Renovation project - It's time to start work in earnest!

Renovation project - It's time to start work in earnest!

We’re back, we have all the supplies we need (we think!) and it is time to start work in earnest now, obviously because we have been playing for the past eighteen months with working nonstop, but now we need to work even harder, we want to open the B&B by Easter!

But first we spend the day in bed after the long journey, so maybe the work will start in earnest tomorrow!

There are so many bits of things that need to be done that it is difficult to know where to start, this is difficult for us as I need to know exactly what needs doing and in what order and John has his list in his head and assumes I am a mind reader and should know this list, I don’t and we bicker regularly as I feel like I’m floundering and John feels like I don’t listen. It is difficult when you come from very different backgrounds, I am used to 'to do' lists and John says that he is used to doing things rather than talking about them (yes this comment really peeves me as well!!!!)

So after our rest we set too, John is going to finish tiling the kitchen floor, the main floor is complete but he did not do the edges or the up stands, we have the tiles and borrow a tile cutter for cuts that are required, unfortunately the tile cutter needs a new blade, luckily John bought one when we were in the UK for just in case.

The tiles are cut and added to the appropriate places, this is another of those little jobs that make a big difference. We had saved enough grout to finish the job, but when John goes to get it, he cannot find it anywhere; we know that we had some, but we start to wonder whether we have somehow thrown it out with the rubbish. We cannot grout the tiles for a couple of days so we still have time to find it.

Whilst John has been busy with the kitchen floor, I have made a start on the door into the living room, this had been painted a wood colour, but it is not in good condition, we decide to paint it white to try and keep the room as bright as possible, so I spend quite some time sanding the door, we also spend quite some time arguing about it, as I don’t think that I have done a door like this before and again, John thinks I should know exactly what I am doing, John starts it off and expects me to finish, I am still not 100% sure what I am doing or how to do it, but each time I ask it raises the stress levels, we need to come to a working compromise on how John explains things.

The door is all sanded and the small pieces of glass have some more putty added to them, where the wooden frame is cracked and split, it is then undercoated, once it is finished the decision to paint it white was definitely the right decision.