Miscellaneous DIY Projects (or bits of jobs)

[PanBiker]

I took the gate off yesterday and sanded it down. I did it with a sanding disk on the drill and took the opportunity to ease and odd tight spot. I temporarily rehung it last night and my easing's have done the trick. Gave it a first coat of timber preserver. It's blue like the gate and shed was before but a lighter shade. I have just wire brushed the outside of the back yard wall which is stone painted in white. Sally is going to repaint that, its amazing where the moss can get a hold and grow from.

[Big Kev]

Good stuff, it was proper outdoor DIY weather today, not that I did any. I washed the car, the birds seem to use it for target practice.

I made a start towards decorating the dining room, I've been to The Range in Skipton and bought some wallpaper, paste, paint and some new roller heads. Picked up some primer/undercoat from Screwfix which is just around the corner. Merritt and Fryers tomorrow for some 6km MDF, cut into 100mm wide strips, for the faux (the current buzz word for fake) panelling up to dado height. The wallpaper is a teal and gold pattern with peacocks, this will be above the dado up to picture rail and anything above that will be matt brilliant white. Skirting, dado rail, frames and doors will be gloss white and the faux panelling is a dark ivory silk emulsion (this matches one of the colours in the wallpaper). I'll be giving the MDF a good few coats of primer/undercoat to make sure the silk emulsion sticks properly.
No firm decision on flooring yet, it's a toss up between antique oak or walnut laminate. I'm leaning towards the oak as I think it'll blend in with the Indian hardwood dining and coffee tables.

Paper and paint samples

[PanBiker]

A closer look at the gate while temporarily hung told that the top rail was not sitting flush with the gate post. No good for an auto close latch so I remedied this before its second coat of paint by cutting a small piece out of the stop rail in the gate post that was causing the problem. Gate now swings freely and will be fine for its new closing furniture. I gave it it's second coat of paint today, a better day for it actually with a mostly cloudy sky. Rehung now with some new screws and ready for the fixings. I will check if the lads have what I want down at Merrit and Fryers tomorrow.

Sally has painted the outside wall and we have had to wash the cat, (which she didn't like)! serve her right for deciding to lay down next to the newly painted wall being nosey. She had the full length of her tail coated and some on her rear quarter. Water based for cleaning the brushes so a good damping down and a brush down sorted her although she took the hump for a while. Wall might need touching up in an odd place, will have a look tomorrow

[Stanley]

What's the deal with Merritt and Fryer's Ian, Back to normal counter service?

[Big Kev]

It was counter service when I went last week, there's a one way system in place.

[PanBiker]

As Kev says, a one way system. In through the side door, through the workshop and out via the front door. That way round as there is more room to distance if you have to wait.

[PanBiker]

Went down to Merrits and they didn't have the auto close latch that I wanted. The young lad that served me didn't seem to know what I meant.

Back up Butts and over to Redmans, Colin of course knew exactly what I was after and he had a choice of anodised or powder black versions of the latches. £2.50 and job done.

[Big Kev]

Aye the young lad, with the ring through his nose, spoke to me on the phone earlier today. I'm presuming he's fairly new to the job as he didn't know what 6mm MDF was or if they had any.

[Stanley]

That doesn't sound very reassuring Kev.....

[PanBiker]

Time before when I went, Mark was still behind the counter. Whether that was part of a hand over period I don't know. I suppose with the nature of the business, especially the small stuff, learning where it is all stored will be a bit of a challenge. No excuse for 6mm MDF though, it's rather self explanatory. I'll let him off the self closing gate latch, Colin knew exactly what I meant.

[Big Kev]

Decorating has recommenced following the break for work. Picture rail, dado, skirting and door frames have been primed, undercoated and glossed. The majority of the panelling has been stuck to the wall and will be completed tomorrow. A Tapas tea and a bottle of Cab Sav interrupted play, it's feet up in front of the tele for the evening now to give the 'instant grab' adhesive time to set ( that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it).

