Nearly a week since the last update, and a lot of work (and ££) gone on.

Door is stripped on one side, and half stripped on the other.

Floor is stripped and has been sanded with course grain sandpaper- once the shelving and the painting done we’ll see if it needs another quick sand before we varnish.

All ceilings painted- and the white around the top of the lounge.

Cutting in with the deep red has started in the bedroom- this will be a room of opulance- DaFeline design is for an opium den sans opium- with a tapa cloth motif.

Bathroom and toilet are painted- well missing 1/3rd of the toilet as ran out of paint- and 4 trips later B&Q still don’t have the right base in.

Kitchen is complete- we have white ware in, and a small amount of work- shelving for pots, second coat of the blue detialling- but that is all tiny fiddly stuff for the next couple of days.

Hallway is painted- although will touch up post move, as some grazes on the wall.

Shelving (MDF) has been bought and cut to mostly size- although

1) My walls aren’t true or square

2) There are steel girders running down some walls

So putting them up is a little fiddly- we have three up and a process for putting them together.

Also managed to get cheap as coffee table and tv table from IKEA- was on special for £19 each! So they are stacked in flat pack in the kitchen.

I might also have a free sofa- thanks to Southwark Freegle!

Moving planned for next Saturday/Sunday.

Oh and I have broadband at the new flat. And soon TV reception. These things make life possible.

My Darling St Angel met me after work, with a step ladder. We did a B&Q run, and bought kitchen paint, ceiling and hall paint (£5 for 10L!! Yes I found something cheap), rollers etc.

Once home we set to washing the tops of the kitchen walls, and getting the kitchen prepped.

Meanwhile, more stripping glue off the floor- that is now all done, so sugar soap and a light sand for the bed room, and it’s ready for varnish.

Worked on the door of doom with a wire brush- this has cut into the paint remaining on the door, so hopefully one last stripper run and a sand will see one side of the door finished. Thinking of using some sugar soap as well before the next stripper coat, to get as much of the stripper as deep as possible.

Also tested colours for the bedroom- found a rich deep red, and a chocolate for the fireplace/tapa design.

It doesn’t sound a lot when written, but was a lot of work.

Tonight prior to Bar Wotever is prepping Kitchen and possibly first paint coat, and washing hallway in preparation for a coat of cheap while.

Meanwhile the Pup and I make plans for the weekend- black and decker jigsaws, and possibly boot sale hunting.

I have a birthday to celebrate some time in here as well- and a show to shoot and photos to publish. These will happen- just maybe not on the normal time scales.

Plans, generally go quite well.

Started the day on a little downer, the sanding wasn’t going as well as expected. Also could not get hinge pin to pop. Once I got a lot more of the paint off, discovered they were locked down.

But, filled the trench under the sink with self levelling cement. Used about 1/3rd the bucket. This was hard to mix, under watered, then dribbled just enough in to make it go porridge like (it was 2.5 pint glasses mix to 0.5 pint glass water- so exact science)

Went to the £ shop to buy more buckets (as one was now covered in cement) and floor cleaner. 

The Pup arrived, and we sugar soaped the kitchen- easy! Then checked the floor boards, and less sanding required, however old glue stripping needed. One large can of stripper later, we have 3/4 of the glue removed from one room AND another 3 layers off the door! We can see primer and wood…

I also fixed the flush on the toilet, which has now gone from gently washing whatever was in the toilet, to actually flushing it away first time.

Washed down the kitchen walls, then off the see DaFeline who came to check the colours- yes the bedroom is currently wrong- right tones wrong shade, need to go one or 2 darker.

All in all a really really good days work. A lot of kneeling, legs not like me.

Most of today was spent at a boot sale trying to sell the stuff I wanted not to have to move. Did relatively well at this- although still have a few too many suits. 

Took my darling St Angel to see the flat, for they will assist by working on the bits too tall for me, and purchased first power tool- a sander!- self levelling cement to fix the channel in the kitchen, and sugar soap.

