So you get a dry May. A dry June. A dry July. You start site works and what do you get - the wettest August ever! I now have a garden mud bath of trenches, holes, rocks and rubble as the lads have endeavoured to find what exactly is happening with our original and quite... Continue Reading →
DoUpDiary #14: The Perfect Combo: Concrete & Calamari
It barely seems like the blink of an eye since the demolition started, but we've already gone through four different stages: giddy excitement, shock, dust loathing and mud crawling. As I sit eating a very late lunch (god bless M&S deli specials) on an outside step which was once inside, it's weird to be enjoying... Continue Reading →
DoUpDiary #12 : Builder Cat and the Big Boys Toys
Proper building sites need proper toys and thanks to Hire Station over in Trafford Park we've had some big hitters at Moregeous Mansions to wreak havoc in what was once my garden / home / world. In just two weeks we've gone from a slightly battered but relatively normal home to a rubble filled tip... Continue Reading →
How to keep dark grey / black paint pristine on interior timber
Recent months have seen a plethora of blog posts by interior designistas on the virtues of inky decor schemes. If you aren't already painting your woodwork fifty shades of grey, you won't be part of the monochromatic In Crowd, let me tell you. They can look rather fabulous, as this small selection shows: However although it might be... Continue Reading →
DoUpDiary #10: Friday Round Up
I smell of smoke, taste of brick dust and look like, well, you know what. Yep, it's the end of Week 1, the first week of the renovation proper at Moregeous Mansions. Lots about this week has been surreal, climbing out of a first floor window onto scaffolding 20ft up in my onesie, watching a... Continue Reading →
DoUpDiary #9: Up on the Scaffolding in Our Onesies
Well, there's no going back now. The West Wing is most definitely kaput and I'm feeling elated about it, in a weird & slightly hysterical manner. I keep looking at it and laughing, not *quite* believing it's almost all gone. First the beautiful roof slates came carefully off, stacked ready to be re-used in the... Continue Reading →
Do Up Diary #8: The Detailed House Plans
So, you already know that the West Wing is going and being replaced with a new construction broadly the same size, slightly wider, but what else is happening? Seriously, I don't even know where to start other than we must be mad! In for a penny, in for a pound, we decided if we were really going... Continue Reading →