From start to finish (well almost!)

Shall we go back a few weeks?   This is how the house looked,  plain, no windows, no porch, tiles, chimney's...  not a lot inside. 

It was the start of the journey,  and there would be mistakes,  some of the 'blindingly' obvious variety, others less so. 

I was determined not to spend too much, use what I had in my stash, and only buy what was needed, or what I couldn't make. 

So where are we now...

A house, with windows, doors, a porch, chimney's.  It has been rendered, painted, and tiled. The last bit was added today, the wooden strip that goes right round the house.  And which I almost forgot! 

I painted the wooden strips first, and began making up the little sink.  While they were drying I tiled the very last bit of the roof.  It got a bit hairy towards the end as I wondered if I would have enough tiles,  I had lots of bits so I could make up longer strips from them.  As it turned out I just made it!  I do still have all the excess,  which may come in handy for others projects.

Yep, that strip goes all the way around.   Nope the roof still isn't stuck together, and it won't be until the main part has been weathered.  It has had its first coat.  I've started the weathering process on the toilet and small porch.

The fancy bits on the ends of the roof still have to go on.  Well I was being bothered by Harvey, for some reason he decided to stay awake for most of the day!    When I left to go to the supermarket he was sprawled on the living room floor, in the middle of a sunny patch, naturally.  And he was still there when I returned.  Then he wandered in and out,  he was about to settle down for his afternoon nap when, I began cooking my chicken curry.  I have no idea how he knows that there is chicken on offer, but he does.  The piece was big enough to cook some for him, but of course he isn't very good at waiting for it to cool down!   Once he'd polished off the chicken he finally retired for his afternoon nap, and I could enjoy some peace and quiet.

Notice the white tube things?  They're part of the chimney,  that was definitely a tweezer job.  It was taking ages for the wooden strips to grab onto the render,  had to slightly overlap them to get a nice finish.   They are straight,  the photo isn't!   Or should I say, what the house is standing on isn't straight.  I was careful about the measurements, used a piece of wood, marked at the correct height to check the strip was in the right place.  Now you can see the back of the roof, all tiled.   It was time consuming to go round the long chimney. 

Last pic shows the house now in position in its garden.   I began measuring how big the fence posts should be.  I may have some tall ones at the back of the garden.   There has to be a gate!  Ours in the bane of my life,  I find it odd that someone can open it to come in, but never shuts it on their way out! 

I forgot to check out the straws in the supermarket,  then again I almost forgot to get any eggs!   I did manage to get a new pair of slippers, the old pair were looking rather tatty.  The new slippers can go in the washing machine.  The shop was also very quiet,  unusually so for a Saturday morning.   I didn't mind, it was nice to be able to get around without children running all over the place.   My mum rarely took us with her to the shops,  it was very much a last resort. She'd leave us with a neighbour or my aunty.  So I really don't understand why some consider the supermarket as a family day out.  Different if the mum or dad has no choice. Worse are those shops which provide child size trollies - why?  Invariably the child doesn't look where it is going,  the mum has to check what the child is putting into its trolley... a really stupid idea. 

So what is on the agenda tomorrow,  well finishing off the sink,  painting it, and the fireplace.  Sorting out the inside,  one partition is still missing a door and skirting board. Marking where the final bits of the roof go, sticking them on.  And weathering the roof.   There is also some ironing that needs doing!   Yuck, hate ironing.  Think that stems from the army, when everything had to be ironed perfectly,  the shirts we had were a nightmare,  the collars were separate (I kid you not), they had to be starched.  To attach them you used collar studs,  you first tucked your tie in the collar, then attached the collar to the shirt (which you had put on),  then tied your tie, a Windsor knot only, which had to sit neatly.   They also kept changing their minds about whether the tunic sleeves should have creases or not.  As a staff car driver I had to wear the formal uniform,  so it would get creased, and need to be ironed every night. Sometimes we cheated, left them in the bathrooms,  all that steam meant the creases just fell out.  And then our shoes had to be gleaming!   However,  even though I hate ironing I can never wear anything that hasn't been ironed.  I had a friend who hardly ever bothered,  then she met her partner, who did iron clothes, well what a revelation, suddenly my friend preferred her clothes to be neatly pressed!  

Well we are one win away from the Davis Cup final,  the doubles was a bit nerve wracking, it is fair to say that if we didn't have Andy Murray we'd not have a hope.   I hope they do it,  he deserves it for all his committment to the team.    And the rugby is underway, that will keep my niece and her husband happy, they are rugby fans,  though they are Welsh, so we do have a few disagreements.  I have the best of both worlds,  the Irish bit of me supports Ireland, and the other half  England.  .

Harvey has returned from his evening stroll,  clearly his active day is catching up with him as he is now fast asleep. 

More tomorrow..