Friday 7 August 2009

Today I am mostly...

...clearing up as I spent most of yesterday away from the pooter doing a spot of decorating in the sitting room. We're having a new fireplace fitted soon and I needed to freshen up the paintwork where the old one's been ripped out. Except once I started touching up I realised just how many shades of magnolia there are and ended up doing the whole room.

We'd had an idea the old gas fire was faulty. The pilot light would spark but wouldn't stay lit - a safety feature I think. The man who came to disconnect it said it was leaking but strangely our carbon monoxide detector hadn't gone off. Maybe not leaking enough? Dunno.

Anyway, we decided we'd replace it with an ultra-modern electric one. It's high gloss black, with coals and 3D Enviraflame technology (I'm copyng from the brochure here). Course, being modern, it didnt suit the old pine surround so we're changing that too, to a Sandstone one, blocky-looking, no mantle. I think we got a bargain but as with all DIY jobs, it's the little 'add-ons' you don't expect that hike up the cost.

First there's the emulsion, new paint rollers and tray.

'We don't need new, there's a stack of 'em in the shed' - Himself.
'But there're spiders in the shed' - Me.


The new hearth has rounded corners whereas the last one was square so it'll leave an unsightly gap in the flooring hence we'll need someone to come out and give us a quote for patching in and I'm guessing our particular wood veneer is now discontinued etc etc.

Himself has always hated the mirror (I it bought second-hand about 15 years ago)which hung above the fireplace so he's suggested now would be a good time to replace it, 'With some art'. Well, we've argued about this 'art' for some time now and I'm no nearer to agreeing that a 4x4 canvas of stampeding horses would look tasteful.

Thing is, I can't come up with an alternative. I've trawled eBay and nothing jumps out at me. I'd like a watercolour, pastel colours, maybe something to remind me of a past holiday. Nothing floral, or abstract and definitely no nudes please! Having said that, on the opposite wall I have a sepia artwork of a Roman lady in a diaphanous frock, boobies on show and her arms flung with abandon above her head! Maybe it's time for that to go too.

Top Tip: Don't decorate with doors and windows flung wide when fields are being harvested close by. A swarm of those tiny bugs descended and unable to swat them away I'm afraid I had no choice but to paint over them. Brings a whole new meaning to textured walls.

7 comments:

Teresa Ashby said...

Oh Sue, this did make me laugh - particularly the bit about the spiders in the shed!
It's just the same here with things in the shed that I can never ever use because I just won't go in there!

And your thripdashed walls!!

Good luck finding some art to replace the mirror.

Sue Houghton said...

Thrip-dashed. Maybe I should patent it?
After writing the post I took a look at the mirror and remembered I had some cream spray paint left from doing up the kitchen so I took the mirror outside onto the patio table and sprayed the frame cream. Looks more modern - before it was antiquey-gold so wondering if we can keep it. I'll see if Himself notices. Who am I kidding. Course he wont notice. I once changed his armchair from an 'orrible pink velour to brown leather and he hadn't got a clue till he sat down and didnt go through the seat.

Teresa Ashby said...

Let us know if he notices!
Honestly the chair - Men!

Sheila Norton said...

Just popped over to say hello, Sue - and fell about laughing at your decorating post, especially the bit about painting over the flies!! Brilliant!

Anita Marion Loughrey said...

Loved your top-tip.

I once taught a child who told me her dad painted around the coats in the hallway.

Sue Houghton said...

Olivia - Hello!

Anita - Painting around coats - funnny! I have been known to re-hang pictures and curtains before the emulsion's had time to dry!

Teresa - No he didn't notice the re-painted mirror so I pointed it out and he said 'Oh yes....remind me, what colour was it before?'

Honeysuckle said...

I love how you start off patching and end up painting the whole room.

Paint rollers have to be treated as disposable, despite the environment. I clean rollers up between coats or whatever, but when the job's over, from now on I'm chucking everything. Surely there's someone who grinds this stuff up and makes road surfaces with them or something? (Have just found a jar of turps with a brush in it in a spare room I finished painting a year or so ago. Turps around the brush is now jelly. I should've just thrown it out!)