NOVEMBER/DECEMBER FIXATIONS

Looking ahead, several jobs are on the agenda. I want to lay linoleum on the toilet floor, turn out my dressing table and sell my mugs before the years ends.

I have already talked about the lino and what lies ahead of me before laying it in the toilet - the hardest area yet. It is probably better left to an expert, but as I am the only one that will be using the toilet apart from visitors, I shall tackle the job myself and live with the results!

The dressing table is currently covered in white paint with avocado green handles. At one point in its long history it was simply wood. That was a long time ago, when it belonged to my grandmother - long since dead. It was passed down to my parents and then to me. I do not value it as an antique, although it is probably 100 years old or more. I simply need something into which to stash my hairbrush, neti-pot, nail clippers, first aid kit and other such stuff.

 

My dressing table is currently filled with stuff and the stuff that is crammed on top - albeit in neat piles - needs to fit inside. I recall emptying the top drawer to fill with hair accessories, womens' items, nail-clippers, and the like and this is usable as is - but I have yet to tackle the bottom two drawers. More emptying and trashing to go...

One is seemingly filled with stories I typed/wrote out as a teenager and some art books filled with cartoon, hippie, crazy-techno designs along with philosophical and artsy drawings, water colors, and biro designs. The other drawer appears to contain a fruit bowl, penknife, and assorted bits and pieces of 'stuff' - all of which must be sorted out and either thrown out or sold.

 

Talking of selling items, my mug collection is far from useful to me as a middle-aged woman. As a teen, it was something to collect, but now I have use only for one mug in which to deposit my morning coffee! I had been recycling them as plant pots - but they were messy and untidy and cluttered up the sill - I would much rather have a single pot plant or vase on the sill and sell the mugs. Firstly, I took out the Kalanchoe and garlic plants and rinsed them clean - my son wanted one to take back to Australia with him today. The rest, I shall sell shortly....

THE PANTRY

From time to time I like to do a spot of spring cleaning - with more emphasis on spring than clean!! One of my favorite 'chores' is that of turning out the pantry. I really enjoy re-sorting all the items into logical order and seeing them neatly in place....

It is not MY pantry. It is father's. However, I am the only person that uses the pantry - seeing as I do all the shopping/cooking. My son keeps his supplies in his room and my dad is not able to locate ingredients, stand up while things are mixed AND boiled/baked/stirred/fried/etc, AND add finishing garnishes... though I am sure if I put the teabags and milk out he could manage the kettle and spoon to make himself a cuppa.

 

We start with a picture of how it was - then of in between - before how it actually ended up. I also included a photo of the fridge-freezer, in case anyone is worried about the lack of fresh produce in our household! 

 

FURTHER LINOLEUM USAGE

Having plenty of linoleum over after laying the new bathroom floor, I began to use it in pieces. First to benefit was the bathroom windowsill, closely followed by my father's bedside cabinet. Next up is to be the toilet floor - a nightmare!

 

Starting with a view of the remaining lino and continuing onto the windowsill before, during, and after linoleum being glued down....

 

The bathroom looks much more classy with a floor and windowsill to match - but there is much to be done, including fixing chipped wall plaster, a much needed coat of paint, and a few more little touches, before the room is pleasant.

The last two photos show me laying a piece of lino as a table mat to avoid the wood being spoiled by spilled cuppas on Dad's bedside cabinet.

I decided to postpone the toilet floor until after my son returned to Australia, as having us both out of the toilet for 3-4 hours is somewhat difficult considering the amount of ginger beer and cola - not to mention cider once fortnightly - that he consumes. Ahead, lies the task of removing dust-ridden carpet patches and old newspaper, cleaning and drying the wooden floorboards, laying the linoleum halfway and then cutting around the toilet itself. (I shudder, yes THAT can wait until late November or beyond...)

THE SHED ERECTION SAGA -3

Two of my cousins agreed to help get the roof and door on in exchange for a meal and appeared to do so one day a week or three later. 