[PanBiker]

I have nearly finished emptying the bedroom of it's furniture. One set of drawers into another bedroom, wardrobe on the landing along with another set of drawers and the bed frame which involved taking the end cross lath's off to get at the fixings for the legs which needed to come off along with the headboard to save space. There is a small gap left on the landing, clear of the bedroom door that will accommodate the mattress. That is currently on the last remaining bit of carpet in the bedroom so we will be at Japanese level for the next two nights. Just my bedside cabinet then and the last bit of carpet and it will be clear for the fitter. We are told we have the second slot on Monday so it should be about 10.00am to 10.30, plenty of time to shift the remainder and run over the room with the vacuum. I'm ready for a sit down though like you Kev.

[Stanley]

The thought of activities like those brings me out in a cold sweat......

[PanBiker]

Ha, by the time I had finished yesterday I was the opposite and in a hot sweat

[Big Kev]

All the 'fake' panelling is cut, stuck to the walls and a first coat of paint. Still need to strip and paint a couple of doors but they will be done out in the garden, there may be wallpapering tomorrow.

[chinatyke]

...there may be wallpapering tomorrow.

I went into a cafe last month and the wallpaper was a simple diagonal pattern with 3 small floral motifs per width and only 9-12"" repeat. No attempt had been made to match the pattern from length to length. It ranked with the worst I'd ever seen. It reminded of a story one of my workers in Ramsbottom told me many years ago. They called themselves handymen and took on a job of wallpapering a bedroom for a lady. Trouble was, neither had ever done any papering. They ended cutting the paper into 2 or 3 feet manageable lengths and pasting it to the wall. Jack admitted it was a mess and all they had done was waste the lady's wallpaper. He told Dick they couldn't possibly charge her. Dick called the lady to view the room and said "isn't that nice and clean looking? Such an improvement, that will be three quid." The lady paid up! This was the same team who shortened an outside lavvy door by sawing a few inches off the bottom. But they had the door upside down and sawed off the top. So they sawed some off the bottom and nailed the two pieces back on to the top!

[Big Kev]

There are probably still people out there charging for jobs like that. I bought a 4ft x 3ft picture frame so a process drawing could be put on the office wall, I got fittings for it and gave it to one of the 'highly trained' operators on the shop floor. He drilled two holes through the frame, completely ignoring the brass fittings I'd given him, split the frame and broke the glass. I wasn't best pleased and ended up doing the job myself once I'd bought a new frame.

[Big Kev]

Getting there, the strips of MDF stuck on the wall have had a couple of coats of 'seashell' silk emulsion. Wallpaper tomorrow then I'm off to Keighley to look at some textured oak laminate flooring, there's a flooring warehouse with a sale on

[PanBiker]

Rest of our carpet is up and all taken to the skip. I cut it down to manageable widths, cant understand folk that struggle with full sized old carpets. Ours fit into two bin liners. No carpet under the mattress now but Sally found an old fitted sheet that had been consigned to dust sheet use. We fitted that to the bottom of the mattress after vacuuming thoroughly. Its back down now waiting for the last night of Japanese sleeping arrangements.

Clothes out ready for morning and just the mattress and my small set of drawers to take out which will be the last thing. Not much room to swing a cat on the landing but the carpet fitter should be able to manage if he utilises the bathroom for a turnaround at the top of the stairs. We have told him to come to the front as it will be the easiest access from there. I will move my bike to make a bit more room.

[Stanley]

I'm intrigued Kev, what's the shelf like object on the wall in the picture?

[Big Kev]

I'm intrigued Kev, what's the shelf like object on the wall in the picture?

It's for the granddaughter clock, the floor has quite a bit of spring in it and it upsets the pendulum.

[Big Kev]

I've made a start

[chinatyke]

Nice!

[Big Kev]

Nice!

Thankfully the same response I got from 'er indoors

[PanBiker]

Carpet fitter came to ours this morning and it took just less than an hour to do the job. Our bedroom footprint is basically a square with only one remaining alcove from the old fire range, the stone flag is still in place for the hearth to sit on. I have got the bed back in and rebuilt it but it is propped up along with the mattress out of the way to get the rest of the furniture back in. My chest of drawers is back in place. Extensions are back in place for the bedside lamps and clock etc. Both double sockets in the room are in the wrong place for our usage now so we have to use an extension. With hindsight, (a wonderful thing) I should have moved the sockets about when we had the loft conversion done when the staircase went in which runs at the back of our room but I had enough to do at the time. Wardrobe will be next back into the alcove, then Sally's dresser, then I can put the bed back in place.