Show us yer house and house-related meddlings

[May Kasahara]

It looks lovely, May Kasahara

How come it took a month, though? Getting ours done in September and already dreading it just being two weeks!

Various unexpectedly setbacks, really - the old bathroom was so ancient that when they took the tiles off, all the plaster came off as well, so they had to strip back to the bricks and fully replaster. Then had a substandard plasterer who left the house in a state and barely did any work, then loads of the tiles turned out to have hairline cracks so we had to order more. It should only have taken two weeks...

 

[oryx]

Various unexpectedly setbacks, really - the old bathroom was so ancient that when they took the tiles off, all the plaster came off as well, so they had to strip back to the bricks and fully replaster. Then had a substandard plasterer who left the house in a state and barely did any work, then loads of the tiles turned out to have hairline cracks so we had to order more. It should only have taken two weeks...

Hope that doesn't happen with ours! The previous owner was a real DIY bodger...

Glad you got it sorted though. The blue is lovely.

 

[bimble]

Lovely bathroom.

What does everyone think about this sort of blue in a living room, with mustard yellow cushions etc? My living room in Istanbul was all warm reds but I fancy something different when I am finally in my new place.
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ooh i would be careful, that sort of blue on walls is beautiful and cooling in places where the sun shines a lot not sure its what you'd really want in a long sheffield winter. maybe get a big bit of fabric in that blue and chuck it over your sofa or something instead of painting the walls with it.
OR you could paint the ceiling it maybe

 

[quimcunx]

Lovely bathroom.

What does everyone think about this sort of blue in a living room, with mustard yellow cushions etc? My living room in Istanbul was all warm reds but I fancy something different when I am finally in my new place.
View attachment 276623

I'd put brass or copper with that rather than mustard. Of course your mustard might be different from my mustard. Ochre seems to be the preferred term in shops just now.

 

[Callie]

Enjoy May Kasahara when I had my bathroom done it was the first bit of my place to be done up and to this day I love it

 

[quimcunx]

I tried to take a photo of mustard against my teal wall for you miss direct but my camera insists on turning the teal pretty much your shade of blue. in real life this is greener and more mustardy/ochre. If it had changed the blue but not the yellow it might have been of some use.

 

[shakespearegirl]

Lovely bathroom May.

I’ve been sanding (and sanding again cause I did it wrong!) and painting skirting boards all weekend. I thought I was continuing after lunch but I’ve been let off for good behaviour, or possibly DIY shitness.

new windows in which makes a massive difference. Which means plaster man can come back and finish living room and bathroom

so knackered I forgot to take photos!

 

[miss direct]

ooh i would be careful, that sort of blue on walls is beautiful and cooling in places where the sun shines a lot not sure its what you'd really want in a long sheffield winter. maybe get a big bit of fabric in that blue and chuck it over your sofa or something instead of painting the walls with it.
OR you could paint the ceiling it maybe

Hmm. When you say cooling, just in terms of appearance, right? (May be a silly question...)
Maybe I should keep the blue for the bedroom.
quimcunx does your room feel cold, or cosy?

 

[WouldBe]

Hmm. When you say cooling, just in terms of appearance, right? (May be a silly question...)
Maybe I should keep the blue for the bedroom.
quimcunx does your room feel cold, or cosy?

It depends on the shade of blue that can make a room seem cold. Paler tones can seem cold while rich tones don't seem to although darker tones can make a room darker.

 

[quimcunx]

Mine is warm but then it is not that blue. Its teal. A lot more green in it.

 

[quimcunx]

I'd get a tester. Paint an a4 sheet of cardboard and attach it to each wall at different times of day and see what you think.

 

[miss direct]

Good idea. I'm also toying with just a cream colour - went to a friend's yesterday who's painted their new flat entirely white. I don't usually like that, but as I have lots of colourful things and plants, perhaps white/cream would be a better backdrop.

 

[danski]

Good idea. I'm also toying with just a cream colour - went to a friend's yesterday who's painted their new flat entirely white. I don't usually like that, but as I have lots of colourful things and plants, perhaps white/cream would be a better backdrop.

I've done white in several places. If, as you say, you have a lot of colourful stuff then it can be a quick and easy solution but also not difficult to change afterward if you decide on other colours as opposed to many coats in going from dark to light.

 

[Saffy]

We've gone for dark blue in our living room but it gets full sun and doesn't feel dark at all. We didn't use brilliant white for woodwork either but a slight off white which makes it feel warm.

 

[bimble]

Yeah I think almost everything depends on the light, how much light what time of day you’ll use the room all that stuff.
But it’s also just personal, like some people enjoy red rooms and I feel a bit panicky in them.
Here all the walls are a white but not stark white (left over from old owners) and it works cos it’s all about the windows & the views of green things. My old place I did colourful and that felt right there, with mostly just concrete & other peoples houses to see outside.

 

[Cloo]

So, after nearly two weeks of non-shit front garden I think we can conclude that it wasn't just due to the wind and our proximity to the high street that we seemed to accrue an awful lot of street rubbish out front - there has been a notable lack this week, which suggests people were just chucking crap in front of our house because it was the one with a wasteland out front.

