the flat
I'm so fed up of diy and doing the flat up. My hands are raw from all the scrubbing at the end of the day. Still it shouldn't take too much longer now. The bedroom has been given two coats of lilac paint. The paint came free from my boyfriend (he had loads of it lying around spare from his parent's place) and he did the two coats too! Today he changed the taps on the bathroom basin as well as the second coat in the bedroom. We just need to figure out which one of the three stopcocks is for the water for the flat as the bath taps don't have isolation valves. Luckily the kitchen does so he can change that one, but we'll do it last.
I'll probably get my family friend plumber/electrics chap to do that one as well as change the light switch in the living room.
All that is left to do is give the living room a second coat, kitchen cupboards need painting, kitchen tap needs changing, woodwork (inc five doors) need painting and hang two light fixtures. Then a good scrub and clean in the flat and put in the furniture. Although the bed needs staining (though I may not bother) and the table needs a coat of paint. Install bath panel.
So far, I've fixed a window, torn down blinds and curtain poles (not to mention the grossest curtains you can imagine*), filled all the holes, caulked all the skirting boards, primed them all, primed the kitchen cupboards (inside and out) installed a new cooker, given the living room and hallway one coat of paint, the bedroom two and painted the walls on the inside of the fitted wardrobe. Oh and removed a tiled bath panel. Until I read it like this, it doesn't seem loads, but the amount of time and energy it has taken is unbelievable. I spent 4 hours removing 5 blinds and another couple of hours removing the curtain poles! Supergluing blind fixings is not a good idea and I'd like to shoot the idiot who did it. Equally rusted curtain poles with the pole fixed to the pole holders (don't know their proper name) and seriously tightened and rusted wasn't fun to try unscrew. It took several sprays of WD40, swearing and brute force to loosen them enough to get the curtains pole off. Luckily, I didn't have to all of this by myself but mum has done a bit of cleaning, priming of skirting, the front of the kitchen cupboards and a bit of cleaning. She also helped me remove the plywood that the tiles on the side of the bath were adhered to and removed the last 6 tiles I had not strength left to do.The bf did the bedroom walls (2 coats) and ceiling, hall and living room (1st coat), changed the taps. He also helped put the sofa together and removed a few of the blind fittings I couldn't do myself. The rest, I've done on my own. The electrician fitted the cooker and fixed the bathroom light as I wasn't messing with electrics! I feel pretty proud of myself, but I'm equally fed up of doing diy!
I was really hoping the flat would be done by now or at least by the end of the week, but it will be end of next week more likely, I do know that I need to get away and have a complete rest after this over, so I think I'll go to my uncle's flat in Nice and just sleep and rest and do a bit of shopping for me, not the flat. I love roaming around the market there and buying fruit and veg as it is so lovely and fresh. The boyfriend has been fantastic and so helpful, but I'd still rather not take him with me on this trip. I think it'll be heaven to have 2 or 3 days to myself with no one around to talk to or consider. I'm fed up of waking up every morning with aching muscles and going to bed with more aching muscles. Just a couple of days to please myself and NO blinkin' diy!
*Seriously, I think there was more cat hair on the curtains than there was left on the cats that the previous tenant owned!
I'll probably get my family friend plumber/electrics chap to do that one as well as change the light switch in the living room.
All that is left to do is give the living room a second coat, kitchen cupboards need painting, kitchen tap needs changing, woodwork (inc five doors) need painting and hang two light fixtures. Then a good scrub and clean in the flat and put in the furniture. Although the bed needs staining (though I may not bother) and the table needs a coat of paint. Install bath panel.
So far, I've fixed a window, torn down blinds and curtain poles (not to mention the grossest curtains you can imagine*), filled all the holes, caulked all the skirting boards, primed them all, primed the kitchen cupboards (inside and out) installed a new cooker, given the living room and hallway one coat of paint, the bedroom two and painted the walls on the inside of the fitted wardrobe. Oh and removed a tiled bath panel. Until I read it like this, it doesn't seem loads, but the amount of time and energy it has taken is unbelievable. I spent 4 hours removing 5 blinds and another couple of hours removing the curtain poles! Supergluing blind fixings is not a good idea and I'd like to shoot the idiot who did it. Equally rusted curtain poles with the pole fixed to the pole holders (don't know their proper name) and seriously tightened and rusted wasn't fun to try unscrew. It took several sprays of WD40, swearing and brute force to loosen them enough to get the curtains pole off. Luckily, I didn't have to all of this by myself but mum has done a bit of cleaning, priming of skirting, the front of the kitchen cupboards and a bit of cleaning. She also helped me remove the plywood that the tiles on the side of the bath were adhered to and removed the last 6 tiles I had not strength left to do.The bf did the bedroom walls (2 coats) and ceiling, hall and living room (1st coat), changed the taps. He also helped put the sofa together and removed a few of the blind fittings I couldn't do myself. The rest, I've done on my own. The electrician fitted the cooker and fixed the bathroom light as I wasn't messing with electrics! I feel pretty proud of myself, but I'm equally fed up of doing diy!
I was really hoping the flat would be done by now or at least by the end of the week, but it will be end of next week more likely, I do know that I need to get away and have a complete rest after this over, so I think I'll go to my uncle's flat in Nice and just sleep and rest and do a bit of shopping for me, not the flat. I love roaming around the market there and buying fruit and veg as it is so lovely and fresh. The boyfriend has been fantastic and so helpful, but I'd still rather not take him with me on this trip. I think it'll be heaven to have 2 or 3 days to myself with no one around to talk to or consider. I'm fed up of waking up every morning with aching muscles and going to bed with more aching muscles. Just a couple of days to please myself and NO blinkin' diy!
*Seriously, I think there was more cat hair on the curtains than there was left on the cats that the previous tenant owned!