lichen

 
Bill made a start on the greenhouse. To stop it from being too boring or overwhelming, he's doing it slowly and in stages.
Stage one is the sanding and then painting of the roof. It's delicate work with all the glass, so it makes sense to do it as carefully as possible.

The colour we've chosen is Lichen from F&B. A very lovely natural looking green. Right now we are living with a two tone pink & green greenhouse, but as time passes the green will take over. It's going to look really nice. My love of pink will never end, but for some time now Bill and I have wanted to change the colour and the pink has had its day.

Project 3 is now underway. The reason I keep things under wraps until work starts is for no other reason that being let down in the past. You look like a fool when you say 'oh, this is getting done next week' and then it doesn't happen because the builder doesn't turn up, or they fail to get back to you and nothing happens. But the people doing this work are the same company who did the plumbing and electrical work for the kitchen. We have a very comprehensive schedule of works, and we know and trust these chaps. They are really good. It is the main bathroom getting a big makeover.

Work will carry on over the next three weeks. Plastic stuff covers the floors and stair carpet, and I've already seen the holes in the wall. It's going to look completely different, and it's about time. The current bathroom is coming up for 21 years old in December and it shows. The shower rooms have had complete changes, nothing from the original build is in either now, but the bathroom has stayed exactly the same with only taps being changed. It really is time.

When work on the kitchen started I didn't show very much at all, mainly because it was such a total mess, living with bare bricks and wires hanging everywhere was bad enough, I didn't want to see it on the blog too. But somehow I don't feel the same way about the bathroom. I suspect because it's not as central to everyday life as the kitchen. There was no hiding the carnage and chaos, but with the bathroom I can shut the door and ignore it, it won't make a huge impact on day to day living. Which means I may well take you along for the journey and show things taking shape.
A couple of problems have already arisen, but just as quickly solutions found. I think that's one of the things I really dislike about getting work done, you just know something is going to crop up and be a problem, nothing is every problem free and smooth. My only advice to anyone getting any work done - large or small - is prepare to be flexible. Don't set your ideas in stone, be realistic and know that sometimes you might have to have things done a little differently, and that's ok. If something causes a problem look at how to get around it even if it isn't 100% ideal, if it saves time and money and you get the end result needed, that's all that matters.