Thirty Six
The week starts well with the builders merchants delivering lots of bits of wood for the architrave and skirting while we’re at work. We get home and start measuring. We measure how long the architrave needs to be, add on the width of the architrave, measure, cut and put in place. How easy is that? Except when we put it in place it is two feet too long. TWO FEET!!! Obviously something has gone wrong in the measuring/adding up bit. We decide we’ll just plonk the wood in place and mark it with a pencil, and then try and figure out the angles. Luckily we do have a mitre saw otherwise it would be never-ending. Finally we get the hang of it, and soon we’ve got the door pieces cut to fit. Then we start on the windows, and I cut the mitres totally the wrong way, so in the end we don’t have enough wood. Bugger. Never mind, most of it’s done! We label all the bits on the back (LL for Left window, Left side, RB for Right window, Bottom, etc) and we label one bit of skirting BF (Back Fridge). We know what we mean. Because we were so crap at measuring and cutting, we don’t get it all finished, and do the last few bits on Tuesday.
Then we lay everything on the floor and paint or stain it – the back room is going to have woodwash, and the front room woodstain.
On Wednesday we do more woodstaining, and decide that it would be sensible not to try and fit them in place till Friday, when we have a day off.
And it’s easy! We glue and pin everything, and soon our windows look like proper windows. Hooray!
On Saturday Wyn the Wire and Mrs Wyn arrive to do more electrics… Wyn shows me how to wire a socket, and I wire sockets. Guy is doing the outside catenary wire – a wire stretching from the apex of the new cabin to the apex of the pool cabin from which we will hang the cable, taking power from the pool cabin to the new cabin. Wyn does the fixing at each end, and I wire a light switch. There is far more to do than we had envisaged, but we do get the sockets working by the end of the day. We have POWER! And light! (If we plug a light in to a socket). HOORAY! The lights and heaters will be connected another day…
On Sunday we have a total day non-shedding. Which means we are at Guy’s house tarting it up – it goes on the market this week and we are, naturally, expecting a flood of viewings next weekend. We paint the newly plastered wall, pressure clean the slabs outside, make wigwams for the veggie garden, paint the wall again, throw unwanted bits and pieces into a bin liner, shove wanted bits into my car and rebuild the fake bed in the spare bedroom. Phew.
On Monday we have another day off work (this could be habit forming) and the stove is installed in the shed! It’s almost snowing, and it is VERY cold, so the stove is arriving just in time to keep us nice and toasty while we’re working in there… The flue was originally going to go up a bit, then right a bit, then up through the ceiling, but the boys decide it would be better if it just went straight up. One of them keeps looking worried – he’s in charge, and he doesn’t seem very confident.
The scary bit is when they cut a large hole in the roof.
The even scarier bit is when we see how they’ve finished off the outside – it is HIDEOUS. It’s been a long few days and maybe we’re a bit emotional, but we’re not particularly happy. Aside from the fact that it’s rubber and orange, they’ve left the bloody labels on the flue. Mmm, nice.
And the mess inside is horrendous. After they’ve gone I decide I can’t face it, then decide I have to face it, and it takes a good half an hour to clean up properly. At which point we notice that in spraying the flue black, they’ve managed to spray the wooden wall and the paintwork. A lot. We are even less happy.
In order to take a nice picture for Guy’s mum (who has kindly bought us the stove) we put a log basket next to it and light the fire. Then we sit in front of it with cushions and the dog and drink rather a lot of wine… We have a table lamp (on the Workmate) and the radio on – it’s almost like a real room. Although if we look behind us there are still electrical bits and dust sheets everywhere…
The boys will have to come back – the inside of the roof isn’t finished yet either. Hey ho.
Achieved: We’ve got working sockets! And a STOVE! WOO HOO!!
Work created: We’ll have to sand the wooden wall to get the black spray paint off and try to woodwash it again to match the rest of it. And repaint bits of the side wall too. Bummer.
