Entrance Hall

It's a while since I posted a blog with pics. We have been busy with lots of things as the weather becomes more agreeable. But one task which is complete, apart from maybe some further wall decoration is the entrance hallway. You will remember that we had some dark green, yellow and orange velour type paper on the walls, and on the floor the greeny-brown tiles which were also in the kitchen and living areas. The ceiling was a sort of brown paper we've never seen before - it took a lot of paint to make it a soft white - I think about 5 coats.

front entrance

towards the loo

towards dining room

So a list of what we did - clean, paint ceiling and scotia; strip walls of all paper, sand to remove any glue residue, apply crepi (this is a type of plaster) and then paint the walls; lay and grout floor tiles and plinths; decorate with some second hand chairs we found and our own cabinet and some new light shades; remove, paint and reinstall radiator (this was an awful job....); painting the doors was a huge job and the photos below don't really show the pooey pink they were before they were painted - each door has 18 glass panels and 2 undercoats and 2 top coats each makes........ (18 panes x 4 coats x 2 sides x 3 doors = 432!). One door remains - the door to the dining room. The current one is not big enough for wheelchair access so we have another ready to be installed once the doorway is adjusted.

towards our room

lamp

Now we feel that the house takes on more of our character and has a brighter atmosphere.

Another decorating story to come as I'm just doing the finishing touches in the loo and back bedroom - after that it will be work on the new bathroom and toilet with special attention to wheelchair access. And of course this will include a stairway to the first floor - we currently have a 'trap' (pull-down stairs). All these things are joint efforts as I need Wouter to do things like removing door handles and knobs, taking down and hanging doors, and so on, and he leaves me with painting while he does another 101 jobs elsewhere in the house or outside.

What else? We are working on the web pages so that we can be googled and hopefully get some business from 1st May - yes, we are mad enough to believe we can get all this extra work done by then.... You've seen the TV programmes where the first guests arrive and the painter is leaving by the back door!

Also we are busy in the garden preparing for our vegetable and flower crops - have bought lots of seed packets and are weeding, working the soil and planting. Temperatures are becoming more like NZ spring with cool mornings and lovely afternoons. The days are more sunny with about 4 days a week full sun and the other 3 grey, overcast, and a bit of rain - almost perfect.

For those of you who haven't had an update recently, after a few meetings and Wouter registering as an auto-enterprise, we are now waiting for the siret number which allows Wouter to trade as an ebeniste and for us to be able to get health insurance. So everything seems to be coming together at long last.