---
layout: ../../layouts/LayoutMdx.astro
title: "2023"
date: 2023-09-11
dir: year2023-1
image: kayak-pub
description: the progress happens much slower
---

import { generateImageHyrdationFunction } from "../../utils";
export const s = generateImageHyrdationFunction("year2023-1");

import Cards from "../../components/Cards.astro";
import Callout from "../../components/Callout.astro";
import Solocard from "../../components/Solocard.astro";
import NextPrev from "../../components/NextPrev.astro";
import Progress from "../../components/Progress.astro";
import YTVideo from "../../components/YTVideo.astro";
import Quote from "../../components/Quote.astro";

House news! Back again! After another extended break. Tell a friend.

It seems that we've slowed down enough to where we just don't have enough to make this a more regular feature! (That's probably a good thing)

## Hallway

The hallway has been our major project this year. From our front door all the way to the top of the house the walls have been covered in off-white woodchip wallpaper. Sound familiar, anyone? Yes, we had this at Harrow too.

When we were dealing with the off-white woodchip in our Harrow flat, we found one wall was very stuck on. It was so frustrating to remove that we ended up leaving it in a half-removed glue-y state for almost a year before caving and getting plasterers in to skim it.

<Solocard title="What we're trying to avoid 🤮" src={s("harrow-hallway")} />

This time we were determined that it would not be left in such an awful state for any extended period, so we got Simon and Will back again to redecorate it for us. This hallway is in constant use and we wanted any inconveniences to happen quickly and then be gone. Plus, it's an enormous surface area to decorate with high ceilings over stairs, and they could work on it full time with the proper equipment (or the 'proper equipment').

Here's a little reminder of what we started with.

<Cards
  images={[
    { title: "Before", src: s("hallfront-before") },
    { title: "Before", src: s("hallback-before") },
    { title: "Before", src: s("hall-during2") },
  ]}
/>

Not too terrible from a distance.

#### Removal of the wallpaper and carpet

For the first week, Simon was on holiday in Sicily 🏝️ so we only had Will. We suspect this was a deliberate plan so he could get out of steaming wallpaper. Karma came back to bite him in the form of temperatures in the 40-50°C range and his airport burning down just before he was due back. He must have really really really wanted to avoid the woodchip.

Simon needn't have worried though - We were pleasantly surprised with just how quickly the woodchip went, but what was left was dark and dingy and not in a good way (unlike our lower hallway). The feeling it gave us every time we entered the house helped confirm that we wanted it light and airy.

<Cards
  images={[
    { title: "During", src: s("hallfront-during") },
    { title: "During", src: s("hallback-during") },
    { title: "During", src: s("hall-during-23") },
    { title: "During", src: s("hall-stripped1") },
  ]}
/>

Whilst Simon was off in Sicily (potentially committing woodchip-avoidant arson?), we had our own little emergency back home. As the woodchip started disappearing up the house, we heard a big 'SHIT' from the hallway. What with so much steam, Will accidentally let water condense and dribble into our bathroom thermostat controller, which promptly caught on fire 🔥

<Solocard
  title="⚡+ 💦 = 🔥 (+ horrible smells)"
  src={s("zapped-thermostat")}
/>

Luckily the only damage was to the thermostat and that was easily replaced - but it was a nice opportunity to ask them to replace it with a white one which then would match better with the hallway. (Previously we had a black one that would have matched the master bathroom fittings, had it been inside the master bathroom 🤦)

Once Simon got back and Will had explained what happened we were treated to a few trademan's stories of fires in lath-and-plaster walls that were started by plumbers soldering, or electrical faults 😬. Apparently it's very hard to put out a fire you can't access. Fortunately, Bath stone is less flammable, but it did make us go and check that we knew where our fire extinguisher was 🧯

<Cards
  images={[
    {
      title:
        "Lesson learned - Carefully masked off **and** disconnected at the consumer unit",
      src: s("zapped-thermostat-tape"),
    },
  ]}
/>

#### Making it pretty

Once all the paper had been removed, the next thing to do was to get the walls spruced back up. They were covered in a thin layer of plaster filler and then sanded to even out all the lumps and bumps, and then they started getting their base coats of paint.

The aforementioned 'Proper Equipment' ended up being Simon on a stepladder which Will held up. They started off a lot safer, building sturdy platforms out of battens and ply, but slowly descended into madness. That's what woodchip wallpaper does to you, be careful kids.

<Cards
  images={[
    { title: "Starting off well", src: s("hall-safety3") },
    { title: "Definitely safe?", src: s("hall