May's C of Creation - Pretty as a picture

When it comes to decorating Brendan and I never agree, on colour, on textiles, on furniture placement, nothing.

So trying to decorate the house is a nightmare, which is why I have resorted to doing things while he is out of the way on a bike rally.

Having managed to paint walls and move furniture around already this year, I am now tackling some of the blank canvas walls I have created.

(Brendan rode off to Bordeaux this morning so I am free to decorate to my heart's content.)

I am lousy at choosing pictures, I have no eye for a painting or wall art at all, but at the start of the year both Brendan and I managed to find this calendar full of copies of old enamel advertising plates for soaps, and we both agreed that we liked the pictures.

Here is a 'how to' create a picture from a calendar.

Cut out the picture that you like, cut right to the edges leaving no borders around it.

The next bit depends on what you have got knocking around, but at a push you can use some thick box cardboard. One of the best things to use is bits of plaster board off cuts, which thanks to a builder friend I have large pile of in the barn! Also, old lever arch folder covers are good, as is plyboard.

Cut a piece of your backing material to the same size as your picture. If you are using plyboard or plaster, you can rub the edges with a bit of sandpaper to get a smooth finish. Liberally apply a coat of PVA glue, which has the advantage of being easy to clean up as well as cheap, over all of your backing medium, especially the edges to seal them together. Leave to dry for about 30 minutes.

Then apply a thick layer of PVA to the backing piece and stick down your picture. If you apply a thick enough coat of glue you will find that you can easily slide the picture around to line it up neatly, then press the edges down gently to get the PVA to squidge out of the sides, and with your finger tip, smooth this glue surplus up onto the picture itself to create a good seal all around the edge. Leave to dry for about an hour to ensure the glue is completely set.

Once the picture is glued down firmly and the PVA has gone off - it will be translucent rather than white, paint a layer of glue over the picture, running the brush over the sides of your backing medium, leave to dry and repeat a couple of times to create a varnish like finish over the picture.

Then hang on your wall of choice, I used a hot glue gun to stick some cotton kitchen string to the backs of my pictures and hung them one above the other in the bathroom. A nice surprise for Brendan when he gets back.

Housework versus Decorating

Now I hate both.

But as an option I'll paint a wall rather than wash it down.

Why is that?

I hate the mess that decorating leaves behind yet when it comes to the big housework stuff like cleaning down the walls and dusting I hate that even more, and lets not even mention cleaning windows. Bleurgh.

For the last few summers, I have repainted the walls in the hallway rather than clean them down. Bearing in mind I painted them in gloss paint to make it easier to wash them, I still prefer to repaint than to get scrubbing.

I have tried to teach the dog not lean against walls when he sits down but to no avail, I have had similar lack of success with trying to teach Brendan not to lean on the walls in his dirty coat or with oil smeared hands.

But now I have run out of paint - so I must scrub.

Panelled doors are the same, silly idea, all those little nooks and crannies for the dust to gather in. Much easier to 'clean' them with a paint laden brush.

We are currently trying to finish the insulation of the landing ceiling - the last ceiling to be done, but the trickiest involving as it does the careful balancing of stepladders over the stairs, then juggling large pieces of plaster board with a drill and some screws to fix it in place.

Obviously Brendan is doing all the on the stepladders juggling because I have a much greater probability of plunging to broken bones than he has. Not sure why this is, but perhaps it has something to do with my ability to trip over fresh air?

Anyway -once he has done the MAN thing (I am man hear me roar as I beat my chest and wave battery operated drills around) - I get to do the WOMAN thing - clean up behind him (I am woman hear me mutter under my breath).

Slowly but surely the plaster is extending across the ceiling, inch by laborious inch.

But then there is the filling in to be done. What a joy that is - more gunk on the floor than in the gaps - and guess who gets the job of levering those dried on bits of plaster off. No prizes for that one.

Bless his little cotton socks Brendan does have a big plastic sheet that he spreads out on the floor while he is working. It is such a shame that he can't determine which side is dirty side up, because mostly what seems to happen is he spreads the plastic out, all the dried bits of plaster and paint fall off it, they in turn get trampled into the floor boards, new wet bits of plaster and paint get thrown on the plastic, which is then ceremoniously dragged down the stairs and the hallway leaving new trails of plaster and paint everywhere. Guess who gets to clean that lot up......

Any hoo - when the ceiling is finished that is it - no more DIY.

We have solar powered lighting on the landing, stairs and in the hallway, one panel powering a selection of these little 12V LED lights.  They get turned on in the evening and off in the morning.  The light is a little reminiscent of the strange blue glow that eminates from the corridors of alien spaceships (what, you don't watch Star Trek?  - shame on you), but certainly adequate to prevent you from falling down the stairs - one day we may finally get round to replacing the banisters around the top of the stairs.

When all the plaster is finally in place, I have every intention of claiming the long low horizontal beam that you can see running across the top photo, and using it as additional storage space.  Another bookshelf perhaps.

Until then I shall continue scrubbing accumulations of dust and plaster debris from the floorboards - muttering under my breath all the way.

Here is the solar panel under threat from the grape vines.