From little acorns...

[Moo]

It took me two months, but eventually even I couldn't ignore the black marks on the kitchen ceiling any longer, so it was off to Thorns to get a spray bottle of powerful grease-remover.
But the cleaned bit of ceiling was so much cleaner than the rest of the ceiling, so that had to be done as well.
However, the walls had been painted the same colour as the ceiling, so they had to be done, too.
Which made the grubbiness of the cupboards far too evident , so it was back to Thorns for more de-greaser.
But that only revealed how tatty the paintwork was (and I'd never liked the colour, anyway) so another trip to Thorns for undercoat and overcoat and white spirit and new brush.
Three coats of paint later it became obvious that the old knobs just wouldn't do, so they were replaced with 18 nice wooden ones.
All of which made the neglected wooden worktop stick out like a sore thumb.
So it was off to Thorns again for paintstripper and a nice new can of danish oil.
But I'm not sure about the tiling.....
And the smart kitchen now makes the breakfast-room look a bit sad.................

 

[Juju]

Blimey Moo you've put us all to shame!
Juju

 

[skier-hughes]

and what did you do after 8am?

 

[jocelyn plummer]

I am still looking at my kitchen ceiling and the bathroom mould--- making me feel guilty Moo!

 

[robgil]

Its like an advert for Thorns.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Thorns doesn't need advertising, it's an Aladdin's Cave hardware shop. They do have everything (probably even magic lamps, if you ask)

 

[Moo]

For years now, I've played a little game with the blessed Thorns that consists of marching into the manager's office and announcing: "I've found something that Thorns doesn't stock".
The manager then strolls over to the shelves of catalogues, pulls one out, opens it, and asks "Which one do you want?"
If it's a sizeable item, they deliver it.

So far I've never won, but I still live in hopes.


ps That original message wasn't meant to impress anyone - it was just an example of how one thing can lead to another!

 

[jocelyn plummer]

One thing always leads to another on PPUK!!!!!

 

[JoceAndChris]

Well I'm impressed Moo - that sounds like enormously hard work! I know just what you mean as well. Fortunately the plan here is still to decorate every inch we haven't, but I'm dreading ten years from now, please tell me I won't need to wallpaper again!

If you can't face decorating the breakfast room, it's amazing how freshening a vaccuum of walls and ceiling, followed by scrub with sugar soap, can be. Plus swap all your ornaments from room to room. That makes a world of difference !

May I beg for pics of the kitchen?

It did all look so lovely when I came to visit, and inspired by your woodwork I'm doing the dinng room woodwork in "London Clay" - my word, what a multitude of sins that covers!

 

[Penners]

Now, Moo, I thought we had an understanding. House are for living in, not for cleaning.

And your story above simply reinforces this rule. Break it once, and you're sucked into a giddy whirlwind of unfavourable comparisons, worry and hard work.

I wouldn't be surprised if you end up scrubbing the entire house, top to bottom, to within an inch of its life.

It won't do, you know.

 

[Moo]

Oh, don't worry, Penners - it's only a phase.
I'll soon be back to normal.

 

[Penners]

I jolly well hope so.

It's all very worrying.

 

[essexbearhunter]

There was no need to do any housework at all. After the first four years the dirt doesn't get any worse.

..it just takes nerve
(Denis Pratt..aka Quentin Crisp)

 

[Moo]

After the first four years the dirt doesn't get any worse.

Mr Crisp's quite right, y'know, although to be really accurate he should have said "doesn't look any worse".
I'm sure that if I'd waited a bit longer the rest of the ceiling would have blended in with that sooty mark and I wouldn't have made all those trips to Thorns. But it's been too cold and wet for allotment and golf, so it has probably been a sort of displacement activity.

 

[Juju]

I like the approach taken by the family who lived at Chastleton House (NT) - never clean or paint the kitchen ceiling and then 400 years later the blackened ceiling becomes a major attraction in the property! :lol:
Juju

 

[Penners]

After the first four years the dirt doesn't get any worse.

Mr Crisp's quite right, y'know, although to be really accurate he should have said "doesn't look any worse".

I'm not sure that Miss Haversham would agree with you.

Haven't I posted that picture before? It's deja vu all over again.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Yes you did post it very recently Penners :shock:

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Did he make a mistake in the spelling of "Havisham" then, too? The back problems must be distracting him

 

[Penners]

Yes, I probably did. Never having had the privilege of corresponding with the lady in question, I haven't had occasion to include her in my address book, thus spelling her name.

Read the book? Oh good heavens no - too many long words.

 

[Moo]

My little acorn is rapidly growing into a sturdy sapling:

Now that the kitchen looks so much brighter, I've found the view from my seat in the breakfast-room increasingly depressing.
I know that the dark chocolate brown woodwork is ever so authentic, but there's just too much of it at that end of the house (three large doors + frames + skirting). So they, too, have now been scrubbed, undercoated, and overcoated (twice).
The trouble is that the woodwork in the rest of the hall now looks rather depressing.........
And daughter commented on how tired the breakfast-room looks now ........
Oh, dear. I do hope the weather improves soon.