Categories: uncategorized
Date: 14 December 2007 21:24:38
It's been a mad mad few weeks working frantically to get the extension to a suitable state ready for Christmas. Just wait until you see the photos. I have developed extreme dandruff from holding the new doors in place while my brother planes the tops to get them closing just perfectly, and rather pale acne from painting the ceilings white. We've used Dulex Light and Space paint which somehow maximises the available light and for the time being have stuck with using their "Absolute White" which is certainly well named. We needed sunglasses to paint it!
Laying the laminate flooring was good fun, if rather back breaking. Cutting it was even more interesting. What a stench! Thank goodness we were able to open the new French Windows in an attempt to reduce the amount of dust we inhaled as it can't be good for you if it smells like that. What a shame God decided to turn the wind to blow it straight back in at us. By the time we'd finished, both my brother and I had developed an interesting sheen of microscopic green dust worthy of the Incredible Hulk.
Making our own wooden door frames, fitting the new wooden doors (two rooms so far) and the wooden window linings, you can imagine that a fair quantity of sawdust and wood shavings were created. I was half tempted to use them for our nativity scene. My brother suggested giving them to the gerbil as a Christmas present - he'd have been in seventh heaven, if only the wood weren't treated with chemicals. The gerbil, that is, not my brother.
We worked as a team rather hurriedly grouting the tiles as almost the last job that we did before my brother returned to work. They look smashing! He grouted and then, following behind about twenty minutes later when the grout had "become opaque and lost plasticity" (whatever that means), I cleaned it off the tiles and checked it was without holes. Rather hard on the back and the knees! As I completed the first row of tiles and went to crawl forward, I noticed a small problem... the lower legs of my jogging bottoms were covered with a layer of sawdust and wood shavings from where I'd been on hands and knees earlier dustpan-and-brushing it up from the bedroom floor. It wouldn't dust off, but it was certain to lodge itself quite happily in the wet grout. There was nothing for it. With a quick apology to my brother for the lack of deforestation of the leg area recently (boy are they bad!), I had to roll my trousers up to the knee to trap the sawdust firmly inside. It was rather draughty but it did have one advantage in that it made a nice soft surface for me to kneel on!
We finished with just minutes to spare before I had to leap in the car and go and meet Smudgelet from school so it was quick change time - no I did not go to Smudgelet's school in rolled up jogging pants with hairy legs on show - I'm not that bad.... am I? But I did have a bit of a problem the following afternoon when I went to get dressed for more DIY and found my jogging bottoms.... with the turnups grouted firmly into place!