The Fintelmansion

Wise words from Frau Blucher   The Staircase of Death is pretty frickin terrifying to use. Each step is about as deep as roughly half your foot, assuming that you're not Sasquatch. And that means that each step is roughly half your foot not deep enough. The handrails offer you about as much support as a dolphin in a three-legged race. The stairs were also carpeted to begin with, which seemed to make the journey infinitely more treacherous. We will soon be re-building the stairs to make them more useable but at the moment we're stuck with them so this week I removed the carpet. This is my first time ever removing carpet and I'm pretty sure starting with a staircase is the hardest way to go but whatever. I live the hardcore life. What I did: Starting at the bottom stair, I pulled the carpet off with a mix of tools until one did the job. Wear a face mask for this - it's disgusting.  Once the carpet came off the bottom step the rest were easy.  I pulled...

Well, I'm in. Gary is away for work so I'm running wild and free on my own for the first week, but the important thing is that I'm wild and free IN MY OWN PEMBERLEY! Here's what I've brought with me as a starter pack as I start doing little odd jobs to clean and prep for big jobs: Safety Safety glasses Gloves Ear muffs (Is that what you call the noise block out ones?) Light bulbs and sensor lights Work lamps Dust masks Padlocks for gates  Sombrero and sunscreen Cleaning Toilet paper (haha) Sugar soap, spray and wipe, chux and sponges  Heavy duty bin bags  Hardcore vacuum for dust, chunky rubbish and liquids  A dustpan broom gaffa-taped to the end of an extendable pole to make a handy high ceiling cobweb remover Tools Cordless drill All the regular bits and pieces that came in my Her Tools set of pink tools that mum got me for Christmas that actually turned out to be awesome (hammer, screwdrivers, scraper multi-tool, measuring tape,...

I apologise in advance for the crapness of this post. In its first instance, it was an informative, witty, poignant piece of writing, a well-crafted miracle of literature. But I didn't push save, and apparently the Blogger app isn't into pausing things while you go check Facebook, and it deleted the lot. So this is the second effort, contrived and unvarying, doomed to live forever in the shadow of its forebear. Go forth and peruse, dear readers, but do not judge me for your judgement will fall on deaf ears as I weep with bitterness for this half-life I now lead. ______________________________________________________________________________ The hour draws near. The moment is almost upon us. Seriously though, after almost a full year of waiting, we are almost in the house! Aw yiss! We decided to keep the tenants in the house for a year while we made plans, took holidays and saved up for the reno, and let me tell you, no amount of Pinterest will make that year go any faster. ...

The countdown is on. T-16 days until we get the house keys.  There are loads of little things to do to prep before moving. This isn't strictly renovation related, but it's all part of the process and I want to document everything. There are so many little bits and pieces to do before moving! A snippet of the to-do list Planning We are using up our waiting time by planning as carefully as possible. We have a detailed list of jobs to be done along a tentative timeline. Each job has a list of the tools and materials that will be needed. This way we have a clear picture of priorities and can be organised when we finally walk through the door instead of flapping around in excitement but getting nothing done.  We also have a long term plan with the big renovation that will be happening eventually, and all those drawings and planning and building applications are in the works, but we want to live in the house for a bit before beginning on the big stuff.  ...