Beginning in the Bedroom

With the bathroom finished (& glorious) it's time to start looking at the bedrooms.

Decor-wise the spare room is just going to be white, white, white. Paul's a bit concerned that it might be a bit, well, white but we're not 100% certain what purpose this room will have so we'll just keep it simple.

The back bedroom is to be the main bedroom and more thought has gone into it. Both rooms will have the same carpeting fitted once the skirtings are on.

Let's just have a reminder of what stage they're in...
The 2 external walls have had their inner asbestos removed, 4" insulated studding added with plasterboard & skimming. The finished plaster has had a paint-wash applied to seal it. The wall-lights are in.

The French doors (in a bedroom? my luxury!) are in but the floor gap needs attention.

The 2 internal walls are still a thin stud wall with hardboard facing. This is neither sound-proof nor aesthetically pleasing

First things first, those hardboard walls have got to go and we spend some time living in a Japanese way for a time...

Time to get Simon the builder back to replace them with a decent size of studs, plasterboard, etc.

As usual, I've forgotten to take a photo of this stage. It's understandable really, as it doesn't look that different - bare plaster instead of nasty hardboard walls and no holes. There are no doors but hopefully that won't be for long...

The Bathroom Reveal

The bathroom, or rather the shower room is complete. I hope you like it as much as I do.

The wooden top, edging, step and window board has been added. Keeping it to natural wood was a preference but painted white is easier to maintain. The towel hook hasn't been added at this point but, with my excellent tile-drilling skills, it will appear very soon.

I still love my overhead shower. It wouldn't be good in a tiny shower but there's plenty of room in here. The shower niche is also working well - no untidy stainless steel shelves! I'm pleased with the way it fits in with the mosaic border.









The half-wall between the shower and the wc was something I really wanted - no staring at the loo during a luxurious shower. The window board at the same height as the half-wall topper was to plan. It gives a lovely deep window shelf and the continuity looks good.

The shower curtain may not be as sleek as a glass panel but so much easier to keep clean from smears.

Window blind from B&Q (long time ago - we already had it), bin and loo-brush from Homebase


Square profile radiator towel rail from Screwfix, towels from Dunelm, Wall paint is Stonewashed Denim emulsion from Dulux.






Bathroom lights from Wickes, bamboo basket set from The Range.








So there you have it - the first completed room at The Fleepit. Paul is a bit worried that now I'll never come home.

The bedrooms are next...

My Perfect Sink

I want a counter-top sink.

I didn't know that's what it is called when I first knew I wanted one. Sinks can be pedestal, wall-hung, counter-sunk, semi-counter-sunk (which is altogether too many hyphens) and counter-top. A counter-top sink is one that sits on top of a counter so I suppose what I really didn't know is that what it sits on is called a counter - isn't that something you get in a shop?


Anyway, what I really like is that it looks like you could just pick it off the "counter" and move it. In reality you can't because it's fixed via the water feed pipes and waste. The counter can be a cupboard (vanity unit is such an old-fashioned term) or a shelf.

The really cool ones are on floating shelves with the pipework totally hidden but I don't want to worry about the weight of the sink or people leaning on it so I prefer the idea of a strongly supported sink.
I also want a rectangular sink with an overflow hole to avoid floods. This means the waste (plug hole) has to be the right sort, otherwise the overflow overflows to nowhere so it's worse than not having one.



I only want a short length of countertop and eBay is great for reclaimed kitchen stuff. I get two 1.5m lengths in a wood effect for £12. They've 4 "hot rods" stuck to them - a kind of built-in trivet. These come off easily and I sell them for £5 so (after eBay/Paypal fees), the countertop only cost me about £8! The sink is an "as new" item on eBay, ie it was bought and then never used. It's still in it's (broken) box but no instructions - Google is a wonderful thing for getting instructions... The tap and waste are new items, also purchased through eBay.

I start building the support structure but I'm planning to get the plumber in to install the sink - I don't do plumbing (see earlier post). When it comes to it, Paul wants to have a go so he completes the structure and does a much neater job than I would have achieved. He does install the sink but needs some Plumbers Mate to seal it so the plumber comes to finish it off (see earlier post on why I don't do plumbing).











In these photos you can see the interim job done. It's going to have a couple of shelves underneath which will hide the pipework and I need to decide whether to paint the supports or go for a wood finish.

The mosaic tiles behind the sink couldn't be done until the sink was installed as it sits against the back wall. We've bought enough of the tiles to fill the gap should we ever replace the sink. The rectangular gap is for a mirror and, if you look closely, you'll see the connections for wall lights.

