bobble

Tuesday night we had the fireplace man ’round*. We thought we’d replace the old over-painted wooden mantles with stone ones if our budget allowed.

The Fireplace man scratched the surface of the three fireplaces to ascertain what we’d be taking out: wood, rotten wood or some kind of 1950s stone / tile.

And lo, we scratched, and up came perfect grey carrara marble. We have three marble fireplaces.

I nearly fainted.

*Meant to be agreeing what wood burning stove to get – we picked this one, the F40.

Done. For now.

In other news I have no windows in the second bedroom and its en-suite and it’s raining. Damn.

I’ve never painted furniture before. When I lived in a 1960s flat the words “Shabby Chic” struck fear into my black London heart. Now we’ve gone and done it and painted something.

Our new TV cupboard, formerly the bottom of a Victorian pine dresser we bought on eBay. (Next is the small hanging armoire we bought for the bedroom. The main armoire is already painted and contains lovely shelves for our folded clothes.)

I still need to wax the cupboard to preserve the painted finish (which being acrylic isn’t one tenth as durable as gloss paint and scratches if you merely look at it) with clear furniture wax. Then we will line the drawers and the inside with the same pattern wallpaper we are using in the sitting room.

Before (eBay pictures):

As you can see it was quite orange pine but had lovely bones and the door panels match the architecture of our sitting room really well. It is also huge. The bottom and middle shelf will contain all our technology and the big drawer above will contain all the games controllers and most frequently played games and DVDs.

During:

Firstly we primed and undercoated after a bloody good sanding. I now have muscles like popeye. Then M drilled six large holes in the back for cables to go through with a kitchen door hinge maker attachment. Cool.

What you can mainly see here are the doors (which are not attached) which are painted like the rest of the cupboard in Paint & Paper Library Wattle IV. The wallpaper is Cole & Sons ‘Woods’ in the green-grey colour way with white trees. We’re using the same paper on the chimney breast and the rear wall. The rest of the rooms walls will be in Wattle III and the painted woodwork and shutters in Wattle II. Finally when we get around to painting the ceiling that will be in Wattle I.

Our electricians are now gone for two weeks until we get the builders in. It seems after inspection on Friday afternoon that our lath and plaster ceilings will not take the weight of the chandeliers and the current light fittings are not screwed into a beam. Scary. The builders will have to reinforce the centre of the kitchen and sitting room ceilings without bringing the whole lot down so we can install our lighting. I vetted (after our previous builder experience) a company on Friday to do the job and was very happy with them. They should quote me – hopefully happy – this week.

Better get on, the joiners return tomorrow for the rest of the week and the fireplace man is coming to talk stoves.

Today is day two of the electricians and day one (of five) of the joiners.

Our excellent carpenter / joiners are refurbishing all of our sash windows so that they:

* actually open
* have working locks
* are rot free
* are draft proof
* look smashing

They are starting with the sitting room bay which is enormous. It’s very weird to not have any windows in at all, I can see and hear the whole street and it’s right there.

After the windows are renewed we can actually clean them – no more seagull poo! – and get the wooden shutters in. Then we will be toasty and have some privacy.

Today is the day that no teddy bears are having a picnic – as it is too fucking grey outside* – but the day I am having my electrics done.

I have made a list to discuss with my wonderful Aussie electricans. Look away now if this is boring to you:

* Fit New consumer unit and certificate
* Check supply to kitchen and upgrade if necessary to cope with new appliances
* Fit new LED low energy downlighters in the hall and bathroom (x 12)
* Change out ancient dimmers for new (x 2)
* Replace bathroom fan to new ICON humidity activated fan and change fan isolator position
* Change position of bathroom light control to outside the room
* Hang three antique chandeliers
* New socket for dishwasher.

That’ll do to be getting on with.

Tomorrow the sash man arrives.

* Walking past a pub in Kemp Town yesterday their blackboard said “It’s still Summer! (But only in our hearts)”