Patios and Paint Stripping
A Renovation Journal
Last week was pretty exciting so I thought it was time for a catch-up!
Monday
The guys are here laying the patio around the pool. They got the capstones on around the pool edge today. We’ve gone for an aged, slightly rustic look rather than new porcelain and I think it’s going to look great. It’s still a little bit nerve-wracking though. Once this is done there’s no going back!
I also finally finished sorting out our accounts today. I really need to keep on top of it so I don’t have to go back through the whole year.
Tuesday
The brick pavers are going down today. They will form a border around the pool. I got the idea from looking at Pinterest pictures and it’s weird to see it actually taking shape after planning it for so long. It’s been over a year.
I’m back in the Old Estate Office this week, now working on the bedroom. We’re restoring the fitted cupboards in here and it’s quite a lot of work. They’re covered in many layers of paint so I’ve stripped it all off and now I’m cleaning up the woodwork ready to redecorate.
Wednesday
More work in the bedroom. Today I filled holes in the ceiling where we took down the office strip lights. I’m onto stripping all the cupboard doors now. I’m using Klingstrip which is a little messy but not too bad to work with.
Thursday
While I’ve been carrying on in the bedroom with stripping paint and filling holes James has been refitting a window and door frame to the boiler room. This room was last used as a pool changing room but I think judging by the two large flues that are in the wall it might well have been a boiler room at one time too. Now it houses our new oil boiler and in time the hot water cylinders will be out here too. Basically, it will be a plant room of the machinery rather than the leafy sort. It still needs a new door as thanks to the leaky roof and broken gutter the wood bits were all rotten. We’re hoping to reuse one of the doors from the Old Estate Office. The main office downstairs had a weird double-door arrangement and one of them was a super heavy metal studded job. We’ve taken it off as I didn’t think the living room needed quite that level of security! James is seeing if he can cut it down and make it fit the boiler room.
Friday
Gardening day and the weather is lovely! I’m working on the asparagus patch because it makes me cry every time I look at it! Looking at Google Earth I can see that there used to be at least 5 rows of asparagus. It’s since just become a jungle of asparagus and weeds and it’s too much to keep on top of. I marked out all the main plants and strimmed between the rows to get them back. I can now cover the paths between the rows, saving weeding that bit, and then we will hand weed the rows themselves. At least doing it at this time of year I can see the asparagus plants!
Most of the scaffolding came down today too which is quite a monumental occasion. We can move on in the gym now that the lift is out of there and finish the bit of roofing over the living room window.
They’re still working on the patio. We now have a brick paver border and some patio slabs. It’s all looking good!
Saturday
I’m carrying on with stripping the cupboard doors in The Old Estate Office bedroom. I was thrilled to realise the door handles are brass under all the paint. I’ll be taking them off and cleaning them up so we can reuse them. I’m onto sanding the walls now which are a bit of a mess. A mix of old plaster, layers of paint, bits where it’s been filled with gypsum more recently and then new lime plaster that we’ve added. I’m never going to get it looking perfect but vaguely flat would be nice!
Sunday
We all worked together in the gym today taking the rest of the old plaster off the walls and cleaning up the floor. Andy the electrician is coming to do the second fix next week and then we can get the new floor in.
James and I spent all afternoon clearing tree stumps in the veg garden. We tried burning them but it didn’t work very well. Still too wet I think. We’ll try again when we’ve got some dry wood to burn.
So, a pretty busy week. I always think that this time of year everything speeds up a bit as we head towards Christmas. That’s fine though, I like to feel as if I’ve earned a decent break and I can properly hibernate for the week between Christmas and New Year. Is it bad that I’m looking forward to that already?!