I would like to point out that I will never do a block of variable height/media mosaic tiles again! It is a nightmare to grout. The grout gets into all the irregularities and you have to carefully wipe it off each one while the grout is still soft without disturbing the grout that you want in there. I'd do a border in the same stuff or I'd do a mosaic of uniform tiles. Despite that, I love the effect I've ended up with...

Tiling the shower

It's June 2016.

Tiling - my favourite thing to do. People say it's hard but it's not. You've just got to make sure everything is ready and then you get on with it. The right tools are important too.

Up to the mosaic row

I tile the inside of the shower enclosure first. I'm thinking that I want to get the shower installed asap. It doesn't work out that way but here's where I start anyway.

Tiling onto new plaster requires some sealant. There's all sorts of discussion online about what you do and don't need and it's difficult to get a straight answer. I get the stuff that Tile Warehouse sell to be on the safe side.

This is the bit I was particularly pleased with myself for - look at those pipes coming through the tiles! The wall tiles are made of ceramic: not as hard as the porcelain, floor tiles but still tricky to drill through. I got an adjustable tile drill bit, put the tile on some foam wadding, marked the centre by knocking the drill gently and then started drilling slowly, wetting the head as I went to keep it cool. It took about 20 minutes for each hole.

Look how close to the edge that 2nd hole is! I couldn't believe that I managed to do it right on the first tile. I did do a practise hole on a waste bit of tile first.

The tiles were all stuck on with flexible adhesive. This wasn't necessary on the plaster but it made it easier than messing about with different adhesives. I used a dark grey because it was on offer. This meant I would have to use a dark grout because it would show through a light one unless I did a lot of careful trimming. I'm happy with that but you do need to be careful with these choices.

After the bottom section of tiles, it was time for the mosaic layer, lining it up with the inset shelf.

The mosaic tiles were Homelux Mosaic Mixed Media - Tucson from Homebase. The individual tiles come on a 12x12 net which you can cut to size and stick up in blocks. My border has 9 mini-tiles which worked quite well. It's nearly impossible to cut the mini-tiles neatly so they have to be "managed" into the space needed.

After the mosaic tiles had been added I had to wait for that adhesive to set. Adding the large heavy main tiles above the mosaics before it set would have squashed the mini tiles together.

These next 2 photos show the tiles completed over the mosaic border. I haven't done inside the window recess nor behind the WC yet and none of it is grouted.


















Before the new WC can be fitted, the tiling and grouting needs to be completed and grouted behind and underneath it.

If you don't do that first, once the new WC is fitted, all the tiles will have to be cut around it, not an easy job, especially the porcelain floor tiles.





In this last photo, the tiling is complete and grouted. You can just see the half-tile skirting used on the non-tiled walls.  There's a wooden skirting around the shower enclosure. This is screwed in place so it's easily removable if access is needed under the tray. The top of the half-wall and window board still needs finishing - see next post.

Half the height, twice the difficulty

April 2015 and we're getting on with the bathroom.

You know when you do a job and then you forget to photo-document it?

Here's the photo of our lovely loo before starting the remaining shower walls:

And here it is with the half-walls built, semi-clad and the floor tiles nearly completed!

It's a bit of a time-lapse, I grant you. Here's the order of jobs:

• The end and side half-walls for the shower enclosure have been built. If you look at the previous post, they couldn't be built until the shower tray had been installed. They were really wobbly when I first built them but the application of lots nails and screws sorted that out. They have to be really rigid because I'm tiling them. Flexible adhesive & grout is really only designed for very minor movement. Anything major and it'll crack right off.
• The wall behind the WC has been studded out (not sure that's the right term...) as the down waste is too far from the external wall. No-one, and I repeat, NO-ONE wants to move the WC waste. It's at times like this that we really miss Paul's dad in a very practical way. As a general builder he would have shown up the day after we'd told him about it and sorted it out. Ah well, padding out the wall will give us a nice deep window board.
• The shower walls have been clad in ply. Exterior grade on the inside and standard (cheaper) on the outside.
• Most of the floor tiles have been laid. I chose to lay them with a join at the corner of the shower enclosure. It's always worth working out how to have the minimum corner cuts. Floor tiles are made of porcelain to maximize their strength. This makes anything other than straight cuts a real challenge.

You might have noticed that the WC is at a strange angle? This is a handy feature of having it's waste going down - it was easy to rotate it to lay the floor tiles underneath, waiting for one lot to set before rotating back to finish. The cistern is not operational, of course, but a bucket of water suffices as a flush when necessary!It's a bit basic having to use a bucket to flush the WC but it's worth remembering that we still don't have the luxury of a door on the bathroom at this point so...not many friends wanted to visit us at this point!

