Wow, mission complete.... for now.

Ok, so it's been a while dear friends so this should be quite an extensive blog covering everything from the last few days.

Taking what seemed like forever has been the new roof/living room creation project that has, at long last, been finished.

After battling the roof on (see previous posts) we started sorting out the walls and fixing the ceiling.

Me rubbin'

Wife scrubbin'

Me in my anti-itch insulating garb

Insulation in.... mmm... toasty warm

Wife surveying the plasterboard situation (we ran out and needed 2 more boards than I'd calculated)

Lovely finished ceiling

Once we'd done that, we started battling with the decor. Filling holes, smoothing walls, touching up, repainting where necessary, you get the idea.

Once we'd done all that, and shamelessly stealing inspiration from Sue and Col's beautiful Littlehampton flat, we began hanging the art. It's mostly ours for now but there are a few pics from Grandad and some really old stuff that we've collected over the years.

Finshed without art

Finished with some art

The final result is a brand new room that doesn't leak and has been upgraded from windy-corner-of-the-house-to-be-avoided to living room/largest room in the house.

Father not quick enough to hide face, unlike wife

We're both extremely happy and extremely knackered in equal measure. Well, maybe a little more happy.

During the course of the renovations, wife had the wonderful idea of restoring an old 1930s (I think) school teachers desk and using it as a computer table.

Before...

During...

Et Voila!

Of course upgrading to a new living room left us with an empty room in the house which we have turned into a dining room.

No pics of dining room yet as the battery on the camera is dead. Suppose that'll give us somethin to blog about next time.

Yes, we now have a dining room, hooray. So we've been amusing ourselves by talking to each other in very plummy voices whilst sitting at opposite ends of the dining table (wonderful gift from friends in Brstol, Tom and Suzie). 'Pass the pepper darling, f'nar f'nar', etc. It's a non mass-manufactured piece from the Netherlands (where Suzie hails from) and fits beautifully.

The calm after the storm, if you will, feels kind of strange to us both. We do both have a few irons in the fire but getting to the end of another big project does feel a little bit like we've got to the end of a very short pier. We're kind of in freefall, trying to relax but feeling like there should be something huge looming up on the schedule to get started. I think it's because we're both wired that way. Spare time is so often spent planning the next infringement on our spare time!

So, hope you all like the pics and you'll hear from us both real soon.

Leftovers from summer

We were so tired yesterday we didn't manage to post the new blog. But the roof is finished, the ceiling is done, all we have to do now is paint the room and move the furniture in. The Big Project is near its end. Hooray!

Nearly there!

Danny is currently working his way through a clients garden so I thought while I have an hour or two by myself on the computer I'll write a blog.


Yesterday I had a really bad day with my back, which has been injured for a week now, and Dan didn't let me work too hard. So I picked up a camera and had a wander in the garden.

Majority of plants are done for this year but there is still a fair few flowers and obviously the fruit trees.

We have used lots and lots of plums and crab apples and we have made some jams and jellies and chutneys. Yet you can't really tell when you look at the trees. This years crop has been enormous.

Here's some pics I took yesterday.

Last one standing

Very busy Bee (there's a milion of them around the garden)

Where there's a pear there's a wasp

Nasturtions overtaking a part of the garden

Clematis flower

Lovely Pansy

Bee in flight

We need Cols expertise on this one

And again please Captain B

Crab Apple

Hope you enjoyed the blog.
Till the nex time...

I'll just pop up and finish the roof, won't be a tick...

Ok, so today I decided to finish off all the tiny little things that you have to do after creating a new roof. Fitting little strips of wood to hold down the felt, attaching a sticky weather strip, that sort of thing. I estimated about an hour so I thought I'd get stuck in around 9am and get it all polished off.....

One boring shot of a slightly pitched roof...

It's 8.15pm now and I've just finished. Still, the roof is set, dry, sealed and looks good as new so there we are. A few extra hours here and there and hopefully a good few years of protection from the elements.

Shiny new guttering and wood work

Tomorrow we begin turning a chilly ex-glass room into a warm cosy new living room, with plasterboards, wooden framing and insulation to boot!

Wife has been covering all the neglected household duties and has done a magnificent job getting us back up to speed with everything and topped off the day by baking the most amazing layered Polish cake I have ever eaten. It is called Karpatka (after the Polish mountain range Karpaty) and is basically a sweet yorkshire pudding for the base, lashings of thick vanilla custard and a top layer of the same sweet yorkshire pudding. When finished with a little icing sugar, the final effect is that of a snow covered mountain range (hence the name) and is damn tasty as well. Think rugged vanilla slice without the icing.

Afraid there's not this much left anymore.... mmm

George made one of his amazing curries for tea so we're all sitting bloated by the telly wondering what to do next.

