But I Smile Anyway…

I think we cracked it!

The paint has gone on, and even if I do say so myself, it is looking pretty good!

But there have been a few little slips…

It was becoming a bit of a comic farce… cream on white, so to cover, white on cream, but got white on cream, so targeted that white with cream, and managed to get cream on white again… it was like a never ending story!

My excuse… I am an artist, I am allowed to paint beyond the lines. I’m used to thinking outside the box, not being tied to these constraints! The lines are where I make them! (Yes, I know that excuse doesn’t really cut it when decorating, but then I never claimed to be a good decorator!)

But finally, we managed! Ok so there are wobbly lines instead of straight edges, and a few drops of paint on carpet, where the masking tape and sheets slipped, but who cares! WE DID IT!

Though the room adventure is by no means over! We had to separate the bunk beds to create two singles, which we did, but boy do my shoulders ache from that! The kids are still in one room yet though… there are at least 3 other huge chapters to get through before we can get them into their own rooms.

First thing is we have to order new furniture. The small cupboard, visible in the above photos, is falling apart, and is not splittable between two rooms! So we need to order two wardrobes, and two desks too. We have started the hunt, but everytime we think we’ve cracked it, another problem arises! I have created a to-scale plan and cut out accurate bits of paper to represent furniture, to see where things can go, without blocking exits, or to make sure cupboard doors will open, you know the score!

Then I have to clear the smaller room… I started this job today. Going throught the boxes of books and miscellaneous items in the study, deciding which to keep, and which to get rid of. Whilst doing this I ended up rearranging the dining room, to accomodate one set of shelves, so we can have some books down there! Bear in mind these are nothing to do with the pile of Children’s books that I have to separate between the children’s shelves!

Hands up… I an a children’s book addict…(There is one more box that isn’t even in the photo too!)

So the study boxes have been sorted, kind of. I need to look at the Children’s books tomorrow, and then use the plastic boxes to sort my stationery, and arts and crafts items into… I will need to take a photo of those when it’s all done.. but there is lots… again! These boxes will then be labelled and go in the attic, within easy reach, so when I need something, I can grab it easily!

Then the third big job, another which I love to hate, is putting together flat pack furniture… Whenever we order it, and it arrives!

Until the wardrobes arrive, I can’t put the bed in the small room, we will need room to manouver the wardrobe pieces initially, before attempting to put the bed in. Oh, and don’t mention moving the bed. I don’t know how we will get it out of the door and into the next door room!  We’ll deal with that when the time comes!

Curtains. Need to get the curtain poles up, and new bedding too! Never ending…

Oh, and I managed to do another little bit of DIY too! I changed a toilet seat! Ok, I know it’s no biggie, but did you know that plastic nuts can fuse into metal bolts, rendering them immoveable? Well, I didn’t! This has never happened before, but when I went to change the upstairs toilet seat, the nuts wouldn’t budge! I tried everything, oil, WD40, pure brute force. This seat was stuck!

In the end I resorted to YouTube to see if I could find some solution!

The first was to heat a pallet knife red hot, then burn the plastic. I didn’t fancy mingling burnt plastic fumes with the paint fumes already floating around the house!

The other option was to use a hacksaw blade to cut through the bolt. I requested a blade from Hubby Dearest, when he went to the DIY store to buy all the paints. He thougth I was talking out of my backside, so got some special Silicone WD40 instead. Guess what? It didn’t work!

I had to go and buy some top up paint so I took the opportunity to pick up the blades myself, and when I was feeling like a spare part, as I was making such a mess of the paint that I left it to the ‘expert’, my sister in law, I decided to try the hacksaw trick, and it did work! So, my toilet seat is now new, unsplintered and has great bathroom rules for all to follow on it too!

Excuse the mess, photo taken before I cleaned up!

Another thing I did was start going through the kids clothes… again! When wil they stop growing out of things?!

And they say teachers get long holidays to do nothing…! By the time this is finished, I will need a real break!

Another update will follow… When I get more done, and when I get some energy!

Til tomorrow Peeps!