Busy Bee

This weekend was very busy. In a whirlwind of proactivity I…
…dismantled the shelves in the large alcove…
…dealt with the inevitable mould lurking in the corner…
…took two car loads of junk to the tip…
…arranged for an electrician to visit to quote for lighting and kitchen wiring…
…made the second feather-filled box cushion for the sofa…
…dyed a velvet curtain for the new sofa cushions
…made the new sofa cushions
…worked on my new trousers (a little bit)

I’m weary just remembering it all. The new sofa cushions look good, though. Here they are, modelled by the mighty Ajax:

The slight curling on the bottom should sort itself out as the feathers settle, and also after I’ve redone the webbing and checked the springs on the sofa.

No more excuses

There has been a distinct lack of woodworking activity on my part recently, mainly because I damaged my wrist putting up the last lot of shelves. I finally took my poorly paw to the doctor yesterday, who confirmed that I had damaged the tendon and recommended that I buy a support (as it’s a 20 week waiting list to see a physio at the moment) and just get on with things. So now I have a rather fetching blue glove thingy, which seems to be holding everything together very well:

We also have a new SDS hammer drill winging its way to us, as I killed our old drill (my father’s old one which had been doing sterling service since the 1970s) doing those bloody shelves as well. I’m very excited about the new drill. It should make everything so much easier, and maybe I’ll make it through the next set of shelves without risking life and limb (or wrist).

So no more excuses. I’d better get on with tearing stuff down and putting it back together again. Ho hum.

Sofa cushion innards

I was meant to start hemming the curtains this evening, but instead decided to try my hand at making the box cushions for the sofa. I only made one, but I think my method works very well, so I’ll probably make the other tomorrow. (Sorry about the dark photo - I must stop taking pictures at night. Or get some basic photography skills.).

It’s made with glazed cotton cambric, which stops the feathers escaping. I filled it with 3 kg of duck feathers (or maybe it’s just 2 kg actually in the cushion and another 1 kg scattered around the house - it’s a messy business). I’ve been sitting on it for about half an hour now and it is very comfy. It’ll probably squash down over time, but that’s fine.

I plan to cover it and its chum with cotton velvet. A friend who visited yesterday has offered me some curtains that she has in her attic. They are a similar colour to the ones I have got, but I’m going to see if the velvet will stand up to being dyed burgundy to go with the sofa.

Oh, and we took the steel props down yesterday and nothing bad happened. The house is still standing!

The curtains are up…

… but not hemmed.

This is the colour they are at night under the electric light - a deep rich burnt orange. During the day, they are much more subdued and a paler gold. I think the changes in colour suit the different daytime/evening moods for the room very well. I’ve still got to decide how to finish the curtain poles - paint them cream? Stain them a medium or dark wood? No idea.

Window-be-Gone

We had a productive morning today. Our Friendly Structural Engineer came around to help knock part of the wall down between the the sitting room and the kitchen. Before, we had this:

And now we have this:

It involved taking the window out and replacing the whole window/door supporting structure with two steel beams. At the moment, the house is being supported by the four steel props you can see in the photo, but I’ll be finishing off the job next week once the mortar is dry and the props should be down by Wednesday.

Eventually, I will be chopping down the remaining bit of wall to make it level with the worktops in the new kitchen I’m going to build. But for now, I’m just going to patch it up and make it stable until I do the cupboards on the other side, which will probably be in March.

Already, it is so much lighter downstairs, which was one of the main reasons for knocking down the wall (the other being to get rid of the internal window, which I have never liked). It will also make it a much more sociable space, as whoever is cooking can now chat to whoever is lounging around on the sofa. All in all, I’m very pleased and I think it’s going to look great once it’s all finished.

Curtains…

The curtains are going to take quite a while. My poor sewing machine can’t get through the two layers of cotton velvet, two layers of lining and the header tape, so I’m having to hand sew the lot. I’ve done about half a metre - only about 8 metres to go… It’s quite pleasant sitting by the fire and sewing, though, so I hope to get them finished in the evenings this week. On a positive note, they are really thick and should keep draughts at bay.

Landing Strip postcards

I finished choosing, framing and hanging the stamp postcards and stamps for the area above my landing strip today, and have been obsessively trying to get them perfectly straight with each other ever since…

My new/old curtains have also arrived, so I’ll be tackling them tomorrow along with removing the glass from the interior window ready to knock down the wall next weekend. As it’s Sunday tomorrow and I’m sticking to my media-free Sundays resolution, I will post an update on Monday.

Ta-Daaaaa!!! Painted shelves (at last)

I’m really pleased with these shelves but, blimey, what a faff it has been. I’m absolutely shattered. The good news is that they look exactly as I imagined them to be…

… the bad news is that now I’ve got to do it all again, only twice as big, for the other side of the fireplace. My body is feeling so thoroughly pummeled, however, that I’m going to take a break from woodwork for a bit and concentrate on more genteel activities. My new (vintage) curtains should arrive on Saturday, so they will need to be altered to fit and I also have some upholstery work to do.

Originally I had planned to fashion seat cushions for the sofa out of big floor cushions, but for various tedious reasons that isn’t going to happen. Then I thought I would get some posh latex foam cut to size, but the budget was looking a bit tight. Instead, I have decided to make some feather-filled box cushions for half the price of the foam. New skill, ahoy! I have an upholstery book from the library and have just ordered 7 kilos of duck feathers along with other items like new hessian, jute webbing and a webbing stretcher tool. This is all new to me, but I feel up to the challenge. I think.

A small disaster

Lessons learned so far in 2007:

It really isn’t a good idea to use an oil based primer and with water-based acrylic eggshell, unless you’re going for the crackled / distressed look

Sanding off paint you’ve just applied is very disheartening and hard work

MDF sealer is magical stuff

Synthetic brushes are great and don’t shed bristles

So, no pictures of the painted shelves just yet - still have a bit of putting-right to do. :-/

Happy New Year

I always spend some time on New Year’s Eve thinking about the year that has passed and what I would like to do in the next twelve months. With all the changes I have been making around here recently, I am feeling very positive for 2007. My main theme is getting the basics organised, so I can lift myself up from the drudgery and have more time for fun and creativity.

It’s going to take a lot of effort and stamina (and a fair amount of money), but this year I’m going to get everything sorted. The three main things I’m going to do are: finish the sitting room, redesign and rebuild the kitchen, and get my wardrobe organised. I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions, but this year I have. It’s a simple one, designed to get me enjoying the finer things in life, and that is to make Sundays computer- and media-free and focus instead and making things, seeing friends, reading, going for walks, watching old films (OK, that’s “media”, but I’ll make an exception) and generally chilling out.

Happy New Year, everyone!