INDOORS 16

Finally - I mopped the floor clean. The room then needed to dry and air - and then I could begin to poly fill! Downstairs, in the spare room, where I am currently living, the chest of drawers is brightened by a bunch of flowers gifted from work.

Upstairs....

It is back to work! These great big heavy looking contraptions are planes - borrowed from my friend Liz - so I can work on making my closet door fit well enough to shut and the bedroom door a little less in size so that thicker carpet will allow it to open/shut properly.

Meanwhile - I took 2 days to polyfill wall cracks. The first day I did one wall, the second I did the rest of the walls and some of the closet. I need to re-do a few large cracks and use any spare filler on the hairlines then I will be ready to use those planes and 'attack' the doors!

OUTDOORS 10

Here they are - is the answer to the question from my last outdoor post. I decided that instead of tying them to things, I would dig them out and transplant them along the fence.

The fence will become a hedge - one day. I have small cuttings of box-privet and yew, a forsythia, and now 4 rose bushes planted - and have cut the mint back for winter and added 2 fuchsias from the front yard and my favored plant from Liz and a few bits and pieces...

Once grown a bit more, it should look nice. In the meantime, I added some scraps and stuff to 'hedgehog hotel row'.

Here are the latest artichoke tubers amassed by the zillion it would seem. I certainly think that 4 plants will be more than sufficient for growing next year. I still have around half in the ground, awaiting dry soil and free time to align to allow for me to remove them.

The tomatoes are beginning to be useless in the poly tunnel and there are maybe 4-5 left to pluck and pop onto the kitchen windowsill to hopefully ripen before I rip the plants out. I have numerous cauliflower seedlings, some of which I will pot up. I still have a little parsley and some chives going, too. But mostly, the tunnel growing season is done with - other than the caulis and possibly parsley.

Down the plot, I have done very little - it has been damp or wet and therefore not suitable to hoeing/digging. I have popped coffee grounds and scraps in the compost and harvested a few leeks. The last of the rocket might be coming home with me on my next trip and another bagfull of artichokes...

INDOORS 15

There were actually a couple of minor problems to consider before I did the task of vacuuming up the dust and filth. Above shows one board with a slightly chip next to a board that isn't straight. That I could not do much about. There was also a need for my hammer to assist me - 2 of the securing nails were up and needed banging into place - that, I could fix!

Alas, woodworm I could not - luckily it is only in one area and I figure that sunlight, cold weather and maybe a rub over with vinegar is the best I can do. So, the floor was finished after a vacuum - leaving a pile of broken linoleum outside all ready for when Liz gives me a lift to the tip!

That left me a little time free before my work duties - but not long enough to wash walls, so I decided to prepare the ingredients for my meals instead.... Vegan penne bolognese with port wine for lunch, potato wedges and rhubarb-ginger oat crumble for dinner.

Back to work, and here you see that I have been hard at work washing walls, ceiling, windows, doors and closet - so hard at work that my cloth is somewhat worn out!

This final photo for today shows the now clean ceiling, light and walls. Much blackened grime from dampness has been washed off and has not yet returned, so fingers crossed it won't.

INDOORS 14

I began to mop the walls down. I will need to go over properly with the cloth by hand and include the ceiling, but this 'first swipe' will do the job before I rip the linoleum out. I also had to clean the built in robe before climbing inside it to clean it properly later - so used the mop for this task also.

The bedroom now looks sorry for itself, also empty, ugly and a few more unpleasant words. The thought of it looking beautiful again and me living in it once more appealed enough for me to begin ripping out some of the linoleum after lunch, though. I could not get much further than a third of the room due to it being rather noisy - I figured I ought to stop being noisy at noon, as my son sleeps afternoons and works nights.

It was not a simple case of rolling it up either - I rolled/ripped one area, and had to tread it down to keep it from springing back open - and found more linoleum underneath! However, I am happy to report that the floor boards look in good condition and that I have a vivid imagination - able to imagine the luxurious carpet and beautiful furnishings I hope to install - 'shortly'.

The next day I got back to work and managed to rip out all the linoleum - GOING...

going...

GONE!

INDOORS 13

The next task might have been to tackle the closet or do some wall-washing, but the next job actually performed was to tidy the pantry. My first shot was to check best before dates on everything that was placed with similar items and line things up on the table - then replace them based on the dates they needed to be used by rather than what the item was.

I then proceeded to re-order the pantry again - this time separating 'instant/one meal items' to 'open and store' items. I then waited a day or so and then finally tackled that darn closet.

Disposable gloves on dry hands and braveness in mind I opened the door and began... There were suitcases, shopping bags, shoulder bags, plastic bags, back packs, a bag of sheets/towels/knitting, a bag of coathangers, a box of teenage acquired jewelry, my grandmothers' button tin, dust, filth and JUNK! A sample of the stuff is lain out on the windowsill:

The above shot shows memories. I once began to train as a nurse - the lump of crystal with fake gold on is from my great aunt and acquired from childhood summer holidays spent at her riverside home. But memories are not me as I am now, or me as I will become over the next couple of decades prior to death. I do not need to hold on to what was any more, because what is makes me happier.

