We’ve gone stair crazy! We couldn’t put it off any longer so it was time to tackle the big one.  The problem was we didn’t have a specialist ladder for the stairs but we had a cunning plan.

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Most of the hallway had vinyl striped wallpaper but the largest wall up the stairs was covered in a loud flower pattern.  This was of course teamed with a red patterned Axminster on the stairs and a green plain carpet on the top landing…..nice.   We’ve had to re-plaster almost every other wall in the house owing to damaged patches from alterations and removal of fixtures, but we decided we’d had enough of the expense and the mess of plastering.  On top of all that we would have had to strip all the paper off first and given the height of the hallway over the stairs it just wasn’t going to happen.  Fingers crossed that we could get a reasonable finish we ripped out the remaining carpet and started work on painting the wallpaper.

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It took several coats of emulsion but eventually the flowers disappeared.  Strange greasy spots appeared in various places, mainly on the half landing and these were eventually dealt with using a can of spray stain block.  There are some strange lumps and bumps on the walls which the paint just can’t hide but we have another cunning plan up our sleeves to hide this…..you will have to wait and see.

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We didn’t have time to get started on the woodwork before we had visits from various members of the Dack family.  Jake came back to fit skirting in the cloakroom, rehang the doors and fit new locks.  Of course we hit the inevitable snag as the door to tiny toilet was as you would expect, just that little bit narrower and the locks which fit perfectly in the ensuite and bathroom were too big.   Ho hum, back to internet trawling for a smaller lock and yet another room unfinished.   Jason returned to get the tiling done in the cloakroom while Jake completed the boxing of pipes in the utility. 

The toilet problem last month was resolved by getting the only pan connector sold by the supplier – not the sleek design we wanted, but it did stay on the waste pipe so it had to do.  Matt the plumb returned to finish off the plumbing and install the sink and WC in the bathroom so all we needed to finish off the en-suite and bathrooms now were the wall lights for over the sinks then we can put in the mirrors.  However, the lights we chose won’t arrive until March so we couldn’t get those rooms finished off either.  One other thing we hadn’t realised until the WC had been fitted – when you are seated you not only get a wonderful view of the garden, you can also see a window in the house opposite which had previously been beautifully screened by that cherry tree we had cut down last month!

Regular readers will recall we spent a lot of money on scaffolding towers, repointing and weatherproof coatings for both chimneys last year.  We thought that had done the trick until Neil’s discovery last month of an ominous and growing damp patch in bedroom 2.  Stacy had a closer look and confirmed that due to the design, water had been collecting in the gully between the roof and the chimney.  This meant that the felt was knackered and the battens rotten.  He quickly stripped off the tiles and fixed both sides of the chimney so, hopefully, we’ll have no more problems and then when the wall is dry we can re-decorate…….deep joy.

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It was very windy when he did it but fortunately he was on the sheltered side of the house.  We asked him to look at the chimney on the other side of the house but as it’s much higher we suggested that he use a tower rather than a ladder.  He decided to put it off until we have  calmer weather but then our suspicions were confirmed before he could get up there – we spotted the staining starting to appear in our bedroom which showed us that we had the same problem.

The end of the month was spent ordering the sanitary ware for the cloakroom and getting it decorated ready for Matt to return in March for a final fix.  The window frames in both tiny toilet and the bathroom got a final clean off with all the final traces of the old badly done paintwork painstakingly scraped off and the edges neatly painted.  Did you know that the special long handled brush with slanted bristles that Cheryl’s been using actually has a name – it’s an angled fitch?  Not a lot of people know that. 

The remaining woodwork in the hallway was sanded, primed and painted, including the inside of the front door which we had been putting off for some time.  While sanding the skirting on the stairs Cheryl had a try at taking off the flaking varnish from the wooden handrail.  It’s dark stained, shiny varnish and has considerable grimy patches on the edges which ordinary cleaning just wouldn’t shift.  No problem for the power sander!  Wow – what a result, the wood is probably oak and looks so much better stripped back.  The weird wrought iron & wood may actually look quite good when it’s finished.  Messy work but worth it.

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Reasons to be Cheerful

1. We have a road map out of lockdown which looks good for our boat trip in May and the arrival of June’s family in August
2. The days are getting longer, the sun has been shining and the spring flowers are starting to show – summer is on the way!
3. It’s a Sunday and the end of the month so we’re having it off……….that’s time off from decorating and a long walk you smutty lot!