Small home improvements

Hello! First of all, can I say thank you for all the lovely comments you leave me on this blog. It means so much and I really appreciate it.

I wanted to share a few small-ish home improvements that we have finished this winter and spring. Most of these have taken months and months to actually be completed but it is nice to tick some jobs off the list. (I love a list.) We have lived in this house for nine years now and still have not done much of the work we would like to do. Rooms constantly need to be decorated, leaks mended, plumbers and roofers phoned.

I'll start with the airing cupboard. This deep cupboard goes into the eaves from Angus's bedroom and goes back a surprisingly long way. It used to house a huge hot water tank which took up most of the space, and was really good for drying washing. However, a year ago, maybe longer, we replaced our very old boiler with a new combi-boiler, which was re-sited down in the garage. The upside to this was instantly improved water pressure, hotter radiators and cheaper gas bills, but the downside was no more hot water tank. When it was removed it left lots of holes in the walls and floorboards which we ignored for many, many months. 

We pulled up and threw out the scrap of carpet and John filled all the holes in the walls. My Dad repaired some of the broken and damaged floorboards and then Mum and I painted the whole space, walls, ceiling and woodwork, with white paint. 

John laid some ply boards on the floor, over the floorboards, and attached a plug-in wall light. Then my Dad built us some slatted (for air flow) shelves and put up a pole for hanging clothes. A team effort.

The storage is brilliant.

Shelves for towels on one side and bedding on the other, and everything clean and dust free. Handily, some hot water pipes still run through the cupboard helping to air everything. 

Next, the bathroom. Now, we had no intentions to do anything at all with the bathroom, We had a new shower, sink and toilet installed in December 2019 and as far as we were concerned, it was finished. However, we had been noticing damp appear in the bathroom and realised we had a slow leak which had been leaking into the wall between the bathroom and kitchen for a very long time.

John chiselled out the pipework, got a plumber in to fix the pipes and then left it to dry out. This is what our bathroom looked like from October to February. I stopped noticing it after a while.

Finally it was filled and sanded by John and then painted by my lovely mum and I. The final joy was the reinstallation of the towel rail - not more cold towels! 

While we were doing work, John added some more tiles to the foot of the shower - that wall gets much more splashed than we thought it would when we had the bathroom fitted - and we decided to change the paint colour since we were going to have to re-paint anyway.

The final step was to add a couple of shelves to the wall above the toilet for extra storage, something our bathroom is always lacking.

Next, the kitchen. I think I already showed you the wooden strips we added to the end panel in the kitchen.

(Can you see the water damage from the leak on the wooden floor? It will fade as it drys out.)

You can see where Ziggy chewed the panel when he was a puppy. We've looked at it like that for about seven years then finally, over February half term, I had the idea to cover it up with some strips of wood. We used pine (cheaper) which we stained with oak oil.

I liked it so much that I persuaded John to add some more to another corner of the kitchen.

We have had these shelves by the window for years. I thought they were going to solve all my storage problems but sadly they just became a dust trap and dumping ground, plus the veneer was going all yellow round the edge.

We took down the shelves, filled the holes and painted. Then, we set to work fixing more pine strips to this white, shiny end panel. We stained the pine strips beforehand, then cut them to size before attaching them. We used tile spacers to keep the spacing consistent. 

 

Finally I added a little lobster decoration from here. 

I love the warmth the wooden tones bring to the kitchen. When we had it fitted we wanted everything clean and white. I don't regret choosing the kitchen but would certainly choose something completely different (warmer, a softer colour, less clinical) today.

Pre-Christmas

Have you put your tree up yet? Maybe a wreath on the door? No, me neither. Nor have I written a single Christmas card. Not because I don't want to, but I just haven't had time yet. Christmas is entering this house quietly so far this year: baking mince pies at the weekend, making a few decorations, doing a little easy pre-Christmas crafting. It's very soothing. 

I have been drying oranges. Slice them approximately 1.5 cm thick then bake for 3 hours at around 120 degrees C, turning once halfway through. You can put them on a rack or on greaseproof paper, both work. Low and slow is key though, otherwise they catch a little. The house smells amazing while they bake - like marmalade.

I will turn most of these into garlands, but I used one to make a little hanging star decoration. I can't remember where I bought the metal star, but I wanted to turn it into something a little more decorative. 

I sawed off a couple of sprigs of greenery from the artificial tree in the loft, added some fake red berries from an old door wreath, then a dried orange slice and I much prefer it now.

I spent a lovely afternoon making paper stars with Bella last weekend. She doesn't usually want to do stuff like this with me anymore, so when she seemed keen I jumped at the chance. This video shows you what to do. You can use paper bags for large stars or those small money envelopes for smaller ones. You layer them on top of each other, glueing as you go, then cut the top into a point, open it out, and.....

...hey presto! Aren't they beautiful. Probably some of the easiest and most effective crafting I have ever done.

I've just made a quick crochet star garland (it's blocking at the moment) and a very easy piece of embroidery hoop art to hang in the hall temporarily. I find that Christmas always brings out an urge to get creative and do some crafting. I think it's to do with trying to carve out small moments of calm in such a busy time of year. I know that this Christmas isn't busy with the usual socialising and packed calendar, but I still feel pressured with work and my course.

We are planning to buy our tree this weekend but I have been up in the loft, bringing down little decorations like the advent calendar and nativity scene.

I bought it when Bella was a baby and we get it out every year. The children used to love playing house with it when they were small, and I'd regularly find Playmobil figures and toy cars in the manger. When I brought it down, they both really wanted to unpack and arrange it. I thought it was quite sweet.

I made more mince pies from this recipe, and will be making them every weekend between now and Christmas. The recipe gives the most biscuity, sweet pastry and, since they are baked in a muffin tin, they don't overflow everywhere when they bake so you don't have to chisel them out of the baking tray.

We lit the advent candle on Sunday night. This is another one of my favourite, quiet, pre-Christmas things to do. We always light it when we sit down for our Sunday night dinner.

Crochet socks are almost finished. I am taking so much pleasure in using up every last scrap of wool. I divide my leftovers into two, and crochet both socks simultaneously. This way I know I have enough yarn for matching socks, and I don't get bored by the thought of crocheting a second sock.

This one is suddenly obsessed with draughts and the board game Othello. We have had quite a few games on the coffee table in front of the fire. He always beats me.

The weather has taken a distinctly wintry turn this week.

The drop in temperatures seems fitting though, given how wintry the local countryside is looking at the moment.

This was taken on walk last Sunday afternoon. Happiness, apparently, is swinging on a dodgy looking rope swing out over a really large crater in the woods while your mother looks on, horrified.