There you go - evidence that I finally emptied that collection of stuff AKA a built in closet. Also, evidence that I may very well need to go buy a third tube polyfilla... :(

OUTDOORS 9

Here we see what happened to that collapsing - now collapsed - rose arch in the back yard after a 'wet n windy' stormy night on the third weekend of November. Plans had been to dismantle it when dry and time permitted - but due to the total collapse, emergency rose-saving eventuated directly.

You can see how the two rose bushes are now severely pruned back. Once dry weather and time coincide, I will clear the garbage - aka weeds and former arch frame - and then tie the roses - one to the house and one to the palm tree - or so was the plan.

The sack of brown paper shown in the front of the bags of carpet was taken down the plot between showers of rain and hail at the start of the fourth week in the month. The three large rolled up pieces have been deposited into the compost bin on top of the artichoke plant remnants and underneath a pile of horse muck.

In fact, my original intention was just to pop the paper and some veggie scraps/coffee grounds into the compost tub and grab a leek - but on sighting an almost full and barely touched pile in the horse muck area, I grabbed my bucket and spade and snatched a dozen loads.

Oh look - where have the rose bushes gone? Find out in my next outdoor post!

INDOORS 12

Friday 18th November came around, and my work duties were absent until evening. I therefore took to it to rip the carpet out. I managed to hack it to strips with the Stanley knife and bagged about half. The above shot shows the hacked strips and below the horrific amount of dust that accumulates UNDERNEATH a foam-backed carpet that is not moved for 35 years.

UGH.....

MY parents appear to have lain the carpet on top of a roll of brown paper when buying it for me in my teens. Below the paper is the original linoleum that I can recall from my childhood. I have yet to bag up the other half of the carpet, vacuum up the dust, and begin to clean the room. This will hopefully be done soon, as it is not as noisy as knife-ripping the carpet was and does not need to be done mornings only.

The phone/modem/power bar and bird/hedgehog food tubs will remain, as will the tall slim white closet - everything else will leave the room whilst I clean/polyfill/paint it. Except of course for items such as the chair - which I need to stand on to polyfill/paint/clean, and painting rags, etc.

As you can see by the above picture, the carpet has now all been bagged, the sack of dusty brown paper has already been removed since taking the picture, as I trotted down my allotment plot and popped it into the compost bin after lunch!

My next task might be to de-cobweb the walls, or just wash the walls and ceiling, or maybe tackle the closet - ugh!

INDOORS 11

I opened the closet door...ergh. I shut it again - I will deal with that mass of shopping bags, suitcases, boxes, and plastic bags AFTER I rip the carpet out...

Back to removing the curtains. I began by trying to unhook the material from the plastic hooks. This did not work. I tried cutting it off. This seemed slow and difficult and in the process of doing so one plastic hook snapped and another fell off. I decided therefore that unclipping the hooks would be better - and picked the curtains off this way, plastic attached to curtain.

The curtains were to be dumped in a black bag and put out with garbage - they were covered in cobwebs and stained with age, so of no value for me to be trying to sell them. The window was bare...

I kept 2 of the plastic curtain hooks, so that when I buy new curtains, I can additionally pick up a pack of new hooks - not being interested in ripping off the remaining ones from the material. They were dirty anyway, and old, and breaking... I will buy a bag of these when drooling over new curtains.

As mentioned a post or so ago, the first night in the spare room was somewhat uneasy. Of the things changeable, the easiest was to reverse my sleeping direction from facing west to facing east. The room facing west instead of east, a street instead of garden, and being downstairs rather than upstairs, I could do nothing about, but this I could. It sufficed in allowing me to sleep with ease, although I will 'prefer' sleeping back in my own bedroom again when able.

INDOORS 10

I went back to tackle the carpet after lunch, expecting it to take a half hour or so, maybe leaving me time to do a few other odds and ends such as dismantling the curtains, or washing a wall. However, the scissors would not cut the carpet. I went downstairs to fish out the Stanley knife...

This did cut the carpet, with effort - but was rather noisy. Yes it was just after lunchtime, but my son works nights and sleeps afternoons. I therefore stopped cutting the carpet to bits and did a few other things. I will return to the carpet chopping task one MORNING.

The next small task was to carry the paint and polyfilla upstairs to encourage me to 'get on with it'. This did not seem to be doing enough and I had plenty of spare time til my evening job, so decided to tackle the curtains.

These pierrot design curtains were purchased and erected by my teenage self when I had a pierrot craze following the enjoyment of watching 'The Good Companions' on TV, and later reading the book. I am now 50 years of age however, so even if the black and white coloring would not look too out of place in my 'new look' bedroom to be, and if washing 35 year old curtains would not be risky, the design is somewhat off putting. I prefer plain one-color drapes. The Medicine Buddha prayer flags I will retain, rinse thru, and re hang however.

These larger Tibetan prayer flags will also be rinsed and rehung once the room has been decorated. Also adorning the walls, I have a pair of etchings I was sent by a hotel I stayed at aged 18. These will probably be replaced after the painting, also.

Before getting much further, I decided to look into the built-in closet in order to see just how much stuff I would need to deal with - and whether to just shut the door or tackle it...

The slim new white closet that Liz gave me for Christmas 2015 stays! I love it and want to get all shiny white new furniture when I have painted and recarpetted the room.