My house is full of plastic tut!

When I was pregnant I thought we would have beautiful wooden and educational toys which would fit seamlessly into our country cottage style house.  How wrong could I be?  Little J likes nothing more than a brightly coloured piece of plastic tut which usually takes lots of obscure sized batteries.  I need to teach that lady about style.

No where is the off switch...

My boy is back!

After 10 days my naughty little boy, Hobbes, returned last night. OH was out posting lost notices and found him on a garage roof a couple of streets away! He doesn't look like a cat that has spent a week on the streets but he was mighty hungry and polished off a bowl of tuna and a bowl of cat meat. Looks like he has been lodging with someone else, I want to find out who it is and pop a note through the door to ask them not to feed him etc as he is being looked after. But I suppose that is the nature of a cat....

He did spend all night curled up on our bed. I didn't get much sleep but I don't care - I've got my boy back!

Has anyone seen my cat?

My oldest cat, Hobbes, has been missing for over a week now. We regularly don't seem him for a couple of days but a whole week is quite unusual for him. I am hoping he will come back soon and check the cat flap every time one of the other cats come in but I am trying to prepare myself for him not coming back....

Sniff

Lilac is not a good bathroom look!

The bathroom is the first room we are tacking with the decorating. We tried several tester pots and decided on frosted steel from dulux. It looked like a quite funky colour which would go with the cream bathroom tiles and the duck egg blue towels.

Two hours later and the bathroom looks like a child's bedroom from the late 80s - not a good look! I hated it straight away but OH said it looked ok. Fast forward to the next morning an a phone call at work from OH saying he doesn't like it either!! The paint was a pricey £19 but I'll never be happy with it so we are going to paint it white for now. (the offending paint had been used up in the large computer cupboard). Photos to follow when the camera is charged up!

Sunday - progress report and the weekend round up!

I feel like I've had quite a productive weekend and have achieved quite a lot (not much resting or pampering was done...must factor that in next weekend!). Here is a run down of what has been going on (Blogger seems to have an aversion to bullet points this morning!).

Friday
Food shopping - Done
Washing - Done
Undercoat window ledges in two new bedrooms - Done (On Sunday!)
Sort out paperwork (the pile had been building since the work started 11 weeks ago - will probably find some horrendously overdue bill lurking somewhere!) - Done
Move my craft stuff out of my chest of drawers and into my Ikea shelving unit - Done
Work on mood boards if there is time - Done

Saturday
Prime plaster in two new bedrooms - 1 bedroom done
Washing - Done
take spare lights and tile trims back to Wickes (just need to find that pesky receipt!)
Get another tin of primer, sandpaper and tester pots from B&Q (don't forget to use credit note!) - Done
Sort out old paint in the shed and see what we can use - Done
Work on mood boards

Sunday (definitely NOT a day of rest!)
Undercoat living room woodwork - Done
Take cardboard which wont fit in the recycling bin to the recycling point at the supermarket - Can't do cardboard recycling at Morrison's so I'm going to have to wait until Friday when our recycling bin is emptied
Ironing - - Done
Clean house up!! - Done

Not to much stuff left in red still to be done and we did do some stuff which wasn't on the list:

• Bathroom ceiling painted
• Moved dining table and welsh dresser into kitchen
• Undercoated cupboard door in new bedroom 2

The builders have now finished until we get the electric cable moved so we can crack on with painting and decorating.

Just one small job for tonight - Give cupboard ceiling first coat of white paint

Saturday - Progess report

Have had a fairly productive couple of days...let's hope it continues on Sunday!

Friday

• Food shopping - Done
  


• Washing - Done


• Undercoat window ledges in two new bedrooms
  


• Sort out paperwork (the pile had been building since the work started 11 weeks ago - will probably find some horrendously overdue bill lurking somewhere!) - Done


• Move my craft stuff out of my chest of drawers and into my Ikea shelving unit - Done


• Work on mood boards if there is time - Done

Saturday

• Prime plaster in two new bedrooms


• Washing - Done


• take spare lights and tile trims back to Wickes (just need to find that pesky receipt!)


• Get another tin of primer, sandpaper and tester pots from B&Q (don't forget to use credit note!) - Done


• Sort out old paint in the shed and see what we can use - Done


• Work on mood boards

Friday - progress report

A fairly productive Friday evening. Lots more to be cracking on with though...just off to undercoat my window ledges...

Friday

• Food shopping - Done
  


• Washing - Done
  


• Undercoat window ledges in two new bedrooms - not done yet!!
  


