New Kitchen Roof.

 Back at the end of October, we had a steady stream of Contractors & Builders,doing jobs around the place. I blogged about it here. We had the scaffolding put up around our Kitchen, so that the new roof could go on. Well I say new roof, but the old Slates were reused.

The first two pictures show the sorry state of the old roof. It has caused quite a few problems in the Kitchen, the worst being, that it has damaged my Kitchen Units. 

The Builders and Roofers, had to work with the weather and when it rained they couldn't work. It felt like the Antarctic, in the Kitchen while the Roof was off.

Its had all new Rafters, Battening and Insulation, Vents, Soffits and Guttering.

They finally finished the Roof, at the beginning of December and it was signed off by the Building Inspector. Then the Scaffolding came down.

I can't tell you how pleased and relieved we are, that it is now water tight.

I'm going to wait until after Christmas and then I'll redecorate in the Kitchen and in the Spring, when the weather warms up, I'll give the outside a lick of paint.

 

Shower Room & Kitchen

Spoke to our friend Val last night to see how her Mum Peggy was. She's recently come out of hospital. Val said that she's doing ok and currently staying with her sister Pauline. Hope your soon be fit & well again Peggy.

Our Kitchen is coming along and most of the base units are in now. Got to get the plumber back as the gas pipe needs moving about 2 inches so we can push the new cooker right back against the wall.

Still loads of painting to do, but the beams look so much better painted in the ivory colour instead of the black.

Once all cupboards are up on the wall & the doors are on the base units, I'll start emptying out the old units on the other side of the kitchen & we can finally take them out. We are going to move them down to the workshop for storage. Waste not, want not.

Then we will start on the back kitchen, which you can just see through the open stable door. The ceiling in that room needs to be replastered & that can't be done till the units are out.

I've also included some pictures of the downstairs shower room, so you can see how it turned out. This room was totally gutted. I've kept to the same tiles on the walls & floor as the upstairs bathroom. So much easier to clean, but I have to say the Tiler wasn't impressed when he had to cut them. We had to hire in an industrial cutter as they are porcelain and a normal tile cutter can't get through them. I love the shower room now, where as before it was like a dirty, dank, smelly cave, plus the boiler was housed over the sink. It was an accident waiting to happen. Every time you bent over to clean your teeth, you had to watch you didn't knock yourself out as you straightened up.

I'm Still Here...

Thanks to those of you that have emailed to make sure I'm OK. I am, Thank you for your concern, just been really busy as normal.
For the last couple of days I've been working on our real life Kitchen. I've been up the ladder painting beams and walls. Quite a major feat let me tell you. Our Kitchen was originally an outbuilding which is now attached to the house and is approximately 24ft long by 14ft wide and 15ft in height. If you read back in my blog, your know all the problems we had with damp, having to have all the new plaster knocked off, re-rendering, re-plastering, digging a trench right round the kitchen to stop the moisture getting in. Well it finally looks like we've solved all the problems, so I took it upon myself to give the whole Kitchen a flipping good scrub to get the mold off the walls and started repainting yesterday and finally finished it this afternoon. I'll take some more pictures to show you tomorrow, blinking batteries ran out on the Camera!
Just got to put up the other lot of lights on the beams, get the pictures up and then maybe I might spend a bit more time in there.. Well I think the Men in my life wish I would..LOL


x

Friday Fiasco

Well this morning started off well. Harry's bags packed and double checked to make sure he had everything he needed for camp, (especially his goodie bag containing Jaffa Cakes). Joanne arrived at 8.30am to finish off the pipework in the kitchens. Ben not at school today, due to his blistered feet and he now has a head cold. Took Harry to pick up point at 10.45am, made sure he was safe on board and then came back home. Rang Boot Sale Queen cause they've opened a new Wilkinson's,Wilko in Carmarthen today and knew Tash was going, she said they had loads of buy one get one free's. ( Told you Tash loves a bargain). Rang the insurance company re my condenser tumble dryer not working again said someone will be here Monday. Then got a call to say they had a cancellation and would be out today. Fantastic! Fitter arrived soon after and tumble dryer working again. Everything going great so far.....
Then it happened Joanne was refilling the system and the drainage valve on the radiator in the kitchen was still open and water gushed out all over the floor,and I mean gushed, but to make matters worse all the new kitchen units are stacked in that kitchen. There was so much water that it soaked straight into the boxes, at least 4 doors are water damaged. So we've had to mop up gallon's of water, open every box, wipe down every piece of the new kitchen and re stack it without any protection around it. The sooner these kitchens are finished the better, cause otherwise I can see the new units getting ruined before they've been fixed in.
On a lighter note I had a text from Harry at around 4pm saying that they were still travelling and they had made a sign for the mini bus saying Honk If Your Horny!!....

