Repairing the bathroom ceiling

We used Polycell smoothover on the bathroom ceiling to fill in all the holes. It goes on a bit like plaster but needs sanding down to remove tram lines. It's not a bad finish but does create a *lot* of dust.

At least I'm not the one cleaning up.

The garage roof

As we inherited a leaky roof on the garage/shed/workshop/man cave some remedial work had to be done.

Sealing the flat roof with a liquid rubber paint (two coats) was the easy part. Replacing the timber flashing all the way round was more problematic. Pulling all the tacks out of the felt without ripping it was a pain but Sonia's superior patience (well, superior to mine at least) proved invaluable. Once that was done, it was simply a matter of nailing up some new boards and painting with exterior gloss. It has vastly improved the view from our kitchen window but has unfortunately made the wall look a bit shabby.

BTW, how cute does she look in her coordinating work gear!

Oops!! Butterfingers.

Sonia singing to "Highway to Hell".

The fence Post (get it?)

One of our first priorities in the garden has been to replace the fence that borders the west side of the garden. The one that we inherited was only waist high and was beginning to fall down. Well, after a couple of false starts and more than its fair share of complications the new fence is finally painted and up. Our neighbours have been great, lending us tools and their assistance in putting up a six foot barrier between our gardens.

In order to prevent it looking too monolithic we painted it the same colour as the gate on the other side of the garden. Overall, we're very pleased with the result. Hopefully the neighbours agree.

Not too many pictures to this post as I managed to delete some off the camera by mistake. Suffice it to say it was a pain and it took much longer than it should have done.

Finally!

She's done this before

The bathroom floor

So, with the Garden now approaching a state which can be at least described as "tidy" and with the end of Summer fast approaching it is time to turn our attention to a couple of the highest priority jobs in the house. Starting with the bathroom floor. It has, up until now been bare floorboards over a brand new plaster ceiling in the dining room (!). It has to be covered.

So the first job is to lay a sheet of MDF over the floor boards to even them out a bit. This will prevent the floorboards eventually showing through the vinyl flooring.

Where the toilet goes. Very funny Sonia.

A message to future generations. We was indeed here.

Gemma is a messy showerer at the best of times. No, this isn't a fish eye lens, BTW.

So, though I thought the MDF and gaffer tape looked great Sonia insisted on a vinyl floor covering. I guess  that it also means that we can ditch the elaborate system of moving towels around the floor to prevent the plaster on the ceiling underneath falling off. Shame. Ebay was definitely our friend here. Buying the vinyl online rather than from a shop saved us well over £100.

First though, before starting any job around the house one must consult "the good book". By which I mean the B&Q manual of DIY. http://www.amazon.co.uk/You-Can-Step---Step-Improvement/dp/0500515514/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315320229&sr=8-1

Lo she comes with floor descending,
For once on floorboards pee did rain,

Sysyphus has nothing on us

A collection of before, after and during photos of the garden clearance.

Rose bush before

Rose bush after

Trip to the tip no. 1

Bums at work

Moving

Thought I would post a few shots of the move. Things went pretty smoothly all things considered. Especially as our movers never even turned up! After an hour of waiting for Hubert the mover to arrive I left a message telling him not to bother. Thankfully Simon was around to give me a hand with the furniture and Mum arrived from Weymouth to help with the cleaning. Which meant I pretty much got out of it. Maybe Hubert's uselessness was a blessing in disguise.

First BBQ! Note the "tools".

What have I done?

Stop goofing around and do

some work!

It all starts to arrive.

Mum cleaning. Bless 'er. 

The mess

Furniture arriving

Interior - Before

Some "before" pictures of the interior of the house. Some taken on the day we moved in and some taken on our second viewing.