So while the cat's away.....

[JulieSherris]

This mouse is gonna play!!

I posted on my FB this morning that hubby has just left for Dublin for a few days. The weather check isn't great, so outdoor projects will be limited. So... what to do then..... I know!! I'm going to decorate the kitchen!

Now, my kitchen is absolutely horrendous..... it's an extension with the bathroom which was built in the mid 80's when the house first got running water. We're not sure that the damp course was done properly, if at all & the back walls have suffered with mould, so were dry-lined. The joins of the dry lining have been covered with masking tape & painted....
None of this has stopped the damp or the mould though, so now my kitchen really is just the worst room ever.
All is about to be changed! I can (finally) get rid of the awful dark green cupboards & hopefully make my little kitchen a place that looks bright & sunny - well, I can at least try

It's never been photographed before, so I shall take a few before pics & let's see what I can achieve in 3 days - wish me luck!

[Green Aura]

Julie, are you sure you don't live with us?

It's only about 18months ago that we removed the (agreed) hideous dark green kitchen units and put our own kitchen - lovingly transported from Manchester - in its place. The dry-lining was done pretty well but we've not been able to progress further until we install the Esse stove. So ours is a strange mix of coal-dust covered bright yellow paint, bare woodchip flooring and beautiful stainless steel catering tables

By the way - the jointing tape for plasterboard looks quite like broad masking tape so they may have used the right stuff, just not skimmed over it. So before you start ripping it off you could try a small area plastering over it - the results when done properly (which we've not quite achieved yet ) are good.

Anyway you don't need luck - your DIY skills are the stuff of legend, so you'll do a fantastic job

[JulieSherris]

By the way - the jointing tape for plasterboard looks quite like broad masking tape so they may have used the right stuff, just not skimmed over it. So before you start ripping it off you could try a small area plastering over it - the results when done properly (which we've not quite achieved yet ) are good.

I'll charge my camera & post a couple of pics... you'll see what I mean!!

[thesunflowergal]

Good luck "Mum".

[growingthings]

Any chance of having your proactive influences over here on the other side of the country?

I have been living with a 'temporary' kitchen for the last 18 months and think that I am very soon going to lose my sanity.

I keep reminding myself that I have many reasons for not being able to get it sorted, but the kids, health, time and money excuses are beginning to sound a bit hollow even to my own ears

I vote you start a Mr Motivator style support group, (minus the dodgy lycra of course )

I for one will be first in the queue to sign up.

Got luck with it all, and can't wait to see the before / after photos!

Lorna x

Now in the spirit of things I'm off to scrap the old paint off the window frames.....

[Silver Ether]

I would love to see his face when he returns ... I used to change the colours of out rooms frequently and he would come in and look walk away stop and look again with a gasp... she done it again ... ...

[Millymollymandy]

Hurry up with the before photos!

[theabsinthefairy]

Everytime my hubby goes away I like to move the rooms around, especially the bedroom and so while he is away next week, new colour for the walls, furniture to move around, some damp to remove and oak floor to be oiled. Can't wait to get started. Just got to paint the bathroom first.

Go for it - a new brighter kitchen sounds lovely. Have fun, and remember to sit back and admire your work with a glass of wine every now and again.

[JulieSherris]

OK, ok... here's the before pics - kitchen's cleared ready for the prep work tonight... start painting tomorrow, so give me a couple of days for the after pics.....

The taping around the windows... I don't think scrim tape should be used like this!!





The bloody awful overbearing cupboard doors..... I've had some paint mixed up the same colour as we've used on the outside of the cottage - class!! On the advice of Martin at the local place, I'm going to use PVA bonding - diluted 2:1 to stave off the damp & covered with gloss, we should be able to hold the damp off for a few years - hopefully!!





See my nice new taps??



There you go.... see you all in a few days then!! Just kidding, there'll be lots of coffee breaks

[Millymollymandy]

ha ha ha that's worse than the top floor of my house where there is plasterboard which has had the correct tape put on the joints, a bit of plaster has been slapped on them but never smoothed or sanded down and then they put a layer of white paint on top!

But then the middle floor is just bare plaster......oh well that's white in this country.

I think some French only decorate the rooms that other people see i.e. the ground floor!

Good luck Julie. I got 'decorated out' on my last house so apart from doing our bedroom here which took me about 8 months (had to sand back and fill in the dreadful lumpy holey plaster, particularly difficult on a curved sloping ceiling ) I just haven't bothered and live with it as it is.

[JulieSherris]

This doesn't really belong here, but too funny!

I've just given the window edges a cement skim & have the little window open at the top. FOUR times, I've been out & gone round the front to see who's been calling me - all I keep hearing is "Ju - Le" really loudly No one there.....

So, the cement's drying & I walk out the door, coffee in hand, start chatting to the birds & it's one of our baby roosters practising his crow!!
Oh, I guess you had to be here, but I've proper had the giggles!

[Green Aura]

Well you're right about the green cupboards - even worse than the ones we chucked out and they were so bad that no-one wanted them (we live in pass-it-on central ) and were taken to the dump (I'll post pictures of the view from our dump one day!)

What on earth did they think 6" of tape would achieve? Or have you cut some off? I'm guessing the people that did your house moved to Coatbridge to extend Annpans place

[JulieSherris]

I never cut anything there Maggie - that was before I started! I like the way that they painted the wall.... then put that tape over the cracks, then painted the tape!

The same wall in the bathroom was drylined too, but the cistern is there. They didn't move the cistern out, they just sort of boxed it in - but you can still get your hand up inside the plasterboard, so it sort of negates the dry lining!

The house that Jack built indeed......

[Susie]

I've just given the window edges a cement skim

You're my heroine. I'm hoping if I keep reading your threads I'll feel inspired to engage with my awful kitchen as well...

(I quite like your cupboard doors, though - are you keeping them, just repainting them?)

[TotallyPotty]

Good Luck Julie!!!! Ill be thinking of you and wondering how you are getting on!! Look forward to seeing the after pics!!! TP