Work In Progress...

Yesterday, was a really miserable day, it just didn't stop raining and with the high winds was awful. Both the boy's are feeling ill at the moment, but Ben can't afford to have any time of school as he has some exams this week...
Have taken some more pictures of the Utility Room and the Farmhouse Kitchen. They are both still works in progress. As you can see in the utility room, Merlin our Newfie is after the cat's food, he's a bugger for doing it. Notice how he uses the washing machine as a step. definately caught in the act this morning. Still need to get tiles for the window sills, some painting needs finishing, kickboards need to go on and cornice/pelmet for cupboards.

In the Farmhouse kitchen, we still have to get the wall skimmed and finish painting the beams, but was unable to do that while the old kitchen units were in the way. Loads of painting to do, kickboards to go on, plus pelmet/cornice on the cupboards, plus my under cupboard lighting their another thing that have disappeared... (Remember the taps for the Utility room, well they turned up over Christmas, in a box in the workshop!!, need I say more?).

Wet Weekend

Its very wet here in Wales, its rained all weekend. Really wanted to get the paddocks finished but it tipped down. Decided that I'd make a start on the Farmhouse kitchen on Saturday. So mixed up some unibond to seal the new plaster and painted on as far as I could reach without using the ladder, cause the floor is too slippery if you've got no one there to foot it. Really need to use the scaffold tower to reach up the side walls and ceiling. Will be picking that up soon.
Rang Harry to see how he was enjoying camp, he said there was loads to do and he was having a great time and they had, had some good weather. I had a look at the Malvern Challenge website to see what was on this weekend www.sr-mc.org for them and it looks very entertaining.
Tanya rang me yesterday to catch up and she is hopefully coming up for a week in August, shes just waiting for her boss to confirm her holiday dates, shes trying to get the last 2 weeks, she can then decide what week she wants to come here. It will properly be the 1st week, which will tie in with Mick's birthday.
Today I've been back out in the kitchen doing a miss coat of paint over the unibond, looks so different already, looks so much brighter. Did take some pictures but need to load them on Ben's computer. Want to pop to Carmarthen this week to get some paint, want to keep the walls quite neutral but need a hard wearing paint because of the dogs. I really miss the kitchen, as its where we spend most of the day and don't use the lounge until the evening.
Harry should be on his way home now but won't be back until approx 8.30pm tonight. Bet he will be glad to get into his own bed and snuggle down tonight.

Catch Up..

Been told off for not writing my blog! So here goes.. The boys broke up from school on Thursday last week. Ben flew up to Scotland on Friday to see Katie, he wanted to be with her on Valentines day. He will be back on Friday. Harry had his friend Connor over on Saturday for the afternoon and evening. Fitted new fuse box out in the garage for the boot room and new electrics for the out buildings, we don't have to have an extension lead trailing from the house now...
Been spending lots of time outside as the weather has been beautiful.
We've now started to take the steps out down the side of the kitchen, which have been causing a major problem with damp, the way they had been built meant that any rain we get & we get loads in Wales, runs down the steps but up against the side of the kitchen wall. Harry's proved to be a dab hand on the Kango and there nearly out now. We are going to rebuild them, but making sure the water runs away from the kitchen wall. The first two steps have been laid but Storm managed to get through the barricade and leave her footprint, sorted that out then the cat did the same. Whats not helped is the cement mixer decided mid mix to stop! Luckerley we think its just the switch to the motor cause if you hold the button down it works! We are going to start on the fields this afternoon, they need the scarifier run over them before we fertilize them.
Harry's friend Paul is coming over this afternoon and is staying the night, so that will keep Harry occupied.
My car is due is MOT tomorrow, so thats got to go in early, as they need to change a tyre before they do the MOT. I'll take some pictures of the steps or lack of steps later and upload them. I'm off now to move some horses about so we can get the fields done....

