Champagne Lifestyle on a Lemonade Budget - 2021

sugarbaby125

The best birthday present for your son LL is that his surgery went well. At least he will be resting on his birthday and as he recuperates, so I am sure he will enjoy his new game. 

Snowy_Owl

helensbiggestfan said:

Son had his surgery late afternoon.  He's staying in overnight.  Phew.  Glad that's over.  Once a mum always a mum, no matter how old they are we still worry about them don't we. 😉

We had emergency c-section with GA with our toddler due to him getting in a total guddle with is cord - he has been warned about putting himself or anyone else through surgery!!!!

phoebe1989seb

At least the surgery is done and all went well, LL... I hope he makes a speedy recovery as much for your sake as his!

Champagne moments today -

It's sunny and warm, so more outdoorsy jobs can be achieved. DH and I spent a couple of hours working on it yesterday evening and got so much more done in a short amount of time than I can manage all day on my own 🙄 My excuse is that I have other stuff to juggle, lol!

Anyway, I've given the door its second coat of 'Rangwali' and have been repurposing the discarded paving slabs amongst the gravel pathways....very MSE, as not only am I reusing them but it also means less gravel is required 😉

Lots of the later flowering plants are blooming and we've an unidentified bird family nesting in the ivy cladding the old stone wall ❤️

Think it'll be dinner alfresco this evening 😃

needmoney

@phoebe1989seb Looked at your pics and love your colourful kitchen. I need my kitchen redone but doubt I have the courage to go all colourful.

The advantage you have is you and your husband can do most of the work yourself, my age and diability are against me now and finding good workmen is so difficult but I will get there eventually

phoebe1989seb

Thank you, needmoney 😄
We are very fortunate, it's true - I consider myself blessed to have such a talented DH 😍

Do you have any neighbours/friends that could recommend trades people for you to use? Obviously it's really hard generally at the moment with so many householders wanting work done on their homes so that waiting times, particularly for the best builders etc are lengthy....

Good luck 😃

needmoney

Just before the first lockdown I had a company disigner come to map out my kitchen, he got it all wrong, then the lockdown came and more lockdowns. since then I've been reading online about all the kitchen disasters so finding it hard which company to go with that's why my comment on you and your clever husband doing most of your work, that's lovley. It's said a fitter can make or break a kitchen.

I'm thinking this time I'll find the fitter before the company

Yes added to that everyone is busy now.

Yesterday I contacted a gentleman who did some outside work for me and was good to work with, he no longer does any due to ill health, shame a good to work with man gone from the workforce. You have to get along with workpeople.

joedenise

@needmoney - we found our kitchen fitter and he was brilliant when he designed the kitchen.  We'd already had a design done by W*ckes which wasn't very good.  My only criteria was that the kitchen must include a big corner larder/pantry cupboard.  I think finding your fitter first is a good idea.

phoebe1989seb

I agree that a good fitter can make an inexpensive kitchen look fantastic, whilst a bad one can make the best cabinets etc look terrible 🙄 It's just not the best of times to be finding someone right now....

I hope LL's DS is making a good recovery from his surgery?

The wet weather has rendered outside jobs a non-starter today, so I've been tackling some paperwork/plan drawing and putting the finishing touches to the preparatory work for my *piece of art* 😉 Painting on that will commence tomorrow if the bad weather continues as forecast.

Just clearing the area for our building project over the past few days has been a massive improvement though! The owner-before-last had laid it with basic unfixed slabs, but these were all uneven and scruffy with huge weeds coming through and over the three years since purchasing the property it has gradually morphed into a store for our various building materials and a place to harden off my seedlings etc....

It's actually a south-facing suntrap with some attractive features (enormous rambling rose, old rustic stone walls and great garden views) fully deserving of some attention and money throwing at it, particularly as it's one of the first things you encounter on entering the garden from the lane side. Till now it's never been fully appreciated/properly landscaped - but like just about everything here, that's all set to change! 

I can only imagine how champagne-worthy it will feel when complete... I can't wait 😊

needmoney

@joedenise

That's what I want a larder, the designer said I couldn't have one because there'd be a drop at the side but when the fitter came he said ofcourse you can and it would be ideal considering your condition. Like someone here said (sorry can't remember who) I struggle to reach up and down so will have an at a glance larder and drawers rather than cupboards.

I've read the W*ckes kitchen disater site so am staying away from them.

The designer was from H**dens I've also read their bad reports and pricing issues.

@phoebe1989seb

Your house sounds fabulous, full of charm and character.

joedenise

@needmoney I'm very short so can't reach the top shelves but in order to do so I acquired a caravan step from the CS and that fits nicely inside the larder cupboard, but of course I only keep rarely used things on the top shelves!