2014 - New Rules to Live By

Pennydropped

I've had to cave in and turn the heater on. Ds2's room was 16 degrees last night, and it was noticeably cold. So I've put the timer setting on. The heater is set to kick in for an hour in the morning just before and as we're getting up and in the evening just before and as ds2 is going to bed, so that they are not freezing at bath time.

I had hoped to get to the end of October, but no accounting for the weather, eh? It's supposed to be cold the next couple days, then warmer over the weekend and then cold again next week. So there's a possibility of a few days where the heater can be turned off again, thus saving a little money. But, in my experience, once the heater is turned on, that's usually throwing in the towel for the winter. :rotfl: We shall see what happens.

Big delay over the weekend on the dcs' rooms, as ds2 was very upset over furniture being moved in his room for me to get to the wall to patch up and prep the wall. So ds1's room is ready to paint now but ds2's is not yet. Best laid plans and all - I didn't get to B&Q Sunday and yesterday there was a school problem which resulted in me having to abandon my plans for that day as well. Today was never going to be a good day to paint - school stuff going on all day. There's a possibility I might be able to get ds2's room prepped tomorrow morning (provided nothing else pops up - just utter chaos sometimes, my life!). And Thursday and Friday are already booked solid. So that means a push to next week.

I can, however, still do the sanding here and there, as I can do 10-15 minutes here and there, whereas painting is more of a "start when you have enough time to complete the project" kind of thing. So I will continue to get sanding done on the bannister - getting very close to done! Quite excited over that!

Then it'll be time to finish up the paint on the stairs (and figure out a way to keep the dcs off it until it dries!).

I need to start looking into what to finish my dining room table off with. I was looking at linseed oil, however, I've been told that there is a high risk it will end up being sticky and not nice. So never having finished a table myself before, this will be a learning curve. What to use, what to use... time to peek into the "shabby chic" thread, I think. :cool:

Pennydropped

Argh!! Massive delays again. Right now, child home from school with illness for the next few days still. I've gotten most of the sanding done, just need to pick up some chemical paint stripper to get a few areas that are left, as the sander won't fit and it's not a good angle to get by hand (not to mention would take ages!!). The plan was to go get it today and get that done. But no. Sick child. So that's on hold now until first week of November. Hugh sigh of frustration, but I guess that's life

The bedrooms are as prepped as they're going to be at the moment. It's not perfect, and in a few years when they're older and wanting their room decorations updated to look a bit "older", then I will be revisiting the thought of paying someone to skim the walls as they are awful. I have spent the last week doing various DIY things around the house that keep cropping up, plus fitting in appointments at hospital and dentist and eye doctor (getting glasses repaired again for ds1), as well as patching up (and sanding) the areas of the wall that have crumbled as I'm preparing the walls to be painted. Some days I wonder how the house is actually still standing.

So a brief reshuffle to see what I CAN do while ds2 is home ill and then just keep moving on.

kbl

Hi Pennydropped, didn't want to 'read and run' as I normally do, just wanted to suggest a textured roller for painting the bedrooms would disguise the not-so-perfect walls? We used to have to do this in our previous house, and it worked fine. Also want to congratulate you on your commitment to the redecorating, wish I was this organised, it sounds like a lovely home. Look forward to hearing how the bedrooms turn out, have you decided to do the blackboard walls?

Pennydropped

Kbl - I wish I had read this yesterday!! I just finished painting the boys' bedrooms this morning. I did ds2's yesterday and ds1's early this morning. I still need to do another coat, and the trim, but I will do that next week when they are in school, as trim involves standing on a chair which is never a good idea with children running around! :rotfl: Everything here got derailed in a major way last week as ds2 came down with stomach flu Tuesday night and then ds1 came down with it on Wednesday night. So while normally I would have had Wed-Fri while they were in school to do more DIY, they were home and ill, so I literally got nothing done. But happily, they're all better now.


