Kitchen redecoration

Week 22 - Wall of units

Now that the floor is done, I thought the kitchen could be finished pretty soon. It doesn’t seem so…
We decided to create a wall made of cabinets. Actually they are all upper cabinets because space is tight, and we’re using them as base cabinets as well - creating a streamlined wall of units.  I don’t quite understand why standard base units are always so deep - I can never find anything in them! They’re not necessary unless you want base units next to or under appliances..

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DIY Redecoration

Week 21: Parquet Floor Laying

The new floor-layer guy did turn up on Monday morning - on time even! He spent the day finishing off the corners and edges of floor - there wasn’t much left to do but it was the most fiddly part, as strange shaped bits had to be cut off the parquet pieces, where they met the walls. Then he had to fill the bigger gaps between the pieces..

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Here are the pictures of the parquet floor as it was left by the floor layers. The floor-laying was almost completed. They worked on it for ten days and did a good job. I don’t understand why they decided to leave after ten days of work!

I have found another guy who is coming on Monday and will finish laying the edges.

Then the floor will be sanded at least twice, the gaps between the tiles will have to be filled (the parquet bits are old and some are uneven), then sanded again lightly. This will be followed by two coats of polyurethane varnish.

This is a preview, read Reclaimed Parquet Floor in full.

DIY Home Decor

Week 20 - the floor layers

The floor layers have walked out on us. It turned out that the boss is a relative of the plasterer who had previously walked out on me because I dared to complain about the quality of his work. At the time I refused to pay him the full amount because he did not complete the job. The guy got pissed off and walked out without taking the cheque I was writing out.  Later I realised that he’d done an even worse job than I’d initially thought which I had to correct or re-do as best I could - so I was quite glad that he didn’t take the money..

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DIY Home Redecoration

Kitchen Remodeling - week 19

The floor laying has started - at last. Given that the wood pieces are reclaimed from an old factory, every single one of them has to be checked and cleaned before gluing them down. Most are covered in (horrid, black, sticky) bitumen which needs to be scraped off. The walls are getting greyer and greyer. I have rebuilt my plastic enclosure to seal the hallway and upstairs - but still, when I run my finger over the freshly painted walls and woodwork in our bedroom, it becomes rather dusty..

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Home Remodeling

Week 18

The floor layers were due to start this week - they called to postpone till next week because they are running behind with their current project.

Why do builders always underestimate the time a project needs? They come up with a timetable, but don’t even consider the possibility of things going wrong or getting delayed. At the end of a project they are surprised or blame external factors - never themselves. They never admit that they are behind with work, because they have installed things incorrectly or sourced the wrong products, or have been sitting around drinking tea… Oh, no -it’s always someone or something else’s fault. They should allow for hitches - in every project there’re bound to be snags..

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DIY - Home Remodeling

Week 17

I still haven’t recovered from the experience with the plasterer. He’s done such an awful job - I spent the last ten days rectifying his work. I’m now glad that I didn’t pay him  - well, actually, he just walked out on me without waiting for payment. He got pissed off with me because
a, I dared to complain about the quality of his workmanship,
b, I would only pay him for the work he’d completed  - not for the full project. I suspected that, given point a) he would not come back to finish thing off..

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Kitchen redecorating

DIY Project - diary - week 16

I’ve had it with Bristish builders! The plasterer turned up last Saturday and asked if he could do the job there and then. At this point I should have said that he was supposed to call beforehand to arrange a time and date for doing the work, but I said OK,  he could get started  - I  just was eager to get on with the kitchen remodeling project..

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Kitchen Remodeling — Week 15

I managed to get a plumber, who was working on another project, to come over to do a day’s work. We wanted him to move two radiators to their new location and remove one from the kitchen. The work itself took him 3-4 hours, the other 4 hours of the day were spent on tea-breaks and telling stories. This is normal with British builders - in fact, most of them don’t even do a decent job or they tell you that certain things can’t be done (because they don’t want to do them!) and / or charge a fortune. At least this plumber did a good job and didn’t charge an arm & a leg! On the other hand he very efficiently consumed an entire week’s worth of our organic biscuits. Anyway, he also helped to uninstall the sink - and we temporarily reinstalled the washing machine. I do need to do some washing at some point. But we now have no kitchen sink..

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DIY Home Remodeling Project

Week 14

I spent a couple of days emptying the old kitchen cabinets. I put most things into plastic boxes and took them to the garden. This wasn’t the most sensible idea I’ve ever had - by the end of the week the plastic boxes that contained food were full of ants and slugs and other crawling creatures. They even crawled into the food containers that I thought were properly sealed. So I had to chuck away lots of packs of organic grocery products..

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