GETTING PLASTERED

After 3 days of trowel and trouble, we have beautifully plastered walls.  There’s not a crack in sight (or woodchip).  The house may be freezing and covered in that fine powdery dust that accompanies building work but now you can almost begin to imagine what the place will look like after a decent coat of paint. 

BEFORE - Guest bedroom

 

AFTER - all nicely plastered up

BEFORE - just look at those uneven walls

AFTER - all lovely and smooth

It’s at this point in time that I begin to get excited, spending hour after hour browsing through colour cards and designer paint websites trying to get an idea of which glorious shade of emulsion to pick for each room.  And boy, there’s no shortage of colours or brands of designer paints to choose from or limit on cost other than your own bank balance.  

Leading brands such as Farrow & Ball, Sanderson or Designers Guild begin at over £80 plus for a 5L tin.  If you’re not careful you could splurge your entire refurb budget on paint leaving little cash for the other fripperies such as coving, curtains and cats.   Being a super scrimper, I’ll be scouting round for the best paint deals and checking to see if I can find a close Dulux match that’ll do the trick. 

 

AFTER - not a crack in sight

AFTER - just letting it all dry

AFTER - already looking better

The fun/disruption is set to continue next week with new windows being delivered on Monday and plasterers booked to return from Wednesday onwards to finish the sections around the windows and continue with the downstairs hallway. 

AFTER - staircase plastered

BEFORE - boarding up the ceiling

 

Electrical second fix including replacing the consumer unit is also booked for next week.  It’s often easy to forget that an existing electrical set up may need upgrading to cater for all the extra power points you ask for and a budget allowance should always be made for this.  Any good electrician will soon tell you if your wiring is up to scratch and most without even prompting! 

Meanwhile, we’ll be taking full advantage of the huge empty skip sat on the driveway to clear away any other surplus rubbish we can find.  Well after all, I am paying through the nose for it.