Sunday 12 December 2010

Bye bye builders!


My building work is done! Done! After four and a half months, the last joiner and electrician have left the house! And my bathroom looks ... absolutely nothing like the one pictured.

Come on - even my taste isn't that bad.

Although it is pretty bad. I have just enough taste to know not to trust myself. My impulse currently runs to black 'n' chrome.  In fact Mr Ashbless says my taste in home decor runs to 1970s-batchelor-shagpad. I accept his point. I only restrained myself from buying the totally cool black fake-suede curtains because I could picture his look of derision...

Anyway:  new things that this experience has taught me:
  1. The last stage, when they are nearly (but somehow never completely) finished, is by far the most frustrating and wearing.
  2. I HATE gloss paint. It says "dry in 16 hours" on the tin, but actually it takes a week. How are you supposed to keep a skirtingboard clean and untouched for a WEEK? Actually, how are you supposed to do it for 4 hours, even? It's just a stupid stupid idea.
  3. Varnish is dry in one hour :-)
  4. I will never buy from Carpetright again.
  5. The reason salmon flies are so elaborate is not because they are better at luring salmon like that, but because ghillies used to use fly-manufacture as a means of advertising themselves to rich sports fishermen. (Yes, it has nothing to do with building. The council buildings inspector just happens to be a very enthusiastic fly-tier, that's all. And I thought my hobbies were odd...)
See? We live, we learn.
;-)

6 comments:

Jo said...

Hurray! You home is your castle again!

Emerald said...

I love black and chrome too. And mirrors. And marble... Describing my "dream home" to someone one time, she said, "Um, do you plan to have kids?" Apparently it didn't seem very child-friendly, lol. (Of course the answer is no, so perhaps that works...all I need now is to procure a house....)

Congratulations on the completion and conclusion of your building work!

Fulani said...

You must be relieved! You point 1 is so true, our living has been almost but not quite finished now for about 6 months. And the last point is intriguing - the idea is that the flies are actually intended to be attractive to humans, I guess?

If you ever do find anyone who can redecorate a bathroom the way the illustration shows it, I think Velvet would be very interested! And certainly my gay comedian friend would be....

Janine Ashbless said...

Yes Jo, I enjoyed the process (mostly) but it is a relief to have it over and done with. And the silence is beautiful!

Yay Emerald, I am so glad I'm not alone in my tastes! Though I can't do marble (or even lainate) floors because of the dogs ... Have you ever seen a greyhound trying to cross a polished surface? It's both hilarious and terrifying.

The bathroom in the picture is probably a unique item, I'm guessing Fulani. You'd have to be very careful to direct elderly relatives to a different bathroom - "No, not that door Gran!! NOOO!!!"

Danielle said...

1970s-batchelor-shagpad????

mister ashbless is such a lucky man to finde a woman like that..in germany all women want the swedish look..which means ikea or the countryhome..which means all ugly and..well..i dunno..i dont like neither the swedish nor the countrylook...

hurray for the builders..at last

glossy paint dries in germany within 2 hours and is hard within 6 hours...

Janine Ashbless said...

I blame my 1970s upbringing, Danielle. Also possibly excess testosterone while I was in the womb...
;-)