More plastering today

Another day and we're back to the update. Another short one today so let's get to it.

Bekir starts working on the shelf supports

Halil starts plastering for the day

Bekir working in tight spaces

Lots of cleaning!

Looking at the leaky tap

Shiny new tap

Bekir plasters inside the new window

When the men arrived I asked Bekir to pop up into the roof to swap the uprights that were the wrong size for the supports however because the screw holes were in a different place it was better to ask him to do the drilling. While he was doing that Halil mixed up plaster and got stuck into applying the second layer. Bekir joined him as soon as he could and went into the really low area to do the plastering in there. Angela was getting a really good deep clean going on in the kitchen which is looking great! Mid afternoon Angela noticed that the tap in the kitchen was leaking so Bekir had a look and found the broken part however we were not able to source a replacement so got a new tap instead. We'll now get the old tap repaired and it can be held in reserve for another application. The final task for Bekir was working on the outside of the new window. Halil was just plastering and plastering all day.

Rosie with Sammy

When we got home from school there was time for a visit to Sammy and then a little playing outside before we got to our Lord of the Rings video.

So there you are; thanks for reading and back tomorrow!

Onto another project

Today has been another busy and successful day so let's get to it.

Halil doing some sanding

More sanding going on

Measuring for cutting the shelf

Painting bezir on the shelf

The shelf is looking great

First off Halil was sanding down around the holes through for the model railway which isn't quite finished even now but is just being done a little every day. I think tomorrow there may be some more sanding required and then it should be done. Meanwhile Bekir was working on the shelf for Angela in her art room. He cut wood, then treated it with stain and finally, later in the day when the stain had finally dried, he fitted it in place. It is going to be perfect for storing things for Angela while she does her art.

Tidying offcuts away

Filthy and needing tidying

The old Christmas Tree base

Lifting the table saw out

Shoveling the dust out

Tiles shifted out of the way

The new project we started today is to clean out, refloor and plaster in the storage area under the stairs. This is a huge producer of dust (the school used to store coal in there so it was filthy) and today we cleared it out, threw some things out and stored some other stuff. This cross that I had used years ago to secure a gate to prevent the puppies going in turned out to be the old base for the Christmas Tree for the school, so I've put it up with the Old School things in the roof. The table saw that SandS gave me has been moved out to the wood shed so I can use it to cut up firewood and loads of dust and rubbish was removed. This has been where we store our spare tiles as well so they were all shifted out and now are stacked under the windows in the entrance.

Halil sweeps dust around

Trimming the slightly high section

Big pile of rubbish back here

New stones spread, but the back is low

That's how low it is

Big lumps of rock to fill in

Stones have filled the end

The work in the cupboard under the stairs is so dusty and horrible. I did persuade Halil to put a mask on which made me feel happier. They shifted all the dust and then worked on getting a level for the floor. Most of the floor is low enough but there was a little lip that needed chiseling out. Round the corner, however, was so incredibly horrible. They had to dig out many wheelbarrows of rubble and rubbish. With that all done they found that the far end of the floor really dropped away a lot, and using the laser they decided to get some big rocks from our rock pile outside to fill the hole before they spread the smaller pebbles as they had over the rest of that area. This was completed before the end of the day.

Rosie helped Angela finish the tree

We covered the room with tinsel

Lifted the tree inside the railway

Rosie loves the tree

Rosie sitting looking at the display

And now in the library

The last couple of days Angela has been decorating the trees in the lounge and library and yesterday I went mad with tinsel in the lounge with Rosie and the lounge was looking amazing. Today Angela finished the tree in the library and Rosie is loving both trees, and all the other stuff we've got to make it festive.

Xena thinks she's a parrot, clearly

Taking one of two broken fridge/freezers

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of other stuff. First of all Xena being a parrot-dog with Angela, and finally the men loading Thomas up with a load of rubbish they're taking. Tomorrow they will be bringing our cement mixer back (I'd actually forgotten we had leant it out) so needed Thomas anyway.

Tomorrow should be cement pouring day under the stairs - very exciting indeed. Thanks for reading and back tomorrow.

So much progress today

Today has been one of those days where loads gets done in a sudden rush so let's get to it.

Louise snuggling this morning, Xena in the background

Checking the wound on our white chicken

Let's start off with a couple of very different animal pictures. This morning Louise and Xena were cuddling me as I attempted to wake up before taking Rosie to school. Then last night I found one of our chickens was bleeding from a wound on its leg. This morning I showed Bekir who had a look and later on got something from the vet and treated her. She seems OK, so hopefully she will recover quickly.

Starting to drill for the shelf

Drilling the final shelf

Replacing the Hobbit Hole

Delicate BFG repairs

The attempt to purchase enough shelf supports by Halil on his way home last night failed due to the shops not having enough and this morning they went to three local shops and bought them out to get just enough for the teddy shelf in Rosie's room. With these now finally in hand Bekir drilled and affixed all the shelves in place and they look great. It was then lots of tidying and moving of tools, as well as putting the hobbit hole back in place and finally refixing the BFG to the wall in the bedroom where the dust had peeled it down. Finally; the project in Rosie's Rooms is done!

Bekir recovers a couple of guitar hooks

Keeping the dust tidy

My guitars are looking great!

Putting some shelf supports up

Removing a panel for Dutch's home

Cutting for a door flap

With this task completed the  men went straight into the roof to hang the guitars on the wall up there and they flew through this task. We had to take the two down from the wall in the lounge and then we together worked out the spacing and they set to. I'm so happy about how they look, it's amazing to see them up and of course now I want more. I also shifted one of the green chairs over to by the window and sat watching them work. With the guitars up they put up some shelf supports for me (I think I'll have my record player and amplifiers on there) and they used my new laser level to make it look great. With this done they even had time to do another small job. We've decided that Dutch is going to have his bed in the old toiler reservoir shed outside the kitchen door so we got Bekir to remove a panel from the doorway and Angela measured and cut some old material to hang over the front to keep the weather out. She'll do some sewing of this, put some weights in the bottom, and then tomorrow we can attach it and move Dutch in there.

Flowers on the pea plants

Rosie's Teddy display!

Angela cleans the top of the units

Rosie cleans the bottom sections

After school I snapped a picture of the pea flowers on Rosie's raised bed. We are forecast a huge (and I mean huge) dump of snow in the next week so hopefully they survive! With Rosie I sorted through her teddies and got them all lifted up onto her shelf and she has barely any room for any other teddies! It was then time to clean the new storage while I was building the boxes that will go into these spaces. I also have a brought a load of her toys in and stacked them up but I don't have pictures of that.

So there it is. What a great day. Let's see what tomorrow brings. Thanks for reading and back tomorrow.