I still want to do the blackboard paint, but I'm trying to decide where to put it in their rooms, so I've just painted the rooms the colours they wanted (light blue for ds2, pale green for ds1) and then I can do extra work later on the areas I decide to put it on.

I have a long list of things to work on again once the dcs are back in school, including finishing the paint removal on the bannister. It's almost completed - I just have a bit left that will require chemical paint removal due to the difficulty reaching the area with the sander. Then I will try to sand it a bit by hand. Then it's on to staining and varnishing, so I'll need to see what the best things to use will be. I want a walnut finish to match the walnut floor. I also need to finish the two patches of stairs that are not painted white yet. I need to buy some more tape to mark it so the dcs know where they can walk and where they can't!

I'm going to dedicate some time today on removing those carpet tacks that are still on the stairs - one stair and the bottom landing mainly - but they are STUBBORN!! I will also be measuring and deciding on what I want to do regarding carpet. I keep flip-flopping back and forth between a carpet runner and the individual stair carpet mats. I'm not comfortable installer a runner, but I am fine with putting the individual mats on, so still leaning towards the mats. I will look online tonight to see what I can find and what costs it will involve. If I find something I'm happy with, I could order it and install it as soon as I've finished the stairway wall (which I am still trying to prep - need to finish the top part, but have to wait again until dcs are in school so friend and I can do the "balance on a ladder" thing to get to the top of the wall!).

I've decided on the wallpaper and paint I want in the dining room (finally), but now am contemplating where to put each, so it's still a work in progress.

I've also decided on wallpaper for my bedroom, although still a bit muddy on the paint, and tentative ideas as to where specifically I want the wallpaper. Again, a work in progress. I probably won't get my room done until after Christmas anyway, but I'll make sure to purchase what I need beforehand, so I can start on it when I'm ready.

kbl

I just love your commitment, I'm ashamed to say that I bought the necessary paint and wallpaper for my bedroom almost 9 months ago, and it's still waiting to get done Granted, we had a leak from upstairs which involves picking back and plastering a wall, which oh won't do until he claims off the insurance, but I know I have to light a fire under him to make him phone the insurance up, and I still haven't done that, we really are a matched couple, both as bad at procrastinating as the other! As I said before, it sounds like you're turning your house into a lovely home, where do you get your ideas from?

Pennydropped

kbl - where do I get ideas? I do a lot of browsing on Pinterest. :rotfl: Probably TOO much!! My house would be done if I was working on it more and looking on Pinterest less.

Yesterday I wallpapered on wall in my bedroom. I am hoping to do one more today. I've got the paint for my bedroom as well (purchased it yesterday), so I'll be all ready to go when the wallpapering is done. I prefer to paint when the dcs are in school, so am sort of holding off until Monday if possible. Doing any work in my room involves all sorts of furniture moving, as it's likely the most cluttered room in the house at the moment, but if I waited until it was decluttered I'd never get it done! So it's just "move it all to one side of the room while I work on the other side and move it back when I'm done." That's my strategy. :cool:

I've also been shredding old paperwork and tossing out old manuals and instruction books for things I no longer have. Wow. 3 bags full so far of shredding and miscellaneous papers.

I wanted to pick up the wallpaper for the dining room when I went to B&Q yesterday, but they didn't have it in stock. :mad: That's why I went ahead and bought the paint for my bedroom instead. I figured as I already had THAT wallpaper, I might as well do my room, and THEN move on to the dining room. I'll have to order the dining room wallpaper on click and collect instead later this week, so I can get moving on the dining room. I need to pick up stuff to finish the bannister anyway, so that will all be in one trip.

