You've gotta love you tube!

Firstly lets go back to last night - I enjoyed a very pleasant evening with the WI supper club at The Greyhound Inn in Marshchapel.  the menu was extensive and catered for a range of tastes.  That being the case I went for my usual Steak Pie - boy was it full of steak - mmm - I can definitely recommend the inn.




So - back to today.  I had a bad night's sleep and woke up really tired at 8am.  The builders were coming back to finish the chimney so a lie in was not an option.  Following yesterday's example, I gave the show screen a good scrub (I'm cleaning the bathroom baby step by baby step!), stripped the bed and loaded the washing machine - all before breakfast.




The next job was to paint some shelves for the utility room.  I only had some black plastic shelves but the Annie Sloan paint did say that it would cover plastic - boy were they right.  I am so impressed with this paint!  Two coats later it is now a colour that will compliment the décor rather than the heavy black colour.  The builders left by lunchtime - having also cleared out the gutter between the conservatory and the roof - and cleared out the down pipe - hopefully that will mean no more flooding for a while.  ( I did give them a tip for their troubles!)

After

Before

Then it was onto the utility room floor - yep, scrubbing tile and grout by tile.  Just one problem - there were a number of marks - some of which was rusty.  One search on you tube revealed the suggestion of making a paste with ajax and water, spreading it on and wiping it off 5 minutes later with the rust magically disappearing.  I would dispute the magic, and I only had vim, but a quick scrub after soaking did sort the problem out.




 
 
 
 



After lunch it was time for my décor surprise.  I have never used these wall transfers before but it only cost £4.51 and, even more importantly, there is a glass window from the kitchen to the utility room - I didn't want to be looking at a blank wall, brooms or mops.  I love this design and it peels off really easily.



















After walking the dogs (only a short one - it was threatening rain) it was time to start putting back the utility room and mending the brabantia bin ( and finding out that the shelves needed to be painted underneath - since you could see the black still - duh!)  The catch had gone and I have had a padded brick on top (well its cheaper than a new bin!). As with most things - the catch was only around £3 from Amazon and You Tube provided an explanation as to how to change the clip.   Even the mop bucket had a good clean before going back into place!  So - the second month of retirement and the second room completed - I am back on schedule! (well - and here's the sneaky confession - it's not strictly finished - the door to the kitchen is gloss painted both sides.  I will paint the door when the kitchen gets done - honest!) 

Hopefully this short video will work.  If it doesn't then scroll down to the bottom where I have put before and after photos.

Finally it was time to think about my sewing day tomorrow and assemble my fabrics and templates.  We are doing a block a month and I am trying to chose fabrics which represent each month as I go - so July says holiday time to me.

By the way - I was listening to Jeremy Vine today and he was discussing how to stack a dishwasher - really?  Allegedly its one of the biggest cause of arguments within a relationship!






After

Before




Don't fret Mother - the mat will go back down - I am just cleaning it!  I am also making a carrier bag tidy out of a nice tea towel so it that looks attractive.