Hours worked: All of them over the weekend. And Friday and Monday, which have been our days off. Other people get up late and go for a day’s shopping…
Purchases: Wood, wood and more wood. That’s a lot of wood.
Pressies: Guy’s mum hugely generously bought us the stove. THANK YOU!
Health update: For some reason I have given up sleeping. I sleep from about 11 – 1.30 then I’m awake through the night. I am SHATTERED! Guy is also knackered, but simply from doing so much DIY…
Plan for the week: Do less! And sell Guy’s house. And make a limousine cake.
Then we lay everything on the floor and paint or stain it – the back room is going to have woodwash, and the front room woodstain.
On Wednesday we do more woodstaining, and decide that it would be sensible not to try and fit them in place till Friday, when we have a day off.
And it’s easy! We glue and pin everything, and soon our windows look like proper windows. Hooray!
On Saturday Wyn the Wire and Mrs Wyn arrive to do more electrics… Wyn shows me how to wire a socket, and I wire sockets. Guy is doing the outside catenary wire – a wire stretching from the apex of the new cabin to the apex of the pool cabin from which we will hang the cable, taking power from the pool cabin to the new cabin. Wyn does the fixing at each end, and I wire a light switch. There is far more to do than we had envisaged, but we do get the sockets working by the end of the day. We have POWER! And light! (If we plug a light in to a socket). HOORAY! The lights and heaters will be connected another day…
On Sunday we have a total day non-shedding. Which means we are at Guy’s house tarting it up – it goes on the market this week and we are, naturally, expecting a flood of viewings next weekend. We paint the newly plastered wall, pressure clean the slabs outside, make wigwams for the veggie garden, paint the wall again, throw unwanted bits and pieces into a bin liner, shove wanted bits into my car and rebuild the fake bed in the spare bedroom. Phew.
On Monday we have another day off work (this could be habit forming) and the stove is installed in the shed! It’s almost snowing, and it is VERY cold, so the stove is arriving just in time to keep us nice and toasty while we’re working in there… The flue was originally going to go up a bit, then right a bit, then up through the ceiling, but the boys decide it would be better if it just went straight up. One of them keeps looking worried – he’s in charge, and he doesn’t seem very confident.
The scary bit is when they cut a large hole in the roof.
The even scarier bit is when we see how they’ve finished off the outside – it is HIDEOUS. It’s been a long few days and maybe we’re a bit emotional, but we’re not particularly happy. Aside from the fact that it’s rubber and orange, they’ve left the bloody labels on the flue. Mmm, nice.
And the mess inside is horrendous. After they’ve gone I decide I can’t face it, then decide I have to face it, and it takes a good half an hour to clean up properly. At which point we notice that in spraying the flue black, they’ve managed to spray the wooden wall and the paintwork. A lot. We are even less happy.
In order to take a nice picture for Guy’s mum (who has kindly bought us the stove) we put a log basket next to it and light the fire. Then we sit in front of it with cushions and the dog and drink rather a lot of wine… We have a table lamp (on the Workmate) and the radio on – it’s almost like a real room. Although if we look behind us there are still electrical bits and dust sheets everywhere…
The boys will have to come back – the inside of the roof isn’t finished yet either. Hey ho.
Achieved: We’ve got working sockets! And a STOVE! WOO HOO!!
Work created: We’ll have to sand the wooden wall to get the black spray paint off and try to woodwash it again to match the rest of it. And repaint bits of the side wall too. Bummer.
Hours worked: All of them over the weekend. And Friday and Monday, which have been our days off. Other people get up late and go for a day’s shopping…
Purchases: Wood, wood and more wood. That’s a lot of wood.
Pressies: Guy’s mum hugely generously bought us the stove. THANK YOU!
Health update: For some reason I have given up sleeping. I sleep from about 11 – 1.30 then I’m awake through the night. I am SHATTERED! Guy is also knackered, but simply from doing so much DIY…
Plan for the week: Do less! And sell Guy’s house. And make a limousine cake.
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