Atrixa's Saving Diaries

atrixa

Thanks all! I've finally finished sanding the walls and coving, so I can get the coving freshened up tomorrow after work, then paint the light coloured walls at the weekend. I'm just waiting for the chimney breast wall colour to come into stock.

Friday is the work 'virtual night in' for my team. That's a good frugal win - no money spent on new outfits and expensive drinks out, just a bottle of wine and some crisps for me to scoff in front of the laptop! 

MovingForwards

That's great! You're powering through it and will get to appreciate all your work over the holidays.
Have fun on Friday 😊

Irenadler

Well done, you are nearly there, you can definitely feel you've earned your crisps n' wine, and put your feet up.... ooh, maybe even go for the more exotic crisps!  

atrixa

Coving is finished! The paint company were fab and the last tin of paint arrived today, so I can hopefully get the painting done apart from the trim at the weekend.
Today was a NSD, unusual for me at the minute!

MovingForwards

You'll find the painting therapeutic 😁

atrixa

Getting the painting done at the weekend was a bit ambitious, just cutting in takes ages and I needed a lie in!
I currently have the accent wall and the vestibule done with two coats. I need to do the rest of the living room in it's final coat of cream. It looks tons better already. There are some damp patches on the bottom of the chimney breast, so I'll have to investigate what's causing that. I'd also accidentally taken some sealant off around the bay window when I was stripping the wall paper off and when it rained heavily this weekend it leaked where the aerial cable comes into the living room  I've done a bit of an emergency seal on the internal and external bits and it seems to have dried out ok. I'll just have to keep an eye on it next time it rains. Got me thinking that might be what was causing the damp in the bay window if just a bit of sealant came off and it leaked that much. It's dried out completely since I took the wallpaper off and I used some mould remover on it and it seems fine now. The wallpaper was this odd stretchy stuff so might have trapped damp between the paper and the wall? Again, I'll keep an eye out. Those are the only remotely damp patches in the entire room which is a far cry from the damp 'expert' that I got in to do a survey who found damp on the whole of the downstairs walls using one of those prong things. At least it was useful for negotiating the price down.
Anyway, I've done the vestibule in a truly obnoxious bright yellow  It's nice and cheerful which is exactly what I was after.
Plan for this week is:
Tomorrow: Second coat of the cream
Thursday: Sand all of the trim and paint if I have time
Friday: Finish painting trim
Weekend: Scrub the place and put the Christmas decs up! I am so excited!
I'm just going to have a little vent about my landline supplier now. When I moved in here, I didn't notice that I wasn't receiving incoming calls for about a month and a half (I use my mobile more often) and it turns out that there's been a hiccup moving my line between my old supplier and the new one. I spoke to someone on Friday who said they should get it sorted straight away and they would give me a ring on Monday afternoon to update me. No one rang yesterday and I got a text message saying I had to get in touch with them as they needed to discuss the account. I rang today and spent 55 minutes on the phone to 3 advisors going through 4 teams who had no idea what was going on! Why they needed me to waste my time ringing them is beyond me! I'm still unable to take incoming calls after all of that. At least I don't use it often. I have broadband from them as well and that's working perfectly at least.

MovingForwards

Painting takes ages, unless cheating and slapping emulsion everywhere then cutting in isn't required 😉 
Good luck with the sanding, an electric sander can speed up the process and save your arms / wrists.
Sealing should have fixed it. You've just reminded me I was going to redo the seals on my windows!

What are we going to do with ourselves when the decorating is done 😯

Lodge a complaint, if you haven't done already and say you want the landline refunded until they fix it. 

You've definitely earned your rest after everything you have done, in such a short time frame too 🤗

Irenadler

You are getting there atrixa! Amazing what you find under the wallpaper when you start stripping back. I once found a load of kiddie drawings under bedroom wall paper, felt a bit guilty re-wallpapering over it! You know, little John's height in inches, silly cartoons, etc....

The damp on the chimney breast - if you don't have an air vent in it (i.e. blank wall/walled up fireplace) that might be the cause? Might just need extra ventilation. Could be a big job investigating that, i.e. start taking out the old walled up bit, checking the internal chimney, etc.... or, as 'simple' as putting a cap/hood on the chimney top to stop rain getting in, but, still leaving a gap for vent/air circulation.

Weird how some suppliers can't seem to get their heads around the fact that people actually do move house.... hope they sort that out for you soon.

Skint_yet_Again

Well done on all the diy Atrixa🤗 I had a similar problem in my spare bedroom where water leaked in through a hole after an aerial cable was removed. It made the wall under the window damp & the wallpaper peeled off. After using sealant to plug the hole the wall dried out & followed DF’s advice & sprayed with mould and mildew remover. Once dried it was painted with some kitchen & bathroom moisture resistant paint I had left over from the bathroom ceiling then papered with an end of roll of the same paper I had saved in the loft. That was a few years ago now and there has been no problem since. 

Agree with Ren your chimney breast may need an air vent or a cowl fitted. Hope you get your landline sorted! Have a lovely Christmas in your new home 😊

atrixa

Thanks all! I think the chimney is still completely unblocked (I have a gas fire and I can hear the wind going through it if it's especially strong. I might have to source a pair of binoculars and see what's going on on the chimney stack soon. Shame I can't ask to go into one of the opposite neighbours house and have a look through the bedroom window, really- would be a good view from there.
I'll be ringing the landline provider again on Monday and having a (polite) whinge. Surely setting up a line shouldn't be this difficult. I'll ask if they can refund me up to the point where it's fixed.
The lounge is finished! Christmas decorations are up and I can finally relax. No more decorating until the 27th, then I'll use the rest of my annual leave to start on the bedroom, then it's just the stairs and the porch to sort after that.
Got some Christmas themed bargains at A!d! today. I picked up a load of vegan frozen stuff to chuck in the oven on Christmas Day evening if we're still hungry. They didn't have any lebkuchen hearts though- shame, I love the dark chocolate ones. I just need to head to the shops in the week to get the Christmas dinner stuff and it's all done.