Finishing carpets, and a few other jobs

I didn't do the update last night as I went out so this one is going to cover two days. Let's get to it.

Finishing off the cutting and measuring

Fitting the edging, with more flame thrower

Yesterday was very much one task through the day. Bekir and Halil focused on finishing the edging for the stairs. This involved lots and lots of cutting, bending, drilling, cleaning up and just loads and loads of faff. It made the day feel slow, however I was so pleased they were actually holding down the edges of the carpet and finishing it off perfectly. In the evening I headed out to see my friend and had a lovely couple of beers and a meal. I'd not seen him for so long it was great to catch up.

Frosty start to the day

Set for our breakfast

The metal edging all done

Edging the base of the pillar

Working on the weights machine

It was the first cold night here last night and there was frost when we got up. We both dropped Rosie at school and went for breakfast at the little cafe again, which was a great way to start the day, and when we got back the men were already in and working on the final four or five edges down the bottom of the stairs. Bekir then did another small couple of edges around the bottom of the pillar, for example. While he was doing that, I asked Halil to have a quick look at some missing bolts and other bits on the weights machine as we are now getting our little gym into useable shape. They had to pop out to buy some more washers but it's now all operable and looks great.

Halil shifts the Hobbit Hole

Bekir getting the drilling done

Getting everything in place

Electrical work starting

Halil sanding the beams

Drilling and hoovering

Hoovering everything up

Wiring the plugs into the main switch

After lunch the men did a small task in Rosie's room, moving the Hobbit Hole into her bedroom, and lifting her knick-knack shelf a little higher. This is to make room for some new storage units we have bought, that arrived today, with storage boxes so we can help her keep everything tidy and stop things getting trodden on. With that done Bekir went back up to work on wiring the two double plugs in the end vestibule upstairs, shortly to become the music room, while Halil did some more sanding of the beams above the stairs. Bekir then realised there was a little more edging to do, at the doors into the store area on the left, before he want back to the wiring. Halil was then hoovering and tidying up loads after his sanding. They ended the day with all the electrics in and I was bringing my guitars, and the hooks, up as that'll be the next thing to do. I also need to get shelving brackets for all the storage I want up there; next week will be very exciting indeed.

Mountain Goat Rosie Roo

Dancing after finishing her jigsaw

I'll leave you with two pictures of Rosie after school. First of all I went out to find her as she was out playing with Dutch and found her climbed up and stood on the side of the outside sink. She was very proud of herself and even got down to climb back up and show me how she did it. After it got too cold and dark to play outside we went inside and did two jigsaws before dinner. Fun times.

So there it is. It's Friday so I won't be back until Monday. Thanks for reading and have a good weekend.

More carpet onwards

Another day of on and off progress so let's get going.

How the men left the end of the day

First of all I found out this morning that the men had got a bit further yesterday than I realised as they had cut all the lengths for the skirting board around the middle landing. Awesome.

Drilling while vacuuming the dust

Tidying up after sanding down

Underlay going into the storage

Now the carpet is going down

Now Bekir fits the skirting

The first thing the men did was fitting the skirting board on the middle landing; they were keeping it really tidy by drilling while also running the hoover in next to the drill bit. Clever. Next up Halil got the sander out and cleaned up the beam to remove all the splinters from it. While he was doing that, Bekir was in the second storage area putting underlay and carpet down inside, and then got started on the skirting board however they did run out of some items so they had to head out to get more.

Bekir works out the materials

And now to the bottom

Once I realised they were not working on the edging for the stairs I made sure to go over the fact that I really want the sides of the steps to be held down and prevent from fraying. We went through a few iterations of materials and ended up using the same metal strip as we used for the other side of the stairs. This is what they spent the rest of the day working, though Halil did sand another beam down.

Rosie cooks for me in her cafe

I'll leave you with a picture of Rosie cooking me breakfast lunch and dinner all at the same time in her little cafe. She's a star.

That's it. Thanks for reading. Back tomorrow.

Edging the stairs

Today has seemed like slow progress however it's been lots of annoying fiddly things that take a long time to complete.

