Moregeous Monday Moments

In an alternative universe somewhere, or maybe just in a Russian oligarch’s daughter’s world, there’s a chef under strict instruction to always coordinate stunning food with designer tableware. Such was my delight at the realisation my ‘new’ rose pink vintage bowls were in fact not rose pink at all but prawn pink, that it made me enjoy this week’s said prawns in lemon thai spiced cous cous all the more. It’s highly likely this will be my only foray into matchy matchy meals, at least until we get a kitchen. Any excuse for a seafood addict prawn fest though eh?

Early last week I had a lovely surprise when I opened up Real Homes and saw our windows beaming up at me! Even though The Ed had asked if I had any suitable pictures to go with my article on replacing windows, I still figured a stock photo would prevail.It made me feel very proud, seeing the installed and painted timber frames beaming out at me, topped by the decorative cuspings we slaved over. They’re big investments aren’t they, windows, and they have a tendency to suck up time and budget. I hope you find some of the advice in the article useful 🙂

Indoors at Moregeous Mansions I finally struck gold and found the perfect loo for the downstairs washroom. This cheapo temporary one has to go.

Not only is it cracked and covered in Gripfill, but the small timber decorative panel has now organically grown into two fully clad walls and I’ve decided the best loo would be a corner one to maximise the small space. I can work a lot of DIY magic but even I can’t morph ceramic into something it isn’t. It also needed to be a more traditional style to work better with a cute little reclaimed chemistry sink found at an Arthur Swallows Fair last year. The new loo arrives next week, then as soon as the boxed skirting goes on, which can happen once the old loo comes out…. that’ll be another room finished and a BIG FAT THUMBS UP!!

I finished packing the new log store last week and am just besotted with it. That led to us finally clearing everything off the driveway by consolidating three years worth of materials into a much more manageable pile and a skip. It pains me to think of how much reno cash has gone on skips. Physically pains me. Talking of that, of course doing all this physical stuff has led to a major relapse for me back-wise. Not only did I help move all the timber but we then started on the driveway…

Building the outside table motivated us into deciding on a barbecue next weekend for his birthday, which used to be an annual outdoor feast until the reno started and our garden turned into builders yard and we started to ignore birthdays. Now the garden is finally (sort of) safe again for regular humans to visit, this was the thinking. Ooo, why not invite people round. Then: Ooo, maybe it’d be good to have somewhere for a table. Then: Ooo, maybe we could do the drive ’cause we already have the blocks. Then: Ooo, what about a nice decorative border. Then all of a sudden: two skips, 8 tonnes bags of hardcore and sharp sand, one tone of white cobble, a digger, a whacker and a couple of helpers. If there’s one thing we don’t do here, it’s things by half. Whilst the boys ferried in barrow after barrow of stone to back fill and create the right fall, I helped cement in all the white cobble bricks, rake level the sand and re-do the beds. Even though I did it all carefully and slowly, my pain levels have gone through the roof this weekend and I’ve been back on my drugs and my knees. However, at least when I kneel in the garage at look at my new drive, it’s starting to look like it might have been worth it!

We’ve to have a break for a couple of days to get some more blocks delivered and also to let our battered bodies recover but I’m keeping everything crossed that we’ll have it all finished for Saturday so friends and fam will at last be able to sit somewhere nice. I’m thinking trestle tables laden with food and wine and it really won’t look like a driveway at all. Yes, I know it’s only Monday but roll on the weekend!