Brushman's holiday

When is two week’s off not two weeks off – when you spend it with a brush and roller in your hand...

Scaffolding and dust cloths everywhere – Ed wonders why we even bother to tidy up.

It’s been a while since Rose and I took a proper holiday, and after spending most of the Xmas and New Year period at work we were keen to take some time off while the possibility of some sun still existed.  For the next year at least, time off work will only mean that we’ll be working at home instead –or ‘on home’ might be more apt.  It’s safe to say that we won’t be stuck for ways of filling our weekends for the foreseeable future. 

The office becomes the door painting production line.

Walls, skirting boards, ceilings, window and door frames all need to be painted, so this was the perfect opportunity to focus on this time-consuming but rewarding job.  Sealing the acres of plaster board forming our interior surfaces is a job best done as soon as possible, and it is satisfying to see how a careful paint job can turn MDF framing into something resembling crafted timber.  Countless metres of masking tape have been used around our many doors and windows, and the long hours spent balancing on a lofty plank or crouching in doorframes are paying dividends. No-one, human or feline, has yet managed to step in paint tray or kick over a paint tin – so that’s a good result in my book.

Our guest room is more or less finished – it seems to meet someone’s approval, anyway.

 

Our laundry is also installed.  Built by the same company who did our kitchen,
it was actually cheaper than a kitset – and has a consistent look with our kitchen.

The promise of our Plumber finally returning meant that we needed to concentrate on the walls behind the soon-to-be-installed radiators and the chimney breast (or ‘monolith’ as we refer to this freestanding structure which also houses our hot water cylinder).

The infamous leaking water tank was also attended to – the manufacturers arriving promptly with many apologies and the promise of replacing the lost water.  The fault was detected speedily – it seems that a rogue rock somewhere in the shingle which the tank rested on may have punctured its base when the weight of the water bore down on it.  It does happen, apparently, even if this is the first time in 18 years!

True to their word, 18,500 litres of water is delivered to replace the tank-full which was lost.
Ironically, the following night saw some of the heaviest rainfall in the Wairarapa in years!