Renovation project - John's not well

Renovation project - John's not well

picture courtesy of
 https://www.askideas.com/25-most-funniest-memes-about-being-sick-images-and-pictures/

My flight home is all arranged the only problem is, John is not well, he has been poorly for a few days I have spoken to him every day and have been quite worried, I really panicked when he said he was going to go to the chemist as he felt so bad, this may not seem a big thing, but Johns French is not good, so to be willing to go the French chemist, he must be bad.

We have arranged for a friend to collect me from the airport, as I arrive home John meets me and he looks grey, the poor thing, I realise now just how ill he has been, he has hardly eaten for 5 days, he has had a terrible stomach bug, I want to get him straight to a doctor, but being a man, he will be OK.

The following day I spend disinfecting the house. He is still not well, but still won’t go to the doctor as he says he is not feeling as bad as he was, he has also managed to keep some food inside him.

I agree to give it another day, he starts to improve gradually, and we think he is definitely over the worst of it.

But he has managed to tile the floor of the little house, paint it and uncover the fire place,, which looks fantastic, but it is slow going for a couple of days, the good thing is that he is getting his complexion back and no longer looks like the living dead,  and he has lost some weight, so always a silver lining.

Renovation project - Family, friends, sushi and tattoos

Renovation project - Family, friends, sushi and tattoos

I have a week in the UK and we spend it together, I get to baby sit, visit the nursery, go out for dinner and cocktails, it is a fantastic week.

I also bump into a number of old friends by chance. One friend I have known since I was a teenager and she now runs a tattoo shop, I have had a tattoo, actually from when we first made friends that I no longer like at all, she suggests I pop in and she can do a laser removal, OK, here goes, it is done in no time and is not very painful.

Unfortunately the blue will  never fully be removed, so we look at new tattoos to cover the last bit, my daughter thinks I am having a midlife crisis as I want a large one on my shoulder. But I am now far too old to ever regret having it done, if I regret it in 10 years I’ll be nearly 60, so who cares.

I stay around and chat with my friend and catch up, it is hard to imagine she is a champion body builder, I still see the petite girl from my youth. (if you want to see her in action click the link Tamazine Danks) 

But if you are ever in the Cheshire area looking for a tattoo, I would always recommend Skin Creations, not just because she is my friend, but because it such a nice, clean professional place.

The week is going too quickly and it is time for a final dinner, we head over to Manchester for sushi and cocktails at Sakana Oh My! I have never tasted anything so good. The atmosphere and the surroundings are fab and the food is out of this world and the best part, its two for one cocktails!!!! Could life get any better?

But the time has too come to an end, we all head off to my friends, as she will be driving me to the airport in the morning. This is so nice to be able to spend time with friends and family, I am even persuaded to go on the horse and cart ride, it is hard to refuse when a 3 year old, a five year old and an 8 year old are all happy to get on!

But it is getting late and it is time for them to go, this is that heart breaking moment, it doesn’t matter how many times I see them, I physically feel my heart break when we separate, I wave goodbye and the tears start to flow, thank goodness it is still sunny and I have my sunglasses on.

Renovation project - Going to the UK

Renovation project - Going to the UK

We have had a great week with our visitors, after John’s family left; my friends joined us for a couple of days on their way to a holiday in southern France.

But now it is my turn, I am going to the UK for a week to visit my family, I am so excited I can’t wait to see my daughter and baby granddaughter again.

The flight goes quickly and once we land I get a call on the tanoy of the plane asking me to go to a member of ground crew, this is not good, I get off the plane and find a woman, she does not know what the problem is, but I need to ring my daughter. This would not be a problem, but I have no phone, John had managed to lose his yesterday and couldn’t drive home from the airport with no phone, so had mine.

I am ushered straight through customs and taken to a desk with the emergency phone. The poor woman with me is slightly more panicked than I am, it turns out that my daughter had a puncture on the car in the shopping centre and was waiting for a courtesy car, so could I get a taxi to her. Taxi booked and I am on my way. As I arrive I see her, my heart melts, I know it hasn’t been long but I still miss my daughter like crazy, then baby Poppy sees me, I hear her shout as she runs up to me and throws her arms round me, I feel like I am in heaven, not a car park in Derby.

We go for some dinner and relax while we wait for the courtesy car, I am just so glad my mum was with them, it really was a proper family reunion.

Renovation project - Huelgoat fair

Renovation project - Huelgoat fair

It is time to start looking at the downstairs room in the little house, we still have 2 large concrete steps from the old stair case, these have to be removed. John sets to with his lump hammer and kango and a couple of hours later there is a big pile of rubble where the steps used to be.