Weeding yet again..

Been a nice day again, so been outside in the little paddock, doing you guessed it weeding. Found a few Rosettes of Ragwort again. They were priority to get out, don't want the Ponies getting poisoned. Then started on the Stinging Nettles, the roots on them have to be seen to be believed! Ended up digging a huge patch out of the grass. Racked it all over and then put down some grass seed, in the patches. Also finished putting in the last plants in the bottom of the bank. Did some more rendering on the outside of the Kitchen wall, that's another job finished!
We are due Rain tomorrow, so maybe I'll get some painting done in the kitchen. I wonder if the Kitchen will ever be finished?.

Kitchen

Thought I'd upload some pictures of the work in process in the Farmhouse Kitchen. As you can see its a bloody mess at the moment, but will look great once its completed. Thanks Geoff for doing the plastering for us.

Can't wait to rip those old units and hideous tiles off the wall. But can't do that until the new units are fitted on the other side of the kitchen. It will be a joy to use our new cooker as well, cause the one we are using at the moment is awful, when we first moved here, I had to use a wallpaper scrapper on it to get the caked in crap off and that was on the inside. Don't think it had ever seen one bit of oven cleaner! I'm also going to repaint the beams in a lighter colour cause I'm not a fan of the black and Mick said it will take too long to strip them back. Might just do the one over the window as a feature, but then again depends whats underneath and how many coats of paint are on there. Should have the scaffold tower here this weekend so will be able to get on with the painting.

Painting & Path

Well as I said yesterday the rendering on the outside of the Kitchen, is now completed. Just need to paint it all now. Took this picture today.
Its been raining here today, just as the weather man said, so I spent some time painting the beams in the Kitchen. Still got quite a bit to do, but its a really big room. Once the beams are completed, I can finally finish the walls.
The Kitchen was on track before we had all the trouble with the damp. So that's why we had to dig out the walkway all around the building. (See Archive February). Talk about a Saga..

Kitchen....

Colin finished the plastering this morning in the kitchen. Another job to tick of the list. Just got to wait for it to dry out before I can paint it, then we are on the homeward run. Really looking forward to it being finished. Miss having my Kitchen in full working order...
Merlin & Jasper stuck their heads over the Stable door to have a look. Bless him Jasper can just about see over the door, unlike Merlin who fills it.
Also picked up my car yesterday from the garage, my purse ended up over £300.00 lighter. Lets hope nothing else crops up...

Wheels On The Van...

Mark, the farmer that we brought the Caravan from called down to see us today, with a wheel for the Static Caravan. When we brought it, it only had one wheel on which we knew about and he lent us one of his, off another van when it was delivered so that we could move it into position. So now that we are ready for the van to be moved again he came down with a wheel to try on the van. Luckily, it fits so just need to clear out the van and get the man with his lorry to move it into its new position away from the house. Mind you its got to be cleared out, before he lifts it. God knows where I'm going to put everything! Just hoping that he can get it in the main drive ok. Tried ringing him today, but he's out on a job, so will give him a tinkle tonight.
The wall outside the kitchen has finally been built. It will be rendered and some coping stones put on top. Still got to build the steps in, up to the patio. Also waiting for our builder Colin to come and finish the kitchen, then I can get that straight. Went down to the local builders merchant yesterday, to get some cement and skim for the kitchen walls. Be really glad when its finished as the dust is getting me down.
Ben's been into school this morning, for one of his English exam's. Picked him up at 11.30am, after the exam was over, he said it went ok. Harry's come in tonight and he has had the results of one of his exams, he got a "B" in Music. He also wants to go to the Liberty Stadium on Friday with the school to watch the Rugby.

Rain Rain Go Away...