Tried out Sander- and yes floors a possibility, although that means adding in a couple of days of sanding to the work to do.

Tomorrow is cementing kitchen floor, sugar soaping kitchen as high as I can manage, and sanding while that dries.

One weekend afternoon soon off to Brick Lane if fine to sell vintage suits for £15 each. 

Pictures of sanding tomorrow..

As promised, above is the floor plan. On the 1st floor with only one flat besides me. So relatively private and quiet (unless the kids above are jumping off their bunks to annoy their mother again)

Fireplaces are blocked in (so no fires for me) but have great alcoves besides them for shelving about 30-40 cm deep (the block was built in the mid-1930’s so there are some not quite as straight as they look once you get the tape out) moments.

However, the flat is warm! Like at the moment I have (securely) all the windows open some, and this means there is a clear breeze and this cools the flat a lot. When locked up it retains a lot of heat. It also has 2 massive radiators 2m long in both the living room and bedroom. I doubt cold or damp will be a concern in this flat.

Bathroom only has a bath at the moment. Plan is to convert that to a shower in the future.

Currently going for wood floors in living room and bedroom. Lino in the hall is tired and at some point (maybe now, maybe later) will be ripped up and the concrete painted, or something less ugly and worn pit down.

Kitchen floor is massively uneven but not much I can do about that now. Planning with Pup to redo kitchen on the 5 year plan, as it’s set out so badly it is insane. It’s also just been recently repiped as they moved the boiler- but the boxing work is uglee! This may just have to stay for the next couple of years. (wow! blowing my mind thinking about years in a place)

Tonight is a non-work night (well work on flat I am photographing a spoken word event and picking up freecycled videos and sorting out things to sell (including the unwanted from the freecycled videos) at a boot sale tomorrow and spending some time with DaFeline) so a quiet relaxing not at all full on evening!

Today was lifting the dreadful vinyl from the floor, floor boards are in very good condition, a little sanding, some varnish, and a nice look. Tried to save vinyl in the hall, but on further inspection this needs to go- so a job for Saturday.

Colours sorted everywhere but the bedroom- need a more choclately red- so will take a photo of the colours we need to match sort of and try from there…

Tomorrow is purchasing stuff, sander being the big one.  Workmate suggested filling in the partly dug channel in the kitchen with self levelling cement. Is a better suggestion than any other I had. And I need a mop…brushing just doesn’t cut it.

As not a lot of work happening tomorrow I will draw the floor plan.

Saturday is spent mostly at a boot sale trying to reduce the amount of stuff I need to move, and increase the kitty for buying things (as there are ALWAYS things you need you didn’t know about)

Today was the first day of really kicking off with the flat. Signed the papers only 2 days ago- was the fastest rush job I’ve ever been involved in. 

The first photo is representative of what I have to work with- layers and layers (and LAYERS) of paint. 

So plan is:

Strip back the old doors to wood.

Paint the walls.

Put up an awful lot of shelving in the bedroom and living room

Move in..

Do the very wonky floor- rip up the current dreadful vinyl and polish floorboards

Kitchen: Yellow with the pipes etc in blue (it has the 1930’s council build style- much concrete and a lot of pipes in ALL directions)- because the kitchen needs colour, and might as well make the pipes look good..

Bedroom: Terracotta- lightish in the same tones as my piece of tapa cloth (which has always been up in my bedrooms and make a room feel home)- the idea is to stensil the tapa pattern around the top of the room and have that come down to the cloth in the centre of the chimney

Living Room: green, in a nice calming sunny day under a young tree green- with white around the window and the upper part of the walls.

Hall: white. What it is now. Needs some touch ups.

Bathroom/Toilet: Aquamarine/Blue with white highlights (including the inevitable pipes)

Yes- my decorating ideas are not exactly unique or brilliant- but they are MINE! And it is not in magnolia or something neutral to suit all tastes! 

A hand sander power tool required- or my arms will die!