• Sort out paperwork (the pile had been building since the work started 11 weeks ago - will probably find some horrendously overdue bill lurking somewhere!) - Done
  


• Move my craft stuff out of my chest of drawers and into my Ikea shelving unit - Done
  


• Work on mood boards if there is time - Done and may have decided on the colour for the bathroom!!
  

To do this weekend

The house renovations are nearly done (still got a pesky electric cable to be moved and Eon are being painfully slow about the whole thing! grrr) so we can start to piece our house back together and stop living out of one room. To keep me motivated here is this weekends to do list...

Friday

• Food shopping


• Washing


• Undercoat window ledges in two new bedrooms


• Sort out paperwork (the pile had been building since the work started 11 weeks ago - will probably find some horrendously overdue bill lurking somewhere!)


• Move my craft stuff out of my chest of drawers and into my Ikea shelving unit


• Work on mood boards if there is time

Saturday

• Prime plaster in two new bedrooms


• Washing


• take spare lights and tile trims back to Wickes (just need to find that pesky receipt!)


• Get another tin of primer, sandpaper and tester pots from B&Q (don't forget to use credit note!)


• Sort out old paint in the shed and see what we can use


• Work on mood boards

Sunday (definitely NOT a day of rest!)

• Undercoat living room woodwork


• Take cardboard which wont fit in the recycling bin to the recycling point at the supermarket


• Ironing


• Clean house up!!

If I get 75% of this done I'll be chuffed!

The wrong colour grout

Just when I thought we were on the home straight with the (never ending) building works the builder hasn't listened to what I asked and used the wrong colour grout in the new bathroom. It is no problem to change it but it will put the work back another day and the toilet can't go in until Saturday. I am completely fed up with the whole thing now and told them to carry. I might regret it a few months down the line but I just want my house back!!!

Pimp my house - update 5 July 09

What can I say? 6 weeks in and the house is still like a building site. No water, electricity or gas and so much rubble and mess on our driveway that it is getting hard to see the (now damaged) front door. I know it is going to look great when it is finished but the whole thing is a bit depressing at the moment.

I purchased some rather lovely duck egg blue towels for my lovely and soon to be upstairs bathroom. It is still and empty shell at the moment but the plaster is coming next week (we have been waiting for him to get back from his cruise - what credit crunch??) and then the tiles can go on - hurrah! Progress will be made.... (many) more house flavoured updates to follow...

To piano or not to piano?

As the house renovations are drawing to a close my mind has turned to what to do with the extra space we are left with. By creating a larger kitchen we are going to move our dining table into it leaving quite a bit gap in our living room. I want to create a cosy reading/knitting/chilling area but then I got the idea of having an upright piano in this space.

I can't play a piano or know anyone who does but I really, really want one - crazy huh? To add to my pain there is one for sale on eBay and is only a couple of miles away from us. I keep checking the bidding but no one seems to want it except me. Oh what shall I do??

Pimp my house - day zero

Too many plates spinning...

Exams first week in June. Builders start 18 May for 8 weeks.

Madness....

Kirstie's homemade home

I am officially in love with this programme. Despite the press slagging it off for being twee I loved every minute of it and cant wait to she the rest of the series. This has reignited my interest for interior design - as Kirstie says 'If you love it have it in your home'. My philosophy indeed. As much as I love Grand Designs and the like many of the interiors do end up looking open plan and essentially the same to me.

I'm just off to run up a quick cushion cover...

A new bathroom - the saga begins

First we were going to move our bathroom upstairs but a hefty quote (£5k!) and digging up a concrete floor downstairs made up rethink the whole situation.

The house came with planning permission which expires in 2010 so we have taken the plunge and have got 2 plumbers coming round to give us quote not only to move the bathroom but to build a second floor extension too! Ekkk - this could be expensive!

Watch this space for updates!

Do you need planning permission to move your bathroom?

We have decided to move our bathroom from downstairs in the extension to upstairs into the box room. We have already started stripping woodwork, wallpaper and generally turning the place upside down only to hear a rumour that we might need planning permission!

It had never crossed my mind to be honest. I quickly popped an email to the planning department and have an agony of a 10 day wait before they reply to me IN WRITING! How old fashioned??

UPDATE 29/03/09 - Still no word from the council but have asked around at work and apparently I just need the work signing off by the council once it has been completed. No excuses now!

Charity shops are the best!

Just look at these cute little pillows I got from our local charity shop for £3. They don't appear to be washable so I'll have to keep little muddy cat paws away...

Mrs M
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