Well it has for today, but another lot due tomorrow!
Saturday, we popped into Carmarthen, to B & Q, so that I could get some more paint for the kitchen. Picked up the white paint and the cream for the walls, only to realise when I got home that I'd picked up the wrong colour! So will have to take another trip to swap it. While I was in B & Q, popped out to their garden bit, and boy did I spot a bargain. All the beautiful Lillie's had been reduced from £4.99 to 99p. Managed to find four pots that haven't been totally devastated by the rain. Also picked up a plant for the bank, another bargain at 99p, it looks a bit bedraggled but by the time I've split it and replanted it, I'm sure it will perk up. Properly get 4 smaller plants out of the one! Also picked up 3 trays of Pansies that had been reduced from £4.00 to 99p, these are also going to go on the bank. Don't you just love a bargain.
Today, while the rain has held off, managed to get the new guttering and facia boards up, along the outside of the Kitchen. Another job ticked of the list.
You can just see Merlin's nose in the picture of the trays of Pansies, well he was trying to get in the picture.

Another Frightening Experience

Talk about just had a really frightening experience, just hung up from talking to my friend Mary on the phone and Mick went out the kitchen to switch the kettle on and let the dogs out for a tinkle. Its chucking it down with rain. They all went out but only three came back in. Moses had disappeared. I had visions of Jade all over again. Called & called him but he didn't come in. Grabbed my coat & the torch and turned all the outside lights on. I ran down the yard screaming his name still nothing. Checked the fields nothing. Walked back down to the kitchen and noticed that the gate that leads up to the drive is open a bit. That's when total panic set in, just knew he'd gone down the drive to the road. Now as you can imagine there is no street lighting were we live and I had this awful feeling that he'd run into the road and be killed. I'm still calling him still nothing. Run back down and asked Mick to get the car as the torch was dying on me. I then went back out into the lay by and started walking down into the village. Mick then pulled up in the car and we drove down and took a little lane that leads down to the playing field. I've got the window open and I'm calling all the time. Suddenly Moses appeared by the side of the car. The shear relief. I jumped out of the car and quickly picked him up, as you can imagine, by now he is soaked to the skin and shaking. So I put him straight in the car and we drove home. Got him indoors and totally checked him over and he seems fine. Think he must have totally lost his bearings. He's now in his bed, drying off. Thank God he's safe...

Cobwebs & Crap....

Started getting out the old kitchen cupboards today, my god you should have seen the crap behind them and the cobwebs, good job I'm not scared of our Arachnoid friends. Have uploaded some pictures of work in progress...

I can't tell you the relief to be finally getting those horrendous tiles of the wall, they've haunted me since we've been here.... The whole kitchen had been very badly thought out, can you imagine having a sink in the middle of the work top but no drainer, where were you supposed to drain your dishes? Plus there was hardly space on the worktop to dish up. It looks like we are going to have to skim the walls, another bodge job we've uncovered, but I have to say its not as bad as I thought it was going to be... Mind you their not all out yet, so will have to see tomorrow whats behind the remainder....

Gloomy Sunday

The weather here today is awful, very overcast and misty, had some rain as well. Spoke to a couple of friends today back in Kent and its blazing hot there. Wish they could send some up here!

Spoke to Karen today and she has persuaded me to show one of the ponies at the Cardigan show on 1st August, rang the lady that deals with the show entries and she's allowed me to enter although the entries closed on the 11Th. Should be a giggle, never show before in my life so have no idea what I'm supposed to do, but Karen's daughter Lisa said that she would help me. Picking the new filly's up on Wednesday and Karen & Richard are bringing the Stallions over next weekend. So will have to make sure everything in order for them.

Spoke to a dear friend Carol today to catch up. Carol was very close to my Mum & Dad and has known me since I was a little girl. She's made me promise that I'll wear some makeup at the show.Hi Carol if your reading this. Size is the same.....Give my love to John & Dolly x

Spoke to Tanya today, it was Ayden's birthday yesterday and she'd taken him & Kiera down to Hastings for the day, but it took her four hours plus to get home as the motorway was shut due to a fatal crash. Caught up with all the news & gossip. Had a really good laugh over an incident that happened ages ago to us & Tanya, all I'll say is that Tanya was having one of her fishwife episodes at the time in Nuxley Village..

Also spoke to Ruth who lived in the next turning to us back in Kent, told me her Dad is suffering from Shingles, do hope he's better soon & also that my old Avon lady Bev's husband is in Kings hospital quite poorly. I wish him well.

Harry didn't go riding today, as it was miserable weather and he was tired. I rang Nicky to cancel and just hope the weather improves by next weekend.Ben had a great time with his friend on Saturday and has set up his new printer today, so he's well happy.