More about tiling in the next blog

Studs in the Bathroom

 March 2105

Just to re-cap, this is how the builder & plumber left the bathroom corner.

Before starting

A shower is going to the left of the basin. To get a nice finish with minimal pipes on show, I need to build a stud wall and the plumber will need to come and go for several part-fixes as we go along.

I followed an old B&Q guide for building the shower enclosure plus this guide from DIY Wiki for building stud walls. I particularly like that the cross bits are called "noggings"!

Shower stud wall and plumbing first fix

Putting up a full height stud wall is really a 2-person job unless you're a professional who does it all the time. You have to fix the footer/base-rail to the floor and then (& this is the 2-person bit) fix the top-rail, propping it up with the uprights (studs) which need to be cut to fit. It all needs nailing, drilling holes first so you don't split the wood. The nogging is done staggered so that you can nail it straight. Basically, you keep nailing it until it's as rigid as possible. I didn't do it on my own - Paul was here that day and took charge (of course).

Once the studs were in, Nick the plumber came to put in the hot and cold water feeds. You need to have your shower head before doing this because the water feeds need to be in the right place. We got Cooke & Lewis Purity Chrome Thermostatic Mixer Shower from B&Q. It has a fixed, over-head shower head but not one of those extra heads - can't see us using one of those and it's one less complication.

Going back to the photo above - you can see some white ends on the pipes. They actually stop the water. There is a bit of a drip but, considering the cold one is at mains pressure, it's quite impressive.

Shower tray installed

Here's the next stage. The shower tray can't be fitted until the boarding is there. The boarding is exterior/marine grade ply for inside the shower enclosure. Although the tiling/grouting/sealant should provide a water-tight seal, it makes sense to use this superior grade. Some websites will tell you that you have to "tank" the whole enclosure before tiling. Our builder and plumber thought that would be an over-kill. If it all falls apart then I'll know it was a mistake!

My favourite bit is the inset shelf in the shower wall. Created between the studs this will be tiled and will remove the need for those stainless steel wire shelf units that are a pain to clean and get in the way. There's a minor outward slope on the base of it to help with drainage.

The shower tray is sealed to both walls with Aquastrap - a black moulded tape with double-sided adhesive. Nick's left it free on the front for when I add the half-walls. He makes it clear that, once stuck, it won't come off so to be careful. A sealant will be needed on top, after tiling, but this is the trade-recommended stuff (at the moment).

The shower waste is connected so that dripping pipe is no longer a concern. I leave the blue protector on because the next jobs are messy!

The next post will be building the half-walls, tiling & grouting for the shower. Do sign up for email notifications if you want...

The Eternal Question: Baths or Showers?

It's March 2015 and it's time to start the bathroom.

I call it a bathroom but it's not going to have a bath. It's going to have a shower. Why does "shower room" sound so pokey? This is not going to be a pokey shower room. It's going to be awesome!

OK - maybe not as awesome as this, but a woman can dream!

Some people say they can't manage without a bath. We can! Our bath at the Vicarage is so rarely used that I have to dust it!

Thinking ahead, the development of Sunny Acre as an asset is aimed at the retirement bungalow market. With age comes mobility issues and then a walk-in shower with enough room for a seat is a much better option than a bath that you need to adapt. Our shower will have a small step to get in because we don't want to excavate the floor but a small step and wide access is the plan.

I do not want glass screens around the shower. Some people love them. We're usually too tall for the standard heights but the main reason I hate glass screens and doors is that the edges always get black with mould and are impossible to clean. You also have more joints with sealant that gets mouldy.

Euw - see how gross this is!
And this isn't as bad as it gets in unventilated places!

The plan is to have half-walls around the shower with an opening and then a shower curtain to contain the splashing. Some people hate shower curtains which don't look very elegant and have a tendency to cling, wetly to you. With a big enough shower, I'm hoping to avoid the clinging. My favourite part of shower curtains is that, when they get mouldy, you can just throw them in the wash and don't even need to wait for them to dry before re-hanging them.

A bit like this but with another
half-wall on the right

If it all goes pear-shaped and we hate the curtains, we can always get glass panels fitted to the tops of the half-walls plus a door. I will die a little on that day!

Those are my thought's on "bathroom" choices. The next post will have photos of building the shower studding.

Tree Surgery

During all the excitement of getting the external walls rebuilt, I forgot to write about the tree surgery which happened in October 2014.

There were 3 issues with trees in the garden.

