Cool and grey to start with, but becoming much brighter and hotter as the day wore on.
I didn’t do my diary over the weekend. Sometimes I’m just not in the mood for it, and the weekend was so lovely and nice and hot that I slipped into lazy-bum mode very easily. On Saturday I read some more of the book I started last week, and in the afternoon I drove into St. Cere to see if I could find a reclamation yard that might have a window frame that would match any of mine. I’m keen to find one before I knock the wall out – which I want to do when Paul is here to help me later this week. No joy on the window searching front, but I did find some thinner wood cladding which I might use for the kitchen cladding job.
On Sunday I laid out in the garden and did some painting. It was nice being able to doodle there all day without any interruptions, although I missed Ilka’s expert doodling assistance because we usually do this together. Despite this I managed a reasonable effort I thought, and some good doodling progress was made.
This was done on the canvas that everyone had been trying to stop me painting over, because they all liked the blue background just as it was. Oh well, ruined another good background! Maybe I’ll paint over it again some day soon.
After painting, and drinking a bottle of wine in the sun, and reading The Little Prince again, I fell asleep and woke-up just in time for dusk to settle – whew that was close, what would dusk had done if I didn’t wake up? Took myself off to bed (still going from one lying-down position to another), and watched the rest of Angela’s Ashes, this time in Englisch. It’s a lot more entertaining in English (well Irish) with German subtitles. I mean it’s still doom and gloom and death and despair, but there’s more Irish humour to uncover in the native tongue.
Today (Monday), I decided to get back to doing some work. I can’t loll around in self-pity any longer just because of a pain in the backside (I used to do that when I had an office job!). So I thought I’d tackle the cladding around the kitchen units. Ideally I’d like to have them done before Paul gets here on Thursday, although that might be optimistic.
Did a lot of head scratching at first (made a change from the bum haha!). I usually find with these jobs that it’s worth starting slowly, because there are a lot of problems to solve before you can really begin. Then, at least when a decision has been made, you can go and make a coffee and wonder if it’s the right decision before starting anything.
Anyway, decided to use the thin wood for cladding, and I covered the end of one unit but I’m not at all sure it’s the right material. The trouble is that there is a lot of wood in this room already – what with flooring, and joists, and beams, and ceilings, and lintels, and cupboards, etc. So I’m not sure about adding another type of wood or a texture that’s similar – but not the same –as the other wooden textures. It’s just too much on the eye, especially since most of the walls are going to be left as exposed stonework.
So I stopped cladding and did a bit more thinking. My heart told me that I needed another cladding solution, but my head told me that I’d already bought 3 packs of bloody wood cladding and since I’d made a start I’d better carry on. However, I thought I’d continue by cladding the cupboard in the corner of the room first, because that’s piss-ugly and I’ve been dying to hide it since I came over.
This went remarkably well, and I was sufficiently happy with the result, that I think I can find a way to work with the wood that my heart had so nearly rejected. It will involve some camouflage work with some paint or wood dye though, so I’ve had to trial some colours on the computer. These are on the shortlist….
At the moment I think I might go for green with some creamy bits that tie-in with the wall colour. The worktops are likely to be whiteish, to match the cooker/fridge/sink. I’ll spend some more time on the mock-up before I commit though.
Well hark at me! I didn’t think I’d be discussing colour schemes to a bloody machine at this stage of the game. None of this is on my ToDo list in any case. Surely it’s more important to have a roof over one’s head and fairly stable walls and floors etc, before one discusses the colour of the fucking furniture! I’ll be investigating cross-stitching techniques for curtains next if I’m not careful. Aaarrggh.
Time for bed.