 

[Cloo]

Also, we've finally put up rest of pictures in front room

 

[Looby]

We’ve decided to do a cheapo tidy up of our rubbish kitchen. If we owned it I’d be ripping the fucker out but it’s rented.
The tiles are white and boring so we’re going to attempt tile stickers. If they don’t work we’ll just paint them.
We’re going to strip the terrible, peeling laminate off the kitchen cabinets, paint them white and replace the handles.

Now I’ve found a worktop painting kit from Rustoleum too and I’m going to cover the pipes add a boiler casing.
I don’t actually think it’s going to be that cheap and it might look terrible. It’s a fucking hole at the moment though so I think it can only improve it.

 

[Cloo]

Good luck Looby !

 

[Saffy]

Looby if you're taking the cupboard doors off, my top tip is to have an envelope for each cupboard ( and number them) to keep all the screws and hinges in safely. I'll definitely do that next time.

 

[bimble]

We’ve decided to do a cheapo tidy up of our rubbish kitchen. If we owned it I’d be ripping the fucker out but it’s rented.
The tiles are white and boring so we’re going to attempt tile stickers. If they don’t work we’ll just paint them.
We’re going to strip the terrible, peeling laminate off the kitchen cabinets, paint them white and replace the handles.

Now I’ve found a worktop painting kit from Rustoleum too and I’m going to cover the pipes add a boiler casing.
I don’t actually think it’s going to be that cheap and it might look terrible. It’s a fucking hole at the moment though so I think it can only improve it.

I did this in a rented flat once , painted kitchen cupboards white (were a shit fake dark wood laminate ) and they used it as an excuse to keep my whole deposit. They were spectacular arseholes but maybe if you haven’t, let them know you’re improving their place free of charge.

 

[Looby]

I did this in a rented flat once , painted kitchen cupboards white (were a shit fake dark wood laminate ) and they used it as an excuse to keep my whole deposit. They were spectacular arseholes but maybe if you haven’t, let them know you’re improving their place free of charge.

Fuckers!
My landlord is a mate so it’ll be fine. I haven’t called to ask, mainly because the laminate has already started peeling so action is needed. I didn’t help matters when I tried to steam clean the doors.

 

[Epona]

Fuckers!
My landlord is a mate so it’ll be fine. I haven’t called to ask, mainly because the laminate has already started peeling so action is needed. I didn’t help matters when I tried to steam clean the doors.

I'd warn that if you peel that top layer off, good chance that what is underneath won't be paintable.

 

[Looby]

It’s fine underneath, I’ve done the rest of the peeling door. Not amazing quality but good enough with a decent primer and paint. Much better than what’s there. I absolutely hate my kitchen, mainly because it’s tiny with barely any cupboards and one drawer. I’m hoping making it look nicer will help.

 

[Calamity1971]

It’s fine underneath, I’ve done the rest of the peeling door. Not amazing quality but good enough with a decent primer and paint. Much better than what’s there. I absolutely hate my kitchen, mainly because it’s tiny with barely any cupboards and one drawer. I’m hoping making it look nicer will help.

Mines the same. No room for a washer so had to install one in a pantry in other room. More than one person in there even if I'm just doing toast can become the right room for an argument. Two living rooms! What kind of a knob designed this place ?

 

[Epona]

It’s fine underneath, I’ve done the rest of the peeling door. Not amazing quality but good enough with a decent primer and paint. Much better than what’s there. I absolutely hate my kitchen, mainly because it’s tiny with barely any cupboards and one drawer. I’m hoping making it look nicer will help.

Oh I'm glad to hear that! It did sound as if it was chipboard underneath that had taken on moisture and swelled up as a result of the steaming, glad to hear that it is sound underneath Let us know how it goes!

 

[shakespearegirl]

We have a move date, got to be out of here by September 1st, owners decided they wanted to book flights to come and sort stuff out between tenants so we had to pick a date! Hopefully it can be earlier but better to have wiggle room

 

[shakespearegirl]

Slowly getting there!

 

[bimble]

i am going quietly mad here. It's been well over three weeks since i started on the windows & have done some work on them every single day, several hours most days. And i just discovered that some of the 'finished' ones the paint has dried glueing them shut.
Because of course i didn't read the tin which says

so they'll need to be propped just slightly ajar until mid fucking august, having been sanded & painted again. Get plastic windows people.

 

[Idaho]

Spent a painful and frustrating day yesterday cleaning and touching up the kitchen skylight. It had got quite grubby with cobwebs, insect shit and remains of semi eaten insects. The outside was really grimy from some block cutting from building work at one of the neighbours. It was one of those jobs that I've been meaning to get round to.

The frustration was from knocking over a flower vase that shattered into a billion shards and spread across the floor. The pain was from the ladder sliding out under me and me hitting the deck while still wielding a brush and a bucket of paint!

No serious injuries sustained other than a carpet burn on my elbow and that post falling over body ache that is the special gift of aging.