More Than We Expected

Okay, buckle up folks - this is going to be a big one.

The reason that there has been radio silence for two months is because decorating the firstborn's bedroom took a bit more than the week I'd allotted for it. In fact, it took the best part of 6 weeks!

Since builders and building materials are rarer than hens teeth at the moment, we've decided to do some internal renovations instead - you know, so the year isn't a complete write-off. That means the extension is delayed until next year, maybe even the year after but, on a positive note, this means that we'll probably be able to do the loft conversion and kitchen at the same time; just got to hope that the roof lasts that long. Oh, and because the conservatory loses heat quicker than a freezer, the skyrocketing energy prices are going to make this winter 'interesting'. 

As I say, so that we can at least say we did something we decided to do some decorating. We thought we'd start small and do the smallest room in the house but my goodness did we bite off more than we expected. So, if we're all sitting comfortable, let's begin...

25th July 2021 - Firstborn moves out

Bedroom number 3, the home of the firstborn. She chose the smallest room (just like I did when I was a kid and we moved house) and the secondborn chose the larger room so, much to my relief, there were no arguments!

As you can see, it's a very small room - smaller than mine was. The radiator that you can see on the back wall is actually in the centre.

I had taken a week off work and enthusiastically set about clearing the room.

28th July 2021 - The day the enthusiasm died

Carpet got taken up (to fix the squeaky floorboards) and wallpaper started to be removed. It was at this point that we started to get worried about . Just look at the black stains over the wall. You can't see it in the picture but there were huge gouges in the plaster.

The wallpaper needed removing because it was in a poor state and had simply been painted and plastered over to hide all the problems. Just look at the state of this corner; what we didn't know is that this was just the tip of the iceberg.

Then at the bottom of the walls we saw that the plaster no longer met the skirting board. Over time, the bottom of the plaster has broken off, leaving some huge gaps. There was only one thing for it - the skirting board would have to come off so that I could stabilise and repair the bottom edge of the wall.

Took the old plaster air vent cover off. Good scene for Halloween if you ask me! This wasn't too bad in the end - just a new cover (with a bug screen) was needed. I was advised to leave the cobwebs and, to be completely honest, not having to touch it suited me just fine.
 

4th August 2021

Well this corner quickly got interesting. The plaster (that had run before drying and so looked a mess) came off with the wallpaper. Underneath that was some lose bits of brick that had been stuffed in this hole. The picture doesn't do it justice - the depth was a good 6cm. This meant that the hole needed filling in layers, with a few days in-between to allow it to dry out properly.

Here you can see how uneven it was...

...and here is what it looked like after the first layer of mortar. Again, this would need building up over a few days but it was starting to look better already.

8th August 2021

I haven't mentioned the woodwork yet. This had been sanded down earlier but my goodness was that a mission! The existing paintwork wasn't put on properly. As in, they shoved a load of gloss paint over a layer of gloss paint and hoped for the best. So, of course, it's all peeling off. The bottom layer of paint (there were about 4 layers) was, as expected, lead based paint. 

I can see why lead was used in paint - it doesn't shift. Worst thing to do is to sand it - you must use paint stripper and scrape it off - you don't want lead filling your lungs. This took FOREVER!

Anyway, while I was stripping the windowsill the chemicals caused a strip of plastic to come off, revealing the very bad join between the window and the sill - clearly, covering the problem with a piece of plastic was far superior to actually finishing the job properly. 

So I filled it with foam (for those keeping track of all the harmful materials, this emits a carcinogenic gas whilst wet), levelled it off, then used wood filler to create a smooth finish. 

Seeing how badly the window was fitted into the wall I made the mistake of having a look at the exterior wall. Where mortar had been applied when the window was installed, there were now lose bricks and holes. So I used the mortar here too, patching up the wall and making it watertight again. In fairness, the windows are probably decades old so it kind of makes sense; they all need replacing anyway so I just wanted to stabilise the situation.

The skirting board also got re-attached and the gaping chasm was looking much better.

With the mortar mostly finished with, it was Polyfilla's time to shine. We literally got through kilos of the stuff trying to make these walls paintable. 

14th August 2021

Much of the same - just continuing to fill, patch, and put a nice finish on with a bit of sandpaper.
 

I also attempted to strip the paint off the door. I did one side, went in the house to have a cup of tea. I thought I'd only been going a couple of hours. Turns out I'd done 6 hours. 

At that point we decided to get new doors. For next time I think we'll replace as much of the skirting boards / door frames as possible too. Making them safe by getting rid of the lead was way more intensive than either of us expected.

15th August 2021

Then I went round with the caulk, just to smarten up the edges. I wasn't going to use any but because of all the different materials and the need for flexibility I decided that even though I'd made the edges nice, this would help to prolong the neat look.

Look at that corner! So much better now. I even had a go at repairing the skirting board where that had been gouged out. I managed to improve it but it was tricky to mould the wood filler. So it's not perfect but it is better.
 

18th August 2021

Walls were washed with sugar soap. That's mainly to get all the old wallpaper paste off to create a good surface for painting.

The mould was sprayed with a specialist primer/undercoat thing that is meant to stop stains coming through the paint.

Incidentally, I never found the cause of the mould and I'm fairly sure it's historic. My current belief is that, up until a few years ago, the room wasn't heated and so got damp where furniture was against the wall.

Anyway, once sorted with the specialist stuff, the main base coat went on.

21st August 2021

Had a little help. The firstborn and I had been to B&Q to get the paint. She chose the colours herself and was excited to get painting. Finally the end was in sight.

23rd August 2021

Wood paint was applied. The purple had been chosen carefully. It was a custom mixed colour too.

Originally the radiator was going to be painted in this purple too but with the project having already taken so much more work than originally expected, that particular plan was shelved.

Still, it was coming together quickly now.

28th August 2021

Wallpaper! This had been bought (by a friend) for the firstborn before we'd even moved house. It was satisfying to see it finally on the wall.

30th August 2021

Time to refit the carpet. The floorboards had already been sorted so that there were no more squeaks. I had marked the underlay when I lifted it up so that I new where it needed to go when refitting. 

I also marked where the wires and pipes were running for future reference.

Following nothing more than a YouTube video, I somehow managed to get the carpet refitted. I think if it had been a new carpet it would have been easier to hook the carpet on.

With the carpet down, construction could begin on the bed. The boxes had been cluttering up the house. If all had gone to plan then the bed would have arrived the day it was to be assembled but it ended up having to wait a month.

I had to shave some wood off one of the legs so that it could get closer to the wall - otherwise it would be very close to blocking the door from opening. Only a centimetre, if that.

We also went on an expedition to Ikea to choose a wardrobe.

31st August 2021 - Firstborn moves in

With everything constructed, the firstborn moved back in to her room. She was so excited. She even got the desk that Tracy bought to work from during the lockdowns. 

She got the spare mattress that we've had under our bed for almost 13 years too. So that particular plan has finally come to fruition.

There is still no door though - a new one needs to be purchased and then hung on the other side of the door frame so that it opens the other way.

In an ideal world I would have moved the light switch and the plug socket but we'll see how we go with this.

She also still needs shelves, a reading light and a mirror to be fitted but that means drilling into my beautiful walls and I haven't had the heart to do that just yet. Not after how much work went into getting them so nice in the first place!