Front trees from in front of Sunny Acre, looking towards the main road

At the front of the property, at the corner of the main road and the bridleway, there were at least 5 over-tall conifers which made the whole property seem neglected and cut-off. I think they might have been planted originally as a hedge but they are really out of control.

Pine on neighbour's border

This back view of the South-West corner of the property shows the bottom of a conifer that has grown into the overhead electricity cable (eek!) and overhangs the neighbour's property. Poor Mary, every time it's been raining, gets an extra shower every time she walks under it. She really wants it gone.

A beautiful ash

This ash tree, on the South border has 2 issues which is a real shame because it is a beautiful tree and ash trees are suffering from a nasty disease. However, it is also growing up into the electricity cables, to the extent that I'm surprised the supply doesn't cut off every time there's a high wind. Also it is blocking the view, not from this angle but from the living room. My concern about the ash preservation is mitigated by the hundreds of ash saplings that blight my life at the Vicarage!

I get 3 tree surgeons in. I did hope to get the local guy in, advertising in the parish mag but he doesn't get back to me. I could have got David from the end of the lane but I didn't know he was in the biz at the time.

One guy is really off and grumpy - I don't think he wants the work and, sure enough, no quote materializes - so annoying.

One guy turns up in a smart uniform, takes ages, makes loads of notes and then seems to pluck a figure out of the hat - very bizarre.

The 3rd guy wanders round briefly, has a bit of a think and then says he'll email the quote. I'm thinking I won't hear from him but he sends me the most detailed, comprehensive and best quote!

First impressions aren't all that!

 Here are the logs - there are loads of logs around at the time and it's no difference to the quote whether they take or leave them.
What did make a difference was being prepared to have the chippings left in the garden. They have more than they want. People will buy bark chippings but not wood chippings - not pretty. They're fine in the garden which is in a state anyway. By the time I want to do anything with it, the chippings will have decomposed.

Lot's of nice logs to chop up for firewood. They need drying out first and "seasoning". Some of the bigger ones will probably hang about in a loggery (I know that sounds wrong, but it is a thing).

Here is the ash trunk.
I thought - nice straight trunk - let's try to get it planked with waney edges and then use it to frame mirrors or for a fireplace mantel. How eco-friendly - how fitting!
When the tree surgeon had finished, he phoned up to say he'd left the trunk by the back hedge so we could get a pick-up truck with a crane to extract it. I explained that I thought we'd man-handle it into our car and he laughed - very loudly.

When I next got to The Fleepit, I found I couldn't even roll it. I'm not sure how many people it would take to lift it but I think it looks nice where it is - a natural seat - very eco-friendly - very fitting!

First Furnishings: William Morris & Living Simply

It's Spring 2015

With the final fix done, it's time to make The Fleepit habitable overnight - the main aim - a retreat for days off and stay-cations.

I might have said it elsewhere but my aim is to attempt William Morris's credo: Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.

So that is my motto for any purchases but I also want to use or re-purpose things that I already own or can source 2nd-hand.

This is made easier by our previous ownership of a holiday-let so we have enough crockery and bed-linen to "see us out" as old people say.

Now for the photos:

Living room: sofa, armchair & footstool Fyfield from Debenhams; cushions Ikat from Wilko

I love this 3-seater sofa and armchair, bought in the sale with an online discount. They were delivered far too soon so they spent a long time in the plastic covers with the removable cushions back at base.
The armchair fabric is currently really popular so it might date but I don't care. It would have been too much on the sofa as well so a neutral shade works better.
Can you see that sofa and foot stool is a nice shade of mushroom - definitely brown tinges? It's described as grey in the catalogue. Alison & I saw it in the shop so we knew what colour it was but there were a few complaints on the web-site. "See before you buy", people! It's the only way.
I'm undecided about the footstool. Sometimes I love it (with it's concealed storage) and other times - not so much. There's always stuff on it when you want to put your feet up or feet on it when you want somewhere to put stuff.
The cushions are plain on the back and will work well with the curtain material I've got in mind.
The rugs are from ebay. Did you know it's really easy to get large rugs on ebay for less than £50. I needed something to cover up the concrete and grotty floorboards. They'll get a lot of muck on them over time so I'm not fussy at the moment - these fall into the "useful" not "beautiful" category.

Bedroom - nothing new!

In the bedroom there are no new purchases!

Bedlinen and cafe-style chairs from the holiday-let.

Curtains from the patio doors in our last family home.

Another rug plus a pine bed from ebay.

Although all the items were previously owned, apart from the chairs which don't really work well as bedside tables, I really like this room as a "camping" bedroom.