Bekir working out where to drill

Yet more flames

The top step is finished nicely

Metal edging down the side of the stairs

Halil drills each metal strip

Getting towards the top

First for the day was to get the strip attached below the highest step that they had been fighting with yesterday. Halil again heated that rod over and over again during the day to melt holes through the carpet. The strip really did finish up that step nicely. Next up was the super fiddly job of putting the edge on the steps on the open side. This involved cutting and bending and drilling and melting and drilling and hammering and screwing. Over and over again. By the end of the day they had completed all that side. Tomorrow I think they'll be working on the other side of the steps.

Xena running behind me mowing

Nice striping

At lunch time I took Mo the Mower out onto the top bank and cut down the dry grass which were covered in seeds and had been sticking to Rosie who has been enjoying playing with Dutch and Xena up there.

So there it is. Back tomorrow and thanks for reading.

Big storm, back to carpeting

We're back into the week again and so with another long update that I need to get stuck into so let's get to it.

The taste of Christmas has arrived

Lots of water through the wall

A rainbow shows up

First time I've seen sheep on our hill for AGES

Checking out our storm damage

The storm disappears into the distance

Rosie holding frozen peas in place

Candles for lights

We had a huge storm forecast for Saturday so before it hit I went out with Rosie to the shops and most excitingly I found marzipan stollen. Christmas is coming! We got back and then the storm hit. I took that video and then answered my question from in the video by walking upstairs and hearing the sound of watering pouring through the window in Angela's art room!!! There was then a short but very intense period as Angela and I rushed around with towels and mops and a bucket cleaning up the water, and cleaning out the window drains when the wind slowed slightly. We got ahead of it, but it was exciting for a while. Once the storm passed there was a lovely rainbow, which turned into a faint double rainbow after some time, and then it was a beautiful sunny afternoon. I headed back into town to get some more spray paints for the pine cones we were planning to use as Christmas decorations. It was after this that we found some damage from the storm - a ridge tile had come off and landed on the patio. It was such a lovely evening with a beautiful view of the storm as it flew off into the distance. The next drama of the day was Rosie hopping along and headbutting the wall really hard. She got an instant egg but she is fine so that was a relief. I was just settling down to a painting session while Angela and Rosie had a girly film night when the lights flickered and went off. We got all the candles out and lit and then found out that something in the house had tripped the switch. I reset it and our evening went swimmingly from there.

Sunrise was beautiful this morning

Setting the fire off

Rosie watching the flames

An awesome tasty breakfast

Thelma being doctored

More storm aftermath

Three doggies playing hard

Relaxing in the sun (and wind)

Sunday was a busy morning. I was out pretty much straight away, as the sun came up, taking lots of cardboard that we have been collecting waiting for rain. I got it lit and later on Rosie joined me to watch it burn, then it was inside and I cooked breakfast including giving Rosie her first taste of fried bread and she liked it. At some point during the day Thelma came to see me and she was bleeding from her wound. I panicked a bit but when Angela got back from taking Rosie to the park (what a great idea and she had a LOVELY time!) she just cleaned it and put a bandage on. Later on I was outside playing hide and seek with Rosie when I saw lots of water in the wheelbarrow. After playing we both sat on the patio watching the puppies playing and enjoying the late afternoon sun. A lovely way to end the day.

Bekir checking any damage we had from the storm

Getting underlay in place

Carpet being dragged into shape

Blowtorch and heating a rod

The hot rod makes a hole in the carpet

Bekir sharpens his knife

Carefully drilling for the top step profile

So we finally reach today. First thing the men checked out the damage on the roof (but they didn't get to fixing it today) and then they were on to doing the second section of the stairs. First it was double sided tape and then insulation (which was JUST not wide enough so he had to add about 10cm to make it fit) and then they fought the carpet down the stairs. I finally managed to get a picture of Halil heating up the metal rod and Bekir using it to drill through the carpet which is a really cool technique. After all the fitting was done Bekir went down the whole carpet and trimmed the edges with his knife, which ended up getting blunt and he had to keep sharpening it. The final task, which was a bit of a pain, was to fit the angle at top of the stairs. The cement crumbled at one point however they were able to recover and use some insulation to patch it up and ended with this completed as well, near enough.

Pine cones sprayed silver

Pine cones sprayed gold

Goodbye sun

When Rosie got home from school we went outside together and sprayed the cones with silver and gold spray paint. They look great and tomorrow we'll spray with the sparkle spray paint I picked up on Saturday. As we were doing this the sun was setting in a beautiful display.

So there it is; a pretty good weekend to be honest, and a good day today.