Tag: house

December 8, 2011
A year ago, I was discussing redesigning my lounge, resulting in the TV and sofa going in the smaller part of the room, leaving more room for dining/music/gameplaying activities around the table.

Having lived with it since February, I came to the conclusion that it didn’t work. I liked the “snug” aspect of the room, but came to the conclusion that the TV was simply too close to the sofa – especially when I replaced the old telly with a 42″ 3D beastie. For me it was marginal, but everyone who came to visit said “you know, your TV is too close to the sofa”, and gradually I began to come around to the same opinion.

October 30, 2011
Work on the bathroom was completed on Thursday, and I have been taking showers twice a day since, and loving it.

While the bathroom was out of action, for a week and a bit, I’d been having wash-basin washes, and, once the bath was re-fitted, a bath. A few years ago, I would have thought nothing of it. When I was young, I was brought up on a bath a week, and “a good wash” every day in between. However, since my 30’s I’ve always preferred a shower, and a flannel wash no longer does it for me – I know I am clean, but I don’t feel clean.

October 1, 2011
As of yesterday, the rear patio is laid. Still lots of stuff to do, including pointing etc., but I thought I would post a few pictures.

There will be a BBQ area with some seating behind the garage and a table with seating on the main patio. The gravelled area is going to have 3-4 large vegetable troughs, giving me approximately 6m2 of growing area.

September 29, 2011
Lots of stuff happening here, but I haven’t been finding the time to write about it.

I have a visitor staying with me – Sovay is a collie belonging to and , who are off for a few days. It has been pretty painless, apart from her thinking that my trying to get her to bed last night was actually a really fun run-around-the-room game. Am blatently using her as an excuse to get out more regularly for walks.

September 13, 2011
I have had a Tim and Nev here. They are doing a couple of jobs for me, including a complete bathroom makeover. However, while the sun is shining, they have been working on my garden, which is also getting the total makeover treatment.

A rough draft of the garden design follows. The garden is divided lengthwise into a gravelled area, for planting and a paved social area. Planting will be in raised vegetable tables/troughs for flexibility and ease of use.

August 7, 2011
April 21, 2011
February 3, 2011
My carpets were fitted today, along with floor covering in the kitchen. It all went well, the only minor hitch being that I need to get a couple of my kitchen plinths planed down, as they won’t quite fit over the vinyl floor covering.

The job for the weekend is to try and get myself straight, and get some furniture back in the house from the conservatory and garage. If things go well on Saturday, I may drive up to the FilkCon on the Sunday for the day, but it’s equally likely that I may just want to put my feet up. Sorry guys, but having lived with my house in a semi mess for a few months, I desparately want to get straight.

January 15, 2011
When my kitchen units went in, we cut the vinyl flooring well back from the base units, knowing that I was going to get new flooring in. Underneath were vinyl tiles, glued firmly to the floor, covered in a thick layer of grime that had crept under the top layer over the last 10-20 years.

At the time, I had a mop at it, but it was inground, and stuck in and around the edging tape that had been used to hold the floor covering in place – the mop wouldn’t touch it. So I thought “Oh well, I’ll leave it like that, it won’t be long”. So I have been living with an inch or so of grimy border around my kitchen floor.

January 5, 2011
A short while before Christmas, my combination microwave went up in a puff of smoke – quite literally. There was no actual fire, but a smell of burning, and a minor temporary smog.

I immediately unplugged it, and it has been sitting in the corner waiting for an opportune time to take it to the tip.

December 16, 2010
On my way back from the hospital, I popped into Currys, to look at their microwaves, as mine has recently conked out. While there I took a look at their gas cookers, as I intend to replace my old one, now that the kitchen is done.

I’ve been looking around for a few weeks, but hadn’t seen anything outstanding. But today I saw it – a Zanussi which was the right size (55cm), has a fold-up glass surface (so increases my usable counter top) and has a dual oven – the smaller top oven being so much more economical when cooking for one. An electronic timer, nice easy controls – all in all it looked perfect.

November 30, 2010