House work and treasure!

Today, after a morning out Mike decided to pull some old panelling off the stairs to see what's beneath. The paneling is wallpapered and the paper is split so there is nothing to lose!

Hidden behind the boards, on a ledge is a small taped up package. The tape is very yellow and the paper has been nibbled by our pet silverfish!

I have met these guys before! I found and photographed their graffiti under paper in two bedrooms and in the living room, where the family left another date. They papered the living room a month before they hid this note! 

 

A 44 year old coin, which probably looked very new when it was hidden, as 1971 was the year that these coins first came into circulation. It was also the year I was born ...

House work ...

Here is my humble home, who's tired walls and chimney let in a lot of that horizontal rain this past winter ...

Here is mike doing some pointing! We knew that the chimney was badly in need of repointing and we found that it also needed repairs to the flashing. The other chimney had some attention when Mary was a baby. 

Over one or two very soggy says my bedroom wall ran with water and I'm left with some beautiful staining!

The scaffolding provided access to the whole side of the house. More issues were found which may well be the reason of damp in the corner of my room. 

As grey clouds approach again, the ground-out chimney was plastic wrapped to prevent more water damage until drier days again!

Opting to paint after the repointing, the house began to change colour. It's called Birch, and is a gentle shade of grey green , sympathetic to the stone clad buildings that also share our cul-de-sac. No magnolia or cream for me!

The red painted parts have also been reniewed too. 

Now the scaffolding tower is in place for me to create a special something on the front of the house! Any guesses? I'll share that with you soon!

House Work ...

With the three patchwork curtains finally finished, my living room looks ready for springtime!

From outside we appear to have delightful stained glass windows! These will be nice to come home to in winter, after choir practice!

One of my cushion-covers looked very worn so some curtain off cuts from a friend have remedied that! We also happen to like chickens anyway ....

Finally this Mother's Day card from school, provided inspiration for an Easter holiday joint family craft. It was made using markers and wallpaper samples ...

So we bought a canvas at value house and I dug out my own sample collection ...

Thanks to Daisy, Matty, Mary and Michael for making flowers with me :-)

Ground Works .... Watching Cement Dry ....

Day 10 - some star glazing .... Ben at work ...



Day 11 - Once the rotting old arched door was removed, the space really started to open up ... don't get me wrong, it was lovely and I do feel a bit bad about ripping it out, but it would have needed a lot of TLC, and we are looking forward to the extra space!



i see my coat hooks came in very handy during the work ... here is Ashleigh ...



here we are inside the porch, lots of men on site today, including a sparky and lots of veiws of yellow underpants ... I didn't catch the sparky, and I have spared you the underpants!



here is Mark back again, to drink some tea and ... erm ... :-)



and Ashleigh again, doing some work ...



Day 12 - Ben's long day ...



Remember my poor old front door? This very cold winter had really upset it, and the duct tape was to keep out the cold wind. And this door had always been protected by the outer, porch door!



Old Door, no more ... I like how the girls are all shorter than the new arched window ... hmmm, memories of BBC's Playschool!



New door from the porch side ... we like red!



Day 14 - Daisy was pleased to see Jamie back, along with Mike, to lay some slabs and poor my new porch floor ...
So now, im just watching cement dry, and longing to fill the space with wellies!

ground works ....

Day 3 - forgot to take any pictures ...
Day 4 - Spot the Window that was put in yesterday ...



four men on site ... that's a lot of builders' tea!



some ground work on the front lawn, so we can bury a new soak away. Our Hawthorn tree should enjoy this, and the birds that visit it ...



Mike and Jamie's last day on the porch building - for now ...



Daisy is going to miss Jamie!



Casualty - When Mike and Jamie cut the cast iron downpipe, the hot filings melted the glaze on this wessex fm mug, and the skin on the back of Jamie's neck!



Day 5 - The porch is now awaiting the glass parts ...



Daniel is working in the living room, and Mark, in Mary's room ...



slowly saying good bye to a lot of old plastic ... my house looks like it's opening its eyes wider!



Soon, my plan to disguise my house so it wont be recognised on google street view will all be revealed - (evil laugh) - I just watched Flash Gordon the other night, can you tell?

House Work ....

there will be no more blue paint on my house ...




becaue as you can see, damien and darren have been hard at work ... but dont worry, they didnt go up there in the high winds we have had this weekend !

what to do with exotic pruned leaves ....

build a den using the handle of your trampoline and some bits of wood ...

there are some guesses on the flickr photo of what my latest sewing project could be ... more clues tomorrow ....

pixie or sprite?

a title to make you think i have sewn or painted something cute!

this is the last of my pointing getting done, the bit above the front door, with its lovely arch, and is how i found vince this morning when i went to offer him a green tea. he was very pleased to be offered the green tea and happy for me to take his photo, altho he did keep posing even tho i told him not too ...

and for all you ladies out there, vince is also a fireman, and yes, he was up my scaffolding in shorts ...

face-lift

here is the huge erection i refered to last week,

its still up as i type, and there's a man on it doing-the-re-pointing!

yes, thats our house, can you hear the toddlers shouting and the baby crying?

just kidding, its never mad round my house!

i'll show you some more chickens soon

cat xxx