Made an unexpected link today with an old friend of mine from Thailand. He's coming to live back in the UK (Colchester I think) so that was nice.

I feel a Guiness coming on!

Oh, and Col, you're welcome to some grapes if you fancy a visit to help us press a few. (squidge, squish, no socks, you get the idea). Looking at the growth from this year, next year can't fail to be a huge crop.... oh dear... counting chickens, etc....

Hope everyone's happy out in the real world. Until tomorrow...

The Grapes of Wrath

Pops would never forgive me if I didn't show you these. A newcomer to grape growing, George has finally produced a wonderful crop. The vine itself was very nearly destroyed by the recent unseasonal winds but the stuff inside glass has produced a fine eating grape. See pic.

Pops offering me grapes as I boarded out the roof... I felt like Emperor Nero!

The newest LTF crop

So there we have it, the roof is theoretically finished (need a real deluge to test it) and the grapes are coming thick and fast. These from under glass are ready first but there's about 30 other bunches maturing slowly outside on the exposed vine. Hopefully they'll survive the weather and perhaps create the first LTF vintage?

The mission to end all missions...

So last night it began and, from my previous micro blog, both me and wife put in 12 hours to get the job started.

It's a roof job so VERY weather dependent.

We began by removing the glass from the roof (a very precarious job which finished with a small hole in my thumb but nothing more serious, thankfully).

Me recoiling after a right hook from wife

 
Then we began tearing old roofing bits and bobs out and taking them to the recycling centre as it was such a dry, beautiful day. The weather forecast was dry and sunny for the next three days so we didn't need to worry.

Books in peril due to a severe case of 'lack of glass'

Me feigning tireness to get off work early (fail)

This morning we finished the small amount of brickwork and tidying up and began putting wooden boards on the roof. Then.....

Wife admiring new farings (huge, 5 metre long door wedges to pitch the roof) one of my engineering solutions... brag brag

Me battling elements to get the job done. What a hero... swoon.

Inevitably the heavens opened and we all ran for cover under the new (but sadly felt-less ie, dripping) boards. Waiting, waiting, waiting.

Eventually the rain slowed to a steady drizzle and I, being very short of patience and watching our wonderful and extensive book collection in peril, decided to begin putting the underlay on the roof. Although not completely weather proof, at least it would be safer for the books, electrics, floor and various other things threatened by the downpour.

It's 8pm now and the rain is finally subsiding. The underlay is on and tomorrow we put the thick felt (or Top Sheet to those in the know) on and begin the tricky job of the weather seal. This is a device designed to fix the felt to brickwork whilst simultaneously frustrating the hapless workman into a frothy frenzy. Can't wait.

Wife took some shots yesterday of me sweating away until the early hours (see above). She was sweating too though, I was just too tired to pick up the camera.

Welcome to our new living room (well that's the plan, it could well be a swimming pool if this underlay doesn't work.) I'll get some shots of it up as soon as we have finished (late 2034-ish, weather permitting)

Ah, renovation. Such an innocent word, full of hope and the promise of new beginnings. Well, the room's full of water and our backs could certainly do with some renewing.

Until the next post, goodbye and happy roofing everyone.

An apology

No blog yesterday as myself and wife decided to remove a huge glass ceiling and take it to the recycling centre (approx 5 car loads). We then realised that we'd have to sort out the brickwork surrounding the ends where the glass overhung (another couple of car loads of rubble away, then mixing the mortar began).

Anyway, the short version is that me and wife were bricking up by lamp light at 11pm last night. And we didn't even get it all finished! So I'll blog the highs and lows of the whole project tonight.

There's pictures, action shots, all to come so stay tuned!

BBQ Success, and so to work

What a wonderful evening. So wonderful in fact that I forgot to blog and simply enjoyed real life for a while.... bliss.

Windswept garden warrior

So I took a few pics of me and wife battling the elements, determined to have a barbeque at all costs.

Ash in its annual dance with the elements

As the old Ash tree bowed under the relentless attack from East Yorkshire winds, me and wife, stooped low to avoid being carried, wizard-of-oz-like into the night, began the ressurection of the old barbeque. Well, 'barbeque' is a little optimistic. A seemingly random collection of broken tiles, bricks, the innards of an old fireplace and a steel plate. But to those in the know.... oh yes.

Blurriness perhamps something to do with beer?

So we ate and drank and generally forgot about the daily grind and enjoyed each others company for the evening. May there be plenty more of that in the future.

Spot the wife competition 2011

I need to try and get all our business links on here somewhere, perhaps in a side bar... hmmm.... leave it with me, I'll see what I can do.

The master at work

Ok, so another culinary blog. With so much on our plates at the minute it's a real delight to be able to ramble away on here reminding ourselves that we have had some leisure time after all.

Me taking credit for wife's toil

See you next time and thanks for reading!