Stripping

 Amongst everything else that is going on here at the moment, and as if I have not got enough to do, I have commenced some preparation work in the dining room.

Basically, I have started to strip the wallpaper off the walls in the dining room.  It is slow and painstaking work.  I hope to get stuck in though during the course of this week even it if entails me having to work late in the evening or early in the morning.  I am doing this a little bit at a time, and I am also scrubbing down segments of the room as I work my way around.  There are lots of bits of filling into do and all the architrave needs caulking, rubbing down, undercoating and then top-coating.  This can be done a bit at a time also. The skirting boards also need the same treatment.

I have an appointment on Monday which will take me into town, and so I will go looking for some of the resources that I need to decorate this room. I need wallpaper paste, a wallpapering kit, plaster repair, wall filler, white spirit, white undercoat paint, white gloss paint, white silk paint, sandpaper, paint brushes, sealing caulk, white tile paint (for kitchen not dining room). I also need chalk paint for a project for the bathroom and some cabinet paint for the kitchen. Might not be able to do everything, but I am aiming for the basics at the moment.

Ultimately the dining room needs a new floor.  Not sure that I will be able to run to that this month. However, I am keen if I can to run to the bathroom and kitchen flooring. However I have already bought and paid for the wallpaper which I sourced from Ebay.  I have never wallpapered before so it is going to be a very strong learning curve especially as I tend to be a bit cack-handed when it comes to paper of any sort.  There is no assurance that I will be able to achieve this. However, I am keen to turn my hand to this.  If I can find my way around it, it will mean that I can be self-sufficient and deal with the decorating a bit at a time, and get rooms tidied up.

I also need to sort out the internal doors.  They need sanding, staining and a coat or two of Yacht varnish added to them.  Yet again these can be done a bit at a time.  Will be good practice for when I come to tackle my dining room dressers.  They are on the to do list, just not sure when at the moment.  Have to be a learn as you go scenario I think at the current time.  Will be good to get them sorted though.

I am very aware that there are lots of things I need to learn when it comes to decorating, using drills and other bits of equipment.  I will not touch electrics at all, (long story) but the rest I am keen to have a go at where I can.  Wish me luck.  There are so many things that I want to have a go at, but I was never taught.  I have always been the dogsbody when it has come to decorating etc. picking up and tidying up and doing a lot of the preparation work, never the final finishing.  I did used to help my Mum decorate though.  So it is time for me to learn.  I have wallpaper and borders for other rooms already in the house so it will be good to get sorted where I can and get the house looking nice at long last.

As I have said before I always see the potential of what can be done, with whatever I am working with, so I am looking forward to a lot of future possibilities and projects in the not too distant future.

There is an awful lot going on behind the scenes, and things will be done out of order, depending on time available to me at any one time, and the jobs I can achieve in that period. It will ultimately join up at the end of the day. I also aim to get the under-stair cupboard which is off the dining room sorted out at long last, and the fireside cupboard decorated as well.  So it is going to be early mornings and late nights to get what I can sorted out.

And of course I also have the garden on the go and an awful lot to do here as well.  After Tuesday this week when I have to go to the Doctor to see the Nurse for blood tests, I should be able to seriously get stuck in.

A Little Update

I nipped off to B & M after my appointment today.  I have managed to stock up on a few items that I need for decorating. I have a wallpaper paste brush, a wallpaper brush, roller, tape measure, wire brush (for another project), pre-mixed wallpaper adhesive, wall filler.  I could not find the undercoat or the paint that I was after, will have to look elsewhere for that. Oh and a big box of Yorkshire Tea Bags at £5.49 so pleased with that.  Potentially that means we are going to be stocked up on tea bags for the next month to six weeks! I appreciate not decorating related but it will keep me going whilst decorating.

Therefore another significant step forward in the greater scheme of things.

I still need undercoat, gloss paint, caulking relevant to the area it is going to be used in, Sandpaper for a palm sander, sheet sandpaper, sandpaper block, edging brushes, and mixed brushes.  Might be able to get some more of the missing items later in the week, but going to look somewhere else for the gloss paint and undercoat.  They certainly did not have any today.  Might have to order it on delivery, but will see.

So something, but a little different going on in the background as it were.

Whilst in town I also added some more yarn to my stash for making a crochet bedspread. I bought a little more yarn from Sostrene Grene.  They have some lovely things in again.  Was very restrained for me though.

Tomorrow middle of the morning I have my scheduled blood tests at the GP Surgery, so we shall see what the results of the blood tests are this time around.  

G is fishing, and so I will go by taxi to the Doctors and come back the same way. He did offer to cancel the fishing, but I told him to go and get out with his mate and enjoy the fishing match.  When I get back, then I will get stuck in, in the back bedroom when I get back.  I need to get this sorted so that stuff currently in the dining room finds a home, and stuff I no longer want gets relocated at the Charity shop.

Will see how things go.

Tea tonight is Fish Fingers, Baked Beans and chips with bread and butter.  That should do very nicely.

Have a lovely evening everyone.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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