Took some pictures of the kitchen again today. You can see the difference painting the beams as made. Scaffolding tower had to come down so that we could move the boxes underneath the beams that have been painted, its going back up again tomorrow. Still loads of painting to do but its quite difficult trying to work round everything and still use the kitchen to cook in.

Catch Up!

Not posted for a couple of days been loads going on.

Sunday afternoon we had a knock from the gent who owns the cottage at the bottom of one of our fields, advising us that the cottage was unsafe and that builders would be here Monday to demolish the cottage, but would be leaving the back all up as this bordered our land and if any damage caused they would reinstate. Told him that if the builders needed to come in the field they could but to stay to the edges as we are growing hay.

Monday Harry didn't go to school as he was shattered after his trip away with the Scouts, he didn't get back to the pick up point until 9.30 on Sunday evening. He was covered in mud, so got him straight in the shower when we got home and then off to bed. He finally arose from his pit at 10.30 on Monday morning.

Monday morning the builders arrived to start taking down the cottage, went down and spoke to the builder who was on site and he advised me that they would reinstate any damage. Took my camera down and took loads of pictures for further reference concerning the boundary. Also went into Newcastle Emlyn to get passport form checked for Ben as he is going away with the school in October and travelling up to Scotland to see friends at the end of July. My Friend Di came over as well to check Sheamus and have a catch up on all the goings on.

Tuesday I booked Ben's & his friend's tickets online. Lets hope Ben's passport is here in time otherwise they need a form from the police station to verify their age and that I have agreed to let him fly unaccompanied. Work still continuing on the cottage and the wall was still there last night. Got a call from Many Tears Animal rescue who asked if I could do a home vetting for them at a house in Brongest, which is not far from us. Agreed. Rang the people and popped over to check everything OK, which it was.

Wednesday morning rang Many Tears let them know that home visit was OK, then went to Carmarthen. Called in the tile shop to see if they had any tiles I liked but wasn't that impressed with their selection. Went to B & Q managed to get the paint for the kitchen and a couple of bedside lamps for my bedroom that were reduced in the sale from £34.95 down to £7.65, I do love a bargain. Also got some other bits that we need for the kitchen. Called into Carmarthen Police station regarding this ID card and to start with they had no idea what I was talking about, then they understood what I wanted and told me to contact the Council who run the scheme in conjunction with the Police. Popped into see Tash the boot sale queen on the way home. Then we we got back went down to see the builders cause the boundary wall has gone and they have put up stock fencing quite some way into our field cause the land slopes down to where the cottage was and they couldn't put it on the boundary line else my horses could have stepped over it. Made them put in two posts on the boundary line and then measured from the end cottage on the row to see how much it was out by. It turns out to be between 4 & 5 Foot. (See Picture above) Told the builder that I want the owner to contact me regarding the boundary, because if he now sells that piece of land we are going to get trouble with the boundary line and I want either a retaining wall put back there or a high fence on his side. Again took loads of pictures and am awaiting a phone call from the owner. Rang the Council regarding the ID and eventually managed to speak to a really helpful lady who runs the scheme and she is putting the forms in the post for me this evening. Di rang me tonight in a bit of a panic, she had gone to pick up one of her mares from the stud yesterday and the lorry broke down, they thought it was the fan belt. So they brought a fan belt today took it over with them to the stud where they'd left the lorry overnight and it turns out to be the alternator. Could she borrow my trailer to get the horse & foal home. Of course I said yes and they came straight away to pick it up.

Welcome... Over 490

A very big Welcome to some more followers, there's nearly 500 of you now. I think I'll do a give away, when we reach the 500 Followers mark...

My new followers are:-
Mini Mago who's blog is called Mini Mago Inc. This is a new blog on the block, so Welcome to the blogosphere..
Minnie Kitchen who's blog is of the same name Minnie Kitchen and who is an aspiring miniature Food Artist. They also have an Etsy Shop.
Anna who's blog is called Schneewalski. Anna is currently making a Witches Cape. She also has a link on her blog for free printies.
Connie who has a number of blogs, so I'll just give one here Mi Trastero, which contains some wonderful vintage images and you can peruse the rest at your leisure.
Wanda who's blog is called So Mini Projects. Wanda has only begun blogging this month.
Nesli who also has a couple of blogs so here's a link to her Design one. Some lovely jewellery and hair accessories on there.
Christina who's blog is called Miniature Wonderland. Christina makes beautiful miniature Food.
Zahou Liangren now I'm not sure about this one. I think this could be the link Zakka Life, but I could be entirely wrong. Zahou if this is incorrect, would you leave your link in the comments, so that I can share with everyone.
And last but not least is Ayano who's blog is called Made In Charmyheim. Ayano makes Miniatures, Ball Jointed Dolls, Tiny Knit Animals and lots of other stuff.
As always please go over and say Hi...