This is a dirty heavy job and once more my garden cannot be seen under the piles of rubble and rubbish, I look at it and dream of the day that I will be sat out there with my BBQ and beautiful patio, but we do not have time for dreams at the moment, we also have to get the house ready for Johns family who are visiting, they arrive later today.

The house is ready, and it is really good to see them.

That evening we go for dinner and take Johns nephew to the fair. This is a really little fair. And does not have the same health and safety rules as the UK does, we realise this when he has a go in the bumper cars, he gets in and we look for the seat belt, there is none, so as we are about to find another car, the fair guy kindly helps him to put his token in the slot and he’s off. Still he should be OK.

These are the bumper cars of our youth, when you were still allowed to bump, and did not have to go around in the same direction, he had a ball. And another go, he seemed to spend most of the time with 2 other little boys chasing each other around the floor, it is great that children can have fun, even with a language barrier.

Next we go on the shooting range, where I find out that I am actually very good with a rifle; I got 3 balloons with one shot! So it’s time to choose a prize, our nephew is 8 years old, the guy at the counter showed the prizes he could claim, and I have got admit I am shocked, he can choose a BB gun, BB gun pellets, a real knife, a little torch (which I later find out is actually a laser, oops) or a slinky toy. These really are not the prizes you would expect for a child.

The evening was great fun and the nicest part of the fair was the view, most of it was set out by the lake, could you ever wish for a nicer setting?

Renovation project - we have another bathroom

Renovation project - we have another bathroom

Today is one of those exciting days, we are starting on the bathroom, it is more exciting for me than it is for John as I get to see a whole new room being built but John has the fun of installing all new plumbing.

The sink unit fits perfectly in the little alcove in the bathroom, this looks so much better than had we just fitted it to a straight wall.

The shower cubicle fits in the space, so it is time to tile the walls.

We are using the same tiles that we used in the main house, mainly because they were on special offer when we bought them, plus I much prefer bright white bathrooms. Clean white never goes out of fashion and will always look good.

Everything is going to plan until it is time to fit the shower screen, the new walls are perfectly straight but the original walls are not.

This gives John a real headache as he has to cut into the wall to make the shower door fit properly. But once finished it is only noticeable by us, because we know about it (plus all of you who are reading this!)

Obviously even John has not managed to do this in a day; the bathroom has taken a few days to get in place.

Renovation project - Parapet wall

The stairs and newel post are in place, so now we need to decide how we are going to make the opening safe.

We had planned on having spindles and a handrail, but this would be quite costly as we have used all of the spare wood from the stairs. Plus it would not be very private for the bedroom.

A bit of head scratching later and we have decided to build a small parapet wall around the opening. This will be just high enough to keep the room private, but not too high that it will feel closed in.

The wood studding is put in place and plaster board added. Once finished John will use a piece of reclaimed wood to make a handrail. This will be stained the same colour as the joists in the room.  

This gives a great sense of privacy in the bedroom whilst maintaining the open plan aspect, again it is a case of waiting to see what the house wants you to do and not having set plans in place

Renovation project - Stair hokey cokey

Renovation project - Stair hokey cokey

The stairs are in place, but we now we have a new problem, the hole we cut in the floor is not big enough. This was the new hole John had made, the new hole that has had a new joist fitted, the new hole that was finished; the new hole that now needs completely changing.

The first thing is to make a new trimmer joist, luckily the piece of wood we bought for the (old) new trimmer joist was 5 metres long, so we have exactly the right length left for the new, new joist. Yes it is a bit confusing.

John puts some posts under the old joists as he removes the new one again and notches the new, new one into place.

You can buy metal joist hangers for this job, which is easier, but because we are keeping the joists and floorboards on show we do not want to see pieces of metal. To do this the ends of the joists have to be cut so that they fit into each other, this is a much older and more traditional way of hanging joists.

The next issue is the newel post at the top of the stairs. John has a post but no matter how he attaches it, it still wobbles slightly. There is no option but to take the stairs down again and cut the post in to the top of the stairs.

I cannot bring myself to watch this, as it is yet another of those moments where one wrong cut, destroys everything.

I leave John to it, until I hear him shout me. He has done it and rebuilt the stairs (yet again!) but they are not quite in the right place.

The solution is, if John holds the top in place, could I just lift the bottom and bounce them into place, now I don’t know if you have ever tried to lift and bounce a full set of heavy wooden stairs, but believe me, they are heavy!

I try a few different ways until we feel them move, another couple of bounces and they are all back in place. I feel like I am dying, but it can only do my muscles good (I hope!)