I'm having another whack at those carpet tacks again today. Tried yesterday and was defeated. But never say die, right? Locking pliers today says I have a good chance of winning this time. :rotfl: (or are they called a vice grip? can't remember - not NEARLY enough caffeine as I had decaf coffee this morning)

kbl

good luck with the carpet tacks, if you don't mind me asking, am pretty nervous about wallpapering, I know it's only our bedroom so it technically doesn't matter if I make a haims of it, but I'd still like it to be nice, so do you have any tips for a novice like me? If i left it to OH, it'd be slapped on any old how

Pennydropped

I'm really not experienced at wallpapering hugely. I did some wallpapering (with proper wallpaper) years ago in my first house, but that was years ago! This recent bout of wallpapering is with that "paste the wall" paper that I got from B&Q. I've been very very happy with that - just literally "painting" on the adhesive with a brush, then putting the wallpaper up and making sure it slides into the right place, and using my hands to make sure there are no bubbles or creases.

Honestly, I suspect someone with real knowhow would have a real "head-desk" moment watching me put up my wallpaper. :rotfl: But that's okay.

I did buy some inexpensive gloves (latex possibly? can't remember and the box is out in the recycling now!) in a pack of 10, so that I could refrain from getting it all over the place.

I wouldn't relish the thought of putting the paste on the wallpaper itself and trying to hang it. I've actually thought "Hmm... I wonder if I could make sure to get ALL my wallpaper from the Paste The Wall range?"

Sorry I can't be of more help in that regard. I'm a novice myself. But I think it does show that it's something that really anyone can do, if they put their minds to it. That being said, I'm not keen on one with a pattern I have to match horizontally either. I kept it with an up/down pattern, so that makes it slightly easier.

If it makes you feel any better, the adhesive should allow it to move somewhat initially, so it shouldn't just hit the wall and weld to it, so that gives you a bit of leeway in placement.

I've had a bit of a break today. I was feeling a little under the weather and stressed out over a number of things hitting at once. I've found 3 windows that the double glazing has failed on, and the house is quite cold in those rooms. I ran the heater longer this evening to keep the temperature more reasonable for the dcs.

I've so far wallpapered part of my bedroom and painted part of it. I have a small corner to finish painting (couldn't move the wardrobe the other day, but will attempt it this week to finish), and then one wall left to wallpaper, and that's my room done. Well, the basics done anyway. I even painted the skirting board (because it was RED! Who paints a skirting board RED?? So happy to see that changed now).

Then it's on to finish the bannister... and then the dining room. :eek:

kbl

Thanks pennydropped, I fear I won't be tackling the bedroom until after xmas, just getting over an illness, and struggling to get back to normal, saving all my energy for work tbh, but def have to tackle the house in the new year, there's so much needing doing, have been in here for the past 14 years, and did the bulk of the decorating before we moved in, scary to think how long ago it is now, it flew by. Have to read and run (to bed), just in from work and have a longer day ahead tomorrow, good luck with the rest of your room, and don't feel any way bad for taking a break, my last few months have been one long break!

Pennydropped

Well, another week of sick children. I had one home the last few days and now the other home. I admit I got a fair bit of cleaning and general organising done with my younger child home, as he is more the kind to simply veg, cuddled up in a blanket, watching a film when he doesn't feel well, dropping off here and there for short naps. My older child is much more high maintenance and requires more 1:1 attention, so I haven't gotten much done at all today. Except quite a bit of Pinterest browsing. :rotfl:

Fingers crossed he'll be fine tomorrow, and then it's back to working on the DIY for me. A trip to B&Q is in order, to pick up the chemical paint stripper to get that bannister done. So I can put the stripper on the areas needed, then pop up to my room to put up a strip of wallpaper while the chemicals are merrily eating away at the paint. Thursday morning I'm hoping to get the last bit of the stairs painted. I've got almost all the carpet tacks out except for 3 unbelievably stubborn ones, but I'm determined to get them out tomorrow.

Next week I'll be bringing down the Christmas boxes from the attic to go through them and get rid of anything that is either broken or missing a piece. I can see that I won't be getting my dining room done in time for the holidays, so I'm going to organise it all, slowly purchase the paint and wallpaper, and any accessories I would ike, than I will be ready to go right after New Year when the children are back in school. The wallpaper I have in there right now is dated, but neutral, so I could easily put some of the accessories in there now and spruce up the room a bit.