We are working on the
house. A job which began with a small (good)
idea, but which has become bigger and
bigger.
It all began when we disconnected the house
from mains gas, leaving us with a fireplace
containing a gas log fire but no gas supply.
So we pulled it out and gave it away.
The fireplace was not in terrific shape.
Some crumbling mortar, some crumbling bricks
as well; a rough uneven base. We patched it
up with mortar.
Our neighbour had a nice little wood heater,
which had developed a hole in it's glass,
and which she never used. So we agreed to
buy it from her. With a bit of internet
research we found a replacement glass for
it, and with more internet searching found
out how to replace the glass (lots of WD 40;
don't even try to loosen the screws, just
twist the clips around with large pliers
when they finally become moveable.) So now
we have a usable heater.
But then - maybe the fireplace would look
better, with the heater in it, if we tiled
it first? So we found suitable tiles, then
had to do a lot of grinding of the bricks,
and rendering, to achieve a suitable flat
surface to tile.
But then - looking at the fireplace, we
realised that we've never liked its surround
/ mantelpiece. So we pulled it all off.
(And put it on Gumtree for $1.00, but it
hasn't sold - no-one else likes it either.)
This left a hole in the wall above the brick
of the fireplace. So we had to make some
suitable boards to match the wall (a profile
no longer available) and put them in.
But rough, ugly brickwork was exposed; so
more mortaring and rendering needed to be
done, before we decided to face it with
cement sheet. We'd never used this before,
and it was an interesting learning
experience finding out how to cut it and to
attach it. But - we did, and it's all in
place.
At this stage, we realised that - as we
needed to paint the replaced boards and the
cement sheet, we may as well repaint the
whole room. All the other rooms in the house
have been repainted in the 15 years we've
been living here, but not this one. So the
furniture's all in the centre of the room,
covered up, and the walls scraped down.
It's ending up taking a long time!
And today, Alison finally became a tiler and
tiled the inside of the fireplace. It looks
so much better!
Soon, we can get around to actually putting
the heater (which has been waiting for a
couple of months) in it; and get on with
painting the room.
We hope to get it finished before we go on
our next trip away, in July. |