 

The photo shows one of the trio up a ladder, another owner of a pair of legs in the shed and another pair of unidentifiable legs outside - I cannot recall which legs belonged to whom. However, by the time the day was over, the shed would have a roof and a door. Counting, you may count me, my son, a neighbor, and two cousins as 5 - and I mentioned it took 6 of us to complete the job. This is because another neighbor - the one who had offered us bricks - had to be called upon for the use of their battery drill. Although he did little actual work, without this item my son may not have managed to persuade my cousins to get the roof and door attached. We rewarded him with a beer for his trouble.

Finally, we had a sort of shed. The door opened inwards - I am not sure if it should or not - and there were small holes where my son had got annoyed at panels falling out and 'smashed' at them a little. I managed to be of use at last and patched the holes with left over bits of plastic from the shelf. My son completed the job by getting silicone all over his hands whilst patching holes and gaps all over...

Shall I say that we now have a functional shed that is more or less waterproof. I cannot get half the junk my dad had in the old shed in the new one, as there is a floor patch that gets damp AND less room overall AND the door opens inwards - but I can safely say that the majority of garden tools and other items that will be used in the future are now safe.

THE SHED ERECTION SAGA -2

Coming back to it, he decided to use some free bricks the neighbor over the back had offered to us to make a better base.

 

We then tried to erect the shed for a second time - and once again, failed. Help was obviously required.

Calling on a neighbor, the two of them managed to get the base and sides erected and stabilized. They also managed to saw and apply the former floor to make a sturdier base. (The former shed had been 8X6, whilst this one was 6X4.) The neighbor could offer no more time than 4-5 hours and shot off before I could offer them a beer for their troubles. The roof, door, and shelf would have to wait til another day as my son could get very little further solo.

It was not my son's fault - had the walls been in single pieces rather than panels to be slotted in, either of us could have managed alone, definitely with the two of us at it. It was not a job a single human could manage. So, we called upon the family...

THE SHED ERECTION SAGA -1

The shed saga demands a chapter of its own...

For circa a year, I nagged my father to buy a new shed or repair his old one. There were holes in the roof and it needed a good tidy out. Finally persuading him, he glanced through a few options and decided on a plastic shed - labeled 'easy to erect' - hmm... THAT is a matter of opinion - it actually took six people to erect our new shed - and even now it is far from perfect...

Firstly, my son and I tackled the job after he dismantled the old shed

 

He also leveled the soil that would become the new floor for us.

 

I let him figure it out as the instruction guide did not make sense to me - it was a list of numbers and letters referring to pieces and there were more than 100 parts with little instruction as to what to do with the parts. My son did a very good solo job of assembling the base and side posts - until it came to slotting in the side/rear panels. When one wall had been slotted into place and he began on the next, the first wall would fall out. Lacking the time to continue, and my lacking the time to hold two things while he tried something else, he dismantled the shed to try again another day.

THE HALLWAY and cheap flooring offer

I recently solved one of my father's problems - that of bumping into a sticking out coat. Each time he moved from his bedsit, the former lounge, to the kitchen, now additionally his bathroom, he got his walking frame stuck. 

 This became ...

 

previously, but there was more work to be done.

I suggested moving the hallway mirror above the phone table - and trading place with the coat hangers - this would allow the annoying coat to be hung on a hangar with its cousins instead of slumped over a chair...

Dad agreed, so I moved the two hangings across the room from one another. It now not only solves the coat-Dad problem, but some of mine. I found it difficult to reach behind the phone table to select a jacket for father or coat for me - and very little room to hang my coats. Now that I have purchased a thick winter coat, I would have had to keep it in my room - but now, I can hang it up out of MY way.

Additionally, it looks nicer to have the coats hung up above the shoes - more like a hallway. Finally, it also looks better with the mirror over the phone table - seeing as noone actually uses the mirror these days.

By the way, if anyone in the UK is interested in purchasing new flooring, I have a discount voucher available that needs to be used by the end of the year - let me know!