Sarah and Guy Build A Shed

On Monday we varnish the floor again.  And we have our first badger squabble – by the time we’ve hurtled out of the comfy sofa where we’re sitting after varnishing, they’ve been spooked (probably by us hurtling to the window) and gone…  but definitely two badgers squabbling.  Later in the evening one returns, looking a bit dishevelled… and he doesn’t like apples.  Fussy bugger. On Tuesday we varnish again – that’s 3 coats, and they’re still just soaking in.  I say I’ll do one more Wednesday morning before work, then we can paint the walls in the evening.  It’s still soaking in, so we buy more varnish, and do another coat instead of painting.  And then I do another coat before work on Thursday.  We think it’s 7 coats in all, and it looks lovely.  Eventually.  Then we cover it all up again to do the painting… The colour is called ‘Cookie Dough’ and it is exactly like the same colour as our chocolate cake mixture.  The paint is...

The early part of the week is rather full of cakes… There’s a Horrid Henry cake for a little girl, and we start work on a 60th cake for two friends.  However, Tuesday night is enlivened by watching a badger in the garden… we have learnt that they like apples, so I roughly chop an apple up and put it out with the peanuts, dried fruit and Madeira cake remains (yes, I know, sounds like a fab meal for a human).  Very soon a badger appears and, as the utility room door isn’t shut properly, I open it a fraction and listen to him eating.  Fantastic chomping and slurping noises!  I push the door open further as he seems unconcerned and before long I’m standing in an open doorway watching a badger thoroughly enjoying his dinner only ten feet away.  Amazing! I have a good plan for Valentine’s Day.  It goes something like this: 1.  Get home very early (before Guy comes round) and wrap presents. 2.  See Tree Surgeon (coming at 4.30) with Guy. 3.  ...

On Monday night we do cake stuff, on the basis that the plaster is still drying out in the front room so we can’t mist coat it yet… we have a fairytale castle cake to do for Friday, so we prepare the turrets.  Very pretty.  Very unshedlike. By Tuesday the plaster is beautifully dry – and even looks smooth! We mist coat the whole of the front room, as I have a day off on Wednesday and can paint the ceiling – Dave the Tree Surgeon is coming to chat with us about the beech.  Except by Tuesday evening he no longer is coming, having cancelled.  I’ll have my day off anyway! So on Wednesday I have a lie in till, ooh, at least 7.30 and then spend a gentle day painting… first the ceiling in the front room, then all of the back room.  Then mum comes round so I have a break, then I re-do the front room ceiling, then the back room again.  The storage area is white (white was cheaper than ‘Magnolia’) and by the time I stop I have something akin to snow blindness an...

On Monday, somewhat unexpectedly since he’d said ‘Thursday’, Derek the Dab turns up and finishes the front room plasterboarding.  And, even better, he supplies free plasterboard - bargain!  We don’t ask any questions… He’s now finished, so we can crack on with the plastering at the weekend – too strenuous a job for an evening after work! On Tuesday we Nitromors the pews again.  We’re getting there, and there’s still no actual scrubbing or manual labour involved – we dab the stuff on, wait 20 minutes and gently lift it off.  MUCH better than floorboards. On Wednesday and Thursday we switch from DIY to cakes and complete a cake for Sheelagh’s daughter’s 40th – she’s into ballroom dancing, so we call this one ‘Strictly Cake’. At the weekend, we plaster.  The plan is to do both the ceilings (yes, before the walls, told you we’d learnt) on Saturday, then the other three walls on Sunday.  We’ve sussed out the best method – we mix the plaster, then I sh...