It really feels like we are doing the hokey cokey with these stairs, you put the stairs in, you take the stairs out, in, out and bounce them about, you do the hokey cokey and turn around, that's what it's all about (or so it feels) ad I bet you are singing now as well!

I go to have a look at the newel post and it is perfect.

Renovation project - How to build an en suite bathroom

Renovation project - How to build an en suite bathroom

Now the new stairs are in place it is time to decide the exact layout of the bathroom, it does make life easier when you are starting with a blank canvas.

We already have the sink unit and the toilet. The shower will not be one of the easy assemble cubicles as we want to make the most effective use of space. To do this we can build a shower cubicle and not have the room square.

John sets everything out to make sure of the dimensions and the sink unit fits perfectly in a space next to the door. The wall then comes in to where the shower will be.

This gives plenty of space in the bathroom without eating space from the bedroom.

Never be afraid to do something out of the normal, you may be happily surprised at the results.

I also want to have a built in wardrobe in the bedroom, this would fit perfectly on the other side of the shower cubicle. Our only concern is that it may be too close to the stairs and feel enclosed.

John starts to build the frame of the bathroom and we have a visit from one of our friends, Neil. We met Neil and Helen via the blog a couple of years ago and became good friends, we now give him the opportunity to get involved, I don’t quite think this is what Neil expected when he popped up to use the internet, but hey, every available hand!

We spend a nice time chatting as we hear Helen arrive; this could not be more perfect, so Helen goes up the ladder and gets involved (briefly). I hope you enjoy showing your friends and being able to tell everyone that you actually helped on this build Helen

John suggests we start offering holidays to people who want to get hands on, I’m not too sure, I prefer to drink wine and go out for dinner with people who come to visit!

Anyway, the frame is up and we still can’t decide on the built in wardrobe, I think we will have to wait until the stair surround is in place as tonight we are going out for dinner and wine, with visiting friends, yes I much prefer this option

Renovation project - How to build a staircase - part 2

Renovation project - How to build a staircase - part 2

This morning I received a strange phone call, it was definitely the wood delivery for the stairs, but we had trouble understanding each other, I am hoping that he is arranging an earlier delivery, but he keeps saying today. I try to confirm that he will be arriving today, but then it sounds like now.

I open the front door and there he is on the phone to me.

So the arranging early delivery consisted of, I am here, now.

Ok, no problem, I shout John and he and the delivery guy bring the wood into the garden.

This has messed our schedule up a little bit, as the wood is outside and the weather is not looking good. So today we will mostly be building a flight of stairs.

Building a flight of stairs is not the easiest of jobs as the angles have to be perfect to ensure that the stairs look right.

We try drawing on the wall where the rakes (side panel of the stairs will go) and all seems well, we have already worked out that there will be 10 treads, this is less than normal but the ceiling height is lower than normal, this was why we could not buy a set of standard stairs.

The angles are decided and John cuts the wood, we only have one chance at this and if any measurement is wrong we have just wasted over 500 Euros, we won’t get a second chance to cut.

The piece is attached to the wall and the second piece is cut.

The treads are cut to size. These will be attached by cutting small blocks which are screwed on to the sides, all is going well but as we work our way down, they are not right.

John rechecks the measurements and it should be right we have no idea why the stairs are going out of line.

It is all removed and we start again, this time John attaches a piece of wood baton to the wall to ensure that there is no mistake with the measurements and angles,

yet again, it does not work. Something is not right, it is one of those moments when you really do just sit and scratch your head, all the measurements are correct, the angles are correct but it does not work, this is where I personally would say bugger to it and leave it till tomorrow, but John will not stop, he knows it is right and he will make sure that it works.

It is at this moment that the realisation hits him, the rakes are slightly different sizes we had forgotten that the shop did not have 2 pieces exactly the same size, one is 10 millimetres higher than the other. This sounds nothing but when you have measurements that need to be exact, it makes a big difference.

John re works the measurements and has one slightly higher (the difference is so small it will not be noticeable) the batons are put back in place and the stairs go up in no time and work perfectly.

But

I do not want square ended stairs, as these will be open plan stairs it will look like a ladder, I want them to look really nice, John removes all of the treads and says that he can router the ends, this will give a rounded finish (similar to the skirting boards he makes) perfect, much better, but I also don’t want them looking exactly like the skirting boards, not a problem. He can use his hand plane to make them even more rounded.

This now consists of using the router to make the edge, then planning them by hand to make the edges more rounded, then using the electric sander to smooth them.

Once finished they look great and because John has had to do a big part of the work by hand, they really are handmade bespoke stairs. As we stand back and look at them, we are both happy and know we made the right decision to buy quality wood and hand make the stairs.