuff up and paint it. Oh, and I put the final 2 coats of paint on the bathroom. So apart from the cupboards [cabinets] that will be built in there and the skirting board and mirror...we're all done in there!

This has all been quite an adventure in DIY in England. I'm not sure I'd ever seen a radiator, much less removed one from a wall before I got here...but tonight, the amateurs managed to get the radiator off of Blondie's wall so that the paper can be put on and it painted. Here's hoping it goes back on so smoothly and doesn't leak!

The "Miracle of the Internet"-- from bomb-making to removing a radiator...you really can find anything you want out there!

We're already planning for the weekend AFTER next to be our true R&R weekend.