Finishing before a short break

What a busy day, and a lot achieved. It's my mate's birthday and we're going to have a virtual pub this evening so I'm going to crack on as quickly as I can before I join in.

Bekir starts sanding down the wood

Sally masking off for painting

Taking the doors for cleaning

We have a coat hook rack thing

Doors getting a good clean

Still sanding down

We were outside enjoying the morning when the men arrived and got stuck in to the final day before their long weekend (though Bekir tells me it won't be a holiday for them as they have lots of work to do in their own village). Bekir's job which took nearly all day was to prepare the wood that will go on the tops of the banisters for the spiral staircase. Rosie is growing fast and is not far off banging her head on the really sharp metal end now so this is slightly more urgent than it was. Sally and Halil were in the porch doing the final finishing touches such as touching up the paint, taking the inner doors off to be cleaned and putting up the coat hook next to the door. Angela went to town with Rosie in the morning as well and got back for lunch after a lovely time; I'd spent the morning hobbying getting a few bits done. Angela has bought me an electric strimmer as the petrol ones, as awesome as they are, are noisy smelly and loud and getting the petrol mix right is something I'm not confident about. The new strimmer is great, though, and I had a quick play before it was time for Rosie's nap.

Hoovering up around the doors

Filling holes

Puppies sunbathing

Light fitting in place

Sally adding more sealant

And yet more sanding

Hand chisel work

After lunch the tidying continued and the doors were put back on. Bekir was still mainly working on the hand rails. It was a lovely day all day, getting quite hot at times but at others with a welcome breeze. The puppies really are loving it very much. The final touch for the men in the porch was to hang the light and then they were done inside. Sally was on the roof putting a little bit more waterproofing in. Bekir, while Rosie was sleeping, took the sander round onto the parking area to keep the noise down (bless that was very thoughtful). The wood he is using is old oak, probably about fifty years since it was cut, that used to be beams in the old roof at the school. He shaped it roughly a few years back but now finally is putting all this attention and effort into making them beautiful for us. This is so central to our feelings about how we are renovating this school. Repurposing and retaining features is important. These now will be varnished by me over the weekend ready to be fitted first thing Monday I think.

Final tidy and rake over

Boot scraper is put in

Digging out for foundations

The Old School looking marvellous!

Angela had a well deserved rest and while she was doing so I sorted out the coats and hats from scattered around the house and put them on the hat stands that I have; I also moved the telephone table in and pretty much got the room sorted. It is a lovely space as you can see from the video above.  The men were into the final little touches with Halil sweeping and raking over the drainage pipe and Sally finally getting the boot scraper cemented in; I'm absolutely convinced that they left that just to wind me up as I asked about it every day. When Angela woke she had to dash out again and while she was out she picked up a kite (which we've been promising Rosie for a while) and so we took it up onto the back bank and had a great time. We all held it, even Rosie, and it actually flew pretty well for a little toy kite. She seemed to love it and certainly both of us did as well. After that it was time for Angela to cook and I spent a lovely time on the lawn with Rosie and the puppies with her playing with them and swinging in her swing; she has been on very good form today indeed.

So there you have it. I don't know if I'll blog again before Monday so we shall see. Thanks for reading, as always.