I have been adding lots more links over on Tiny Treasures Mini Links Page. There are hundreds of Miniature Blogs and other useful links on there. It's getting to be quite a resource. I've had quite a few Artisans and Shops email me with their links, which I am more then happy to add.
If anyone has a link that they'd like to share, please leave a comment and I'll add it.

I'd also like to remind you all that Nikki started a blog a little while ago called Miniature Question & Answer. A mini place to ask and hopefully be answered. Nikki does one post a week and will cover a different topic each time. So if you haven't visited and want to pose a question or help answer a question, pop over and have a look.

More Ebay Items

I've spent most of today taking pictures of my miniatures and listing them on Ebay, you don't realise how long it takes having to write a description for every item and upload pictures.

Mick managed to get two kitchen units in today, still got loads of painting to do on the beams though, just hoping we don't have any mishaps with the paint pot! But need to get some up, so that we can move the other units to move the scaffolding tower. Its a big Kitchen but full of stuff. I've said that before I put anything in the new units, I'm going to have a real good sort out and get rid of what we don't use or need. Somewhere in the millions of boxes we still have to unpack is a new set saucepans. Suppose I'll find them one day, could be this year or in the next ten. I jest not. The trouble is that when my Mum & Dad died, I couldn't face going through their stuff so it all got packed into boxes which we put in storage and then brought straight from storage to here on the moving lorries, and its all still in boxes with our stuff, being stored in the boys play room over the stables & anywhere else we could find a gap. I did start sorting the stuff at the beginning of the year, but have got waylaid doing the house. Its a mammoth task and certain thing's still upset me when I get them out, so back in the boxes they go for another day. I don't want my boys having to sort it out if anything happens to me and we could do with the extra room, especially downstairs in the stable block.

Ben's going over to his friends to stay this evening and their going out tomorrow for the day. It's his last day of work experience today. Hope he wasn't working outside cause its been tipping it down all day.

Hopefully we are going to the local Tivyside Show tomorrow if it stops raining, will definately take the 4x4, incase we get stuck in mud on the fields. They normally have a tractor in attendance to pull you free from the mud. Boots and weatherproofs tomorrow I think.Glad I'm not showing any of our ponies.

Mick's Mum & Dad rang this afternoon from the Chalet for a catch up chat, they said they've got sunshine where they are, well could you send some up here please...

Wet Wet Weather...

Well I did go out to do food shopping on Friday and called into see Diane on the way home, to pick out our Christmas Tree. Decided on a 6ft this year, as once its in the stand and the fairy is on top it will be nearly 7ft anyway.
Harry enjoyed his trip out on Friday with his Rugby team, they played their match, showered and then had tea in the club house. They then watched the Osprey's beat Ulster and he got back to the school around 11pm.
Saturday Ben helped me move all the bottles of spirit from the kitchen out into the Utility room and sort out a load of bits from the cupboards. Loads of it needed to be washed as the building dust had got into all the old cupbaords.He also helped me with mucking out the stables, doing the wheelbarrow run for me. The ground is so muddy at the moment. We had a leak last night on the dishwasher and it was lucky Ben went out to the kitchen for something and noticed all the bubbles pumping out from under the dishwasher door, so we throw loads of tea towels on the floor to mop up the water. Its sorted now thank goodness.. The dishwasher was leaning forward to much and so the water was coming out the front of the door... Nothing is ever straight forward in this house. Its all level now and hopefully, its cured the problem. Well I hope it has.
Today I've been trying to catch up with washing and putting some more bits away. Caught up with a couple of friends on the phone in between Ben & Katie chatting..
The weather is appaling here at the moment, we've been getting really high winds and torrential rain, but at least we know that there are no leaks in the new roof...