Me, hardly ever.
Packed off wifey and 4 of her mates this afternoon as they're off on a jolly to Spain for a 50th birthday long weekend and I thought I'd surprise her by finally decorating the downstairs bog that she's been going on and on about for....well, a while.
Anyway, I have a habit of 'Date stamping' any work I do about the house where possible. So, I removed the first picture and there it was. Well, I suppose you could say it was overdue. Mind you, that was when I finished actually building it, again, while they were off on another of their jollies - someones 40th that time - where does the time go? I didn't even get the privilege of using it first as they got back just as I had plumbed the WC in and one of her mates dashed in to christen it! It's only painted cream and she wants it painted...cream! Damn thing is hardly used anyway - she bans the doing of number twos in there and there's sod all wrong with it apart from a few settlement cracks on the walls. Oh well, it'll give me something to do over the weekend I suppose.


 Past: FL2 TD4 HSE Auto
Evoque SD4 Dynamic Lux Auto
Present: Audi A3 S Line.

Yep, signed under the new bathroom suite, under the shower room, and under the tiles in the downstairs loo. Even found we had put the old Lab and Spaniels paw prints in some plaster 25 years ago when we ripped the old bathroom suite out .

On decorating, my biggest pleasure is I've found a real genuine, super talented, apprentice trained decorator who works for rates that aren't equivalent to the chairman of ICI. Paying him saves me money ! If it came down to a painting competition
between me and Stevie Wonder, MoTown's legendary genius would win hands down  2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

2016 Subaru Outback SE 2.0 diesel SE Premium Lineartronic Sold 2024 after 8 years and 80k miles . Best Car I ever owned !

2023 Toyota Hilux invincible X 2.8 Auto .

Never , I get a man in to do it  Do it now ! Your a long time dead !!

Every year, lights n baubles mainly

just been round the ceilings with battery leaf blower blasting cobwebs, does that count?

top tip, put plenty of bubble stuff in the kids bath then blast them with leaf blower. foam everywhere

topper tip, dont do that when the wife is in the house  At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

too often!
just spent 14yrs rewiring replumbing rejoinering, lowering ceilings, re plastering, new kitchen two bathrooms 5 beds, diningroom and two lounges, all in evenings and weekends.

porch was finished last week. then she says, I think I want a new kitchen........

wimmin can invent jobs in an empty room.

As little as possible

We moved into our current house 6.5 years ago, and the wood cladding needed some attention back then...

It got done 5 days ago, as we are looking to sell it in the very near future

Steve D wrote:

Me, hardly ever.
Packed off wifey and 4 of her mates this afternoon as they're off on a jolly to Spain for a 50th birthday long weekend and I thought I'd surprise her by finally decorating the downstairs bog that she's been going on and on about for....well, a while.
Anyway, I have a habit of 'Date stamping' any work I do about the house where possible. So, I removed the first picture and there it was. Well, I suppose you could say it was overdue. Mind you, that was when I finished actually building it, again, while they were off on another of their jollies - someones 40th that time - where does the time go? I didn't even get the privilege of using it first as they got back just as I had plumbed the WC in and one of her mates dashed in to christen it! It's only painted cream and she wants it painted...cream! Damn thing is hardly used anyway - she bans the doing of number twos in there and there's sod all wrong with it apart from a few settlement cracks on the walls. Oh well, it'll give me something to do over the weekend I suppose.

Ahem, I'm off on next Friday for a week with three mates on our motorbikes to France and Spain. Back the following Friday evening on our wedding anniversary.  Past: FL2 TD4 HSE Auto
Evoque SD4 Dynamic Lux Auto
Present: Audi A3 S Line.

Grrrrrrrr! I really HATE decorating. I should never have started. I'm hot, sweaty and just can't get into the job. I really wish I hadn't started. Everytime I start a decorating job, I'm all keen but I lose interest very, very quickly and then time draaaaags. Oh, how it draaaaaags. It's going to be another midnight finish and that's just the first coat. Then, more filling (just found a few more cracks that paint won't cover), final coat tomorrow night and then the glossing. Got to remove a radiator to paint behind that too. That'll probably go wrong as well. Trouble is, there's just too much good stuff on the telly and then there's the Internet to browse......... I could bloody  Past: FL2 TD4 HSE Auto
Evoque SD4 Dynamic Lux Auto
Present: Audi A3 S Line.

Sod it. I'm just going to do the filling tonight and really get stuck in tomorrow. I've had enough and the house is like a bombs gone off so, a bit of filling, clear the place up, empty the dishwasher, shower then bed.

Got to find time to go up Hatton Garden tomorrow as I want to get some emerald earrings for my wife for our anniversary on the day I come back from my bike trip. I ONLY have one chance tomorrow to get them so I MUST get my finger out.

Right, where's that oven dish and spatula to knock some more filler up....... Past: FL2 TD4 HSE Auto
Evoque SD4 Dynamic Lux Auto
Present: Audi A3 S Line.

OK I HATE getting tradesmen in to do a job I am perfectly capable of doing.

The wallpaper (supaglypta = polystyrene raised lumps) in the living room has been on for 30 years - painted every 4-5 years, but the house was built in the 1920s and the walls are like a dogs back leg.

Gill's just had lymph nodes out in one arm, and I have had heart surgery - lets get "someone" in

3 weeks of quotes, we are now down to bare walls and have been for a couple of weeks - strange thing is I have spent the last 3 weekends "preparing" the room for the plasterer & joiner & decorator - would have been quicker to do it myself and £3k cheaper.
Decorator has stripped most of the walls - but Gill and I have had to do the tricky bits - oh and I have to remove the light fittings and sockets unless I want to pay an electrician
Oh and radiators would have needed a plumber - over my dead body.
Looking like it might be finished late July.

I thought the idea was you "get a man in" and go away on holiday for a couple of weeks, when you come back it's all done.

Bedroom is getting done later on in the year - and I am definitely doing it myself, because I am a greater risk of a heart attack watching these "tradesmen" than doing the work myself. Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
Replaced by Ewok what a mistake - now a happy Disco Sport owner

Steve D wrote:

Got to find time to go up Hatton Garden tomorrow as I want to get some emerald earrings for my wife for our anniversary on the day I come back from my bike trip. I ONLY have one chance tomorrow to get them so I MUST get my finger out.

.

Well, that was a waste of time, didn't like anything. Waste of a morning. Getting ready to go into headless chicken mode.

Right, cup of tea and then I'm going to get stuck in. Only 5 more sleeps till wifey is home if you include my afternoon naps.  Past: FL2 TD4 HSE Auto
Evoque SD4 Dynamic Lux Auto
Present: Audi A3 S Line.

In between coats at the moment. Hey, this watching paint dry isn't as bad as it's cracked up to be.  Past: FL2 TD4 HSE Auto
Evoque SD4 Dynamic Lux Auto
Present: Audi A3 S Line.

Done - with only a small bit of corner cutting! There was absolutely nothing wrong with the white gloss paintwork on the doorframe and skirting boards so I just washed them and left 'em well alone. Completely and utterly finished, tidied up, cleaned paint off everything that got collateral paint splatter, tools put away and everything. Now, a glass of red wine before showering and bed. I'm done in.  Past: FL2 TD4 HSE Auto
Evoque SD4 Dynamic Lux Auto
Present: Audi A3 S Line.