Hallway - blind material Akerkulla from Ikea

This blind for the full-length picture window: new black & white fabric made into a blind using the skeleton of the old worn-out blind that used to be in the kitchen at our last family home.
Also we have 2 plain woven runners both from Ikea (Osted) but one is new and one is from ebay. I would have waited to get both on ebay but we were eager to be able to sleep over and I didn't think ahead.

Kitchen - island and microwave; rug Osted from Ikea

The combination microwave is essential as it's the only means of cooking food - bought in a Sainsbury's sale.

The kitchen island is one we already from Ikea (no longer available). This was bought after I swore during cooking my first Sunday lunch at our curatage - the kitchen had no worktop and I had a melt-down. As I very rarely swear, we decided to splash out on this lovely island that I used to stroke, lovingly! Since we moved to the vicarage it's been languishing in the garage so I'm very happy to have it put to good use here.

There's also another sneaky new rug - although I'd been looking for some time, a flat-woven rug of the right size just didn't turn up on ebay.

The fleepit is now habitable (don't mention the bathroom - eek) and we sleep here overnight for the first time! It's Spring 2015.

Final fix for electrics & plumbing

It's September 2014 and we reach the end of this stage of work.

The electric sockets and light fittings are put in.

I wanted an interesting central light fitting with several smaller bulbs. A lot of the ones I'd seen looked too much like aliens or robots from the Matrix. I also wanted to stick with the stainless steel finish.

Lounge ceiling light fitting from B&Q

I was pleased to find this fitting from B&Q called Klute

lounge wall light fitting from B&Q

The wall lights are also from B&Q but from a range called Venus as the Klute range doesn't have a wall light.

In the bedroom, I wanted wall lights not lamps on a bedside table as they always fall over and need dusting. This decision is part of my overall aim to make the bungalow easy to keep clean & tidy.

bedroom wall lights

These wall lights are from the Arsted range from Ikea. They come with a plug but I got Chris the electrician to connect them to the main lighting circuit. He initially connected them to a double light switch with the ceiling light but I wanted them purely controlled by the little pull-chains.

You can see on the left-hand side of the bed where the electric socket had to be moved to be in line with the other one.

lounge socket

Here in the lounge also, you can see where the socket had to be adjusted.

The reality is that the plasterer often gets so focused on their work that other considerations get pushed aside. It's not a major problem, just something that needs to be watched as a customer or project manager, otherwise the overall finish with have alsorts of niggles.

hall radiator

lounge radiator & socket

These 2 radiator are representative of the 6 that were put in. I forgot to take photos of them at the time but these recent ones still look the same as when first installed.

Radiators in the bedroom and spare room were installed back-to-back on the same original internal wall along with a double socket. A double socket has also been put on each side of the original wall between the bedroom and hall. These hardboard walls will be replaced at some point and it would have been much easier to do so before putting in the plumbing & electrics. Simon did try to persuade me to do that but, at the time, I'd had enough of waiting for the trades to do their thing and was concerned about cash flow.

The hall radiator is back-to-back with one of the lounge radiators. This internal wall is randomly the only internal wall made with one panel of asbestos. It was totally missed in the survey because it's in an unlikely position. Maybe it's structural. Maybe they just happened to have one left over from elsewhere. Either way, it will have to come out, probably when we do the extension.

This photo shows the sort of holes you get in a hardboard wall when you tell the electrician that you're going to be replacing it. Yes, it looks a mess and yes, maybe the walls should have been replaced all at the same time. Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

Plastering

With the first-fix of electrics and plumbing done, the insulation is put into the studding.

The external walls all have insulation board variously made by Kingspan, Celotex or Quinn. the board is rigid enough to cut to size and the foil covering increases vapour resistance. You can see the electrics first-fix in this photo.

The board comes in a range of thicknesses and 3" thickness was used here.


















The internal walls of the bathroom don't need the vapour layer. They are insulated with rock wool which is mainly to have sound insulation. The rock wool is soft and squishy so has to be added after one side of the studding has been covered with plasterboard.

Here you can see the plasterboard before the walls are skimmed.

And here they are, skimmed. Can you see the none-deliberate mistake? The plasterer has pulled the socket wires through at different heights! A simple mistake to correct but a shame in such a nicely plastered wall.

And the final luxury? The WC is now enclosed. There's no door yet but it's a lot more private that before although a blind on the window would be nice.

Plastering always leaves a lot of mess and dust. It took several rounds of sweeping, hoovering and mopping to get rid of it but worth doing before continuing otherwise a fine layer of dust keeps landing everywhere in the property.