mybigadventures.com

After a spot of bowling, we got back to work on the project. Today seemed a little less productive but involved a lot of trial and error. We started off by cutting the shelf for the top of the units. We were really keen to get a nice finish, but neither wall was exactly straight so in order to get the finish we were looking for, there was a lot of measuring, cutting and remeasuring before it was right. 

With the shelf in place, we had decided to make a back panel rather than leave it open to meet the corner of the eave, it was also hoped this may give the illusion that the storage is shallower and less intrusive in the room. We only had enough wood to make half the back panel, but as it was that took the rest of the day. It was quite a complex cut with the angle of the eave having to be trimmed from the back and the the angle at which the roof sloped along the width being taken into account, not to mention the angle when it met the wall. 

It seems we'll need to make another visit to B&Q tomorrow, and we haven't picked out any paint yet!

Half term has arrived at last, as always it seems to have been a busy one at school, so the break it a nice change of pace. By a change of pace I actually mean we've taken on a big project that will keep us busier than ever tackling our upstairs spare bedroom. We decided a few weeks ago that we wanted to have a bit of a change around, and decorate, but in order to make the most of the room, we needed a bit more storage. We settled on some cupboards to run along the wall under the eave and had already made a start on creating the shells by the time we broke up today.

Last weekend we bought the wood needed to make the shells, MDF for the sides and some timber to brace across. We had the MDF cut to size at B&Q, but still needed to cut out for the angle and the skirting board. We made a template out of cardboard to speed things up and keep all the cuts consistent and then got started with the jigsaw. Over the course of the last week we got all of the pieces cut ready to put them together tonight.

After a nice tea, we got started and before the evening was out we had 4 cupboard shells ready to roll. A great start to the break, but a long way to go! 

This week was half term and unlike previous years we hadn't made any plans to go for a short city break. Our tenants at the house had given us notice so we had decided to have a look at the house in Leeds and get some estate agents around to value it for a possible sale. We managed to fit quite a lot in on Monday, getting three agents around and doing some gardening whilst there. So the short story is, we've decided to sell. Just a few bits to sort out and and then it'll be hitting the market.

In other news, I've added a few new albums to the site. We've been out to a couple of places over the last month, visiting Ham House and Hampton Court Palace. Both trips were pretty grey days in terms of the weather with plenty of cloud cover but thankfully the rain held off.

We visited Ham House on a weekend in the middle of January. It is National Trust so the cards came in handy for free entry. We spent a couple of hours in the gardens but didn't get into the main house as there were only limited tours and we didn't fancy waiting an extra hour at the end of the day - maybe next time. The gardens were nice although obviously not a huge amount to see for the time of year. The sun was warm when it came out from behind the clouds but it was otherwise quite a cold day. 

We managed to get half price tickets for Hampton Court Palace at the beginning of February costing £8.25 each instead of the usual £16. It was quite a cold day when we visited, so we stuck to the state rooms and other parts of the house's interior. It is quite a vast estate and the signs didn't seem to be the most helpul in getting you from place to place. We did have a free audio tour and I suspect if we had followed it more closely, navigation around might have been a little less haphazard. We had lunch at the cafe and stayed until about 4.30pm when everything was starting to pack up. The wind had picked up quite a bit by this point and had blown a few of the trees outside the orangery over. The gardens looked nice from inside and I think it will be well worth a visit another (warmer) time.

This week after sorting the house out, we had a day out and about around the capital so I've added a few more of the usual sites, Tower Bridge etc, into a new album.

We were there until dark but some of the lights on Tower Bridge didn't seem to be working. London Bridge was lit up in bright orange though which I don't think we've seen before. I think I'll leave it there for now. Cheerio ta ta!