Chimney Breast Plastered and Wallpapered

So it was not a totally easy job to plaster up the fireplace but I gave it a go. I knew that the plastering did not have to be completely perfect as I was going to wallpaper the chimney breast so that gave me the leeway to actually do it myself rather than getting a plasterer in to do a perfect skim job. I have to say I didn't really enjoy the plastering but I got the job done. I will say that I probably won't bother trying that again myself!

Anyway, I had one roll of wallpaper which in theory should have been enough just to do the chimney breast. I got it in the sale so there was no other option but to do it right as if I messed up there was no spare! In my last house I had wallpaper with a big pattern and I messed one length of that up and had to go and buy another roll just for that at a cost of £17 so needless to say that this time I was going to be triple checking everything!

This one also had a biggish pattern on it and although the label said that the repeat was at 26.5cm, I am not totally sure how they measure that as when I measured it, it was double that!

So, although it was a bit stressful matching it all up and making sure I cut it right, at the end of it, the wallpaper did look pretty good and I managed not to mess it up! I still need to do the skirting board pieces that will go on the front and then I can fix the fire on to the wall once the new carpet is in.

This is what the chimney had originally:

Renovation Update!

OK so it has been a while since I have updated here. I think this is because now that the main things have been done like the kitchen and the bathroom, it is the annoying and time consuming things that are left! There are plenty of those.

So, in the past few weeks I have started painting a lot of the woodwork. That is going to take a bit of time as a lot of it needs to be stripped back first before it can be painted. I have done probably about half that is needed on the doors and some of the door frames.

Bedroom 2 - Nothing exciting but at least it is finished!

Also, as of last week the second bedroom is complete. I got a carpet fitted (neutral tones of course) and have now set it up as my office. With this done I moved a lot of the stuff that was in the bedroom, into the lean to, so it is now all clean and tidy. the lean to is also more organised with decorating materials and tools on a big shelving unit.

The main lean to off the kitchen is currently being used as an art studio and eventually this will have to be shifted out when that gets a make over, but for now it does me quite well as it does not matter if I mess it up!

I have also been working on plastering the fireplace in the living room and will hopefully be in a position to put wallpaper on the chimney breast in a few days time. Then I can get the living room carpeted (with some help from friends to move out all the furniture hopefully!).

There is still a lot of work to do in the garden. Like all gardens it doesn't matter how much you weed, they still come back! I need to continue cleaning the paving slabs as well but I feel that winter may now get in the way of some of the outdoor plans.

Kitchen Painted & Central Heating Connected

So this last week I have painted the kitchen and some internal doors (looks like those are going to need 3 coats each). I chose a light olive green colour for the kitchen and I really like the way it has come out.  Now I just need to get the floor down and that should happen in the next couple of weeks, then the kitchen will be finished.

Also this week all of the work on the central heating was finished and the pipework connected to the boiler. All I need now on that front is for the gas supply to get connected which will happen tomorrow morning. National Grid put in the pipe and the meter box last Friday and Eon will be putting in the meter tomorrow.

Once the central heating is up and running and I have hot water at last I will carpet up the 2nd bedroom. That is all decorated (although might need a touch up now that the builders have finished) and then I can make that into a proper study. It will be nice to have that room finished, which will add to the bathroom which is pretty much done except for painting the door.

So, there is still plenty of work to do and sometimes it seems never ending but at least I can see progress happening. I am going slightly over budget as the kitchen cost a bit more than planned so that is a worry but I'll just have to find the cash, get it finished and get it back on the market.

There was a bungalow up for sale down the road for £139,995 and that now appears to be sold but it does have a conservatory and a garage so maybe I am looking at £130-135k as a potential sale price.