Walls...

A while ago my mum went through her linen closet and gave me some lovely linen sheets as well as a few crochet doily kind of things. Not sure of their name (anyone?) They are very pretty and intricate but I wasn't sure about using them on tables etc as they might look a bit twee.

I have also been looking for some artwork for our main bathroom (it is a monochromatic scheme) so when I saw this, it gave me the answer to both of these questions. Now I just need to make a trip to Ikea for some inexpensive frames, buy some black paper and I will have some new 'art'. A creative project that is within even my limited capabilities...

News just in...

I have just had a phone call from t'husband. The plumbers have been today to fit the downstairs WC sink (not yet fitted - heavy sinks and plasterboard walls don't go apparently) and get the pipe work in the main bathroom ready to plumb in the bath. They were going to check the plumbing and lay the pipework and then give us some time to fit the floor and then come back and connect it all up. However, in order to check the taps they have had to connect the bath anyway! Apparently it is easy enough to unhook and reconnect it once we get round to doing the floor but for the time being, and for the first time in over 6 months, we can have a bath. Right, I need to get some bubbles as I know what I am doing tonight!


In other bathroom news, we have also purchased a shower cubicle for here (aka top bathroom):

Fingers crossed it will be fitted at the weekend...yay! Plus, whilst buying the shower cubicle, we also found a really great flooring place. The owner was extremely helpful, knowledgeable, informative and his prices seem really, really good. On top of all that he also reminded me of Geppetto from Pinocchio, so I think we will be making a return visit sometime soon with a floor plan and measurements. I heart progress...

UPDATE: the sink is fitted but yet to be plumbed (funny size pipes apparently but isn't that always the way) and the bath was wonderful. We decided that last night was the soft launch (I was concerned the weight of the bath with the water in it would mean it would fall through the floor so limited the fill level) and when we have more time we will christen is properly and celebrate with bubbles (both the bath and champagne variety). I rush to add there will be no pictures of the launch. It is not 'that kind' of blog!

S'Tile'-In

So, despite a day out at the cricket and a night out on the tiles on Saturday, t'husband (after a bit of persuasion / negotiation) managed to finish the grouting in Sunday. He's a wonder. Whilst he was otherwise engaged with cricket watching and champagne drinking, I managed to repaint bathroom and get the skirting boards painted...oh the drudgery. Although it took a large chunk of my Saturday and it didn't look too bad anyway it now looks refreshed. Plus, I got treated to lunch for my hard work whilst he was out playing...

So here are the photos with grout in place...looks good doesn't it? From one end...


And the other...

And to check the workmanship here are the close-ups. Please excuse the grout speckles on the floor but didn't have time to sweep before I grabbed a few photos this morning....

Welldone t'husband. One lot of bathroom tiling done. Only 3 more to go....

A new purchase

T'husband has done it again with his wonderous ebay ways and snagged us this sink for our donwnstairs loo. Yay!

We have the plumbers coming back soon to move the pipework for the main bath so we can then floor it. Once floored they will, at last, plumb in the bath but at the same time they are going to fit this sink. It is rather heavy so we need to find something for it to sit on so next up researching counter top sink thingies. I think I would like something that feels like a piece of furniture in its own right. Like this...

I have just looked back over my inspirations files for this room and what do you know the sink t'husband has bought more than a little resembles those in my file.

See here...

And here...

The uncanny thing is I am sure I never shared these pics with him. The only explanation is my husband is design psychic so I am going to start thinking deeply about what pretty things I want for my birthday now...

Oh and we have finished the tiling. I say we, of course I mean t'husband, but I am on excess grout cleaning duty later so I help in my own small way. It looks really beautiful (photos to follow) and I am so proud that t'husband has such practical skills and although I tease him about it taking four days, the finish it totally worth the wait. In fact, I think currently the main bathroom (or 't'husband's bathroom' as he has staked the claim) is currently my fave in the house. Might be as it is heading towards being the most finished but I think it is the light in there. I also loved the light in the bathroom at our old place so maybe I just like bathrooms...

Staycation part 3 - at last some DIY

Why is it when you approach any DIY project the amount of mess generated is far, far beyond the size of the job you are doing? We only had to tile a small area of the bathroom but in no time at all it looked like this...

Here is t'husband looking suitably attired. This T-shirt is always worn when there are messy jobs to do. I think if anyone comes round he can use this look to play the 'look how hard I am working' card.

In reality, I think the set up meant there was more time admiring progress rather than making any...

And here it is sans grout.

Just check out the quality of the workmanship round the toilet.

So 4 days, 90 cuts, 160 tiles and more than a pinch of swearing, tiling (with the exception of the grouting) ....done!

Bathroom Progress...

I mentioned the other day that we had at long last (6 months since we bought the place) bought ourselves a bath. T'husband put in a mammoth effort and trekked over to Durham and back on Saturday to collect it. He also collected me on his way back and got many a look and comment when he rocked up at the supermarket with a bath strapped to the back of a pick-up. Think that mobile baths or 'Tub Tours' might be the future. If it had been a rocking chair I would have totally rode it home, preferably sucking straw and strumming on a ukulele. Anyhoo, here is story of the bath room so far.

This is how it looked when we bought the house...

We were given a fireplace for free by t'husband's sister - gotta love the free (thanks Marie and Bri). Here is a glimpse...

As the fireplace is quite ornate and pretty I thought I would go for very simple, modern, masculine bathroom furniture as t'husband has informed me that this is 'his' bathroom so I thought he may not fancy a feminine 'Powder Room' despite him spending much more time in there than any girl I know. So we bought the sinks and WC first (on sale of course!). Here they are...

And last but by no means least the new addition.

Isn't she pretty? I even bought her some flowers to welcome her to her new home. Although not plumbed in, I am still admiring her sculptural quality and think I am getting as much pleasure from looking at her as I will actually using her. If she's not good to go anytime soon I guess we could always use her as a beer cooler for t'husband's upcoming birthday.

So here is how the bathroom looks now...


Still to do: tiling around sinks, filling holes, re-grouting shower tiles, new flooring, plumb bath.

As well as all the bath excitement we also got up to a fair few other things including...

Seeing relatives...

And spending time with siblings...

With whom we obviously share a fashion sense...


Eating food...


Burning it off...


And enjoying Ramsbottom...

Weekends rock...

A purchase for the house....

Currently, we are without a bath which in the majority suits me fine but I think t'husband really misses the, especially when he is aching after biking....so he has come up trumps on ebay again and has purchased this for a bargain price.

Now all we have to do is source some flooring, have a creative session with some old picture frames, tile, fill holes and that room's done...

The work begins...

....after all the excitement and ups and downs we went through, albeit in a relatively short period of time (due to the vendor insisting on a 28 day completion), we finally got the keys to our dream house.

Although the house itself is beautiful, due to it being a repossession the guts have pretty much been ripped out of it. So although you tend to take before and after shots to show that the after shows an improvement on the before in this case it is before and after repossession!

Bedroom

Kitchen

Living room

Main bathroom

So we have quite a job on our hands but I can't wait to get started. I think project 1 (phase 1) is to get the Living Room back into shape. It's probably the room with the least investment required and I am talking time and money (and if you don't think about re-sanding back the floors and revarnishing) and I need a refuge and somewhere relatively comfortable to retreat to when the dust / painting gets too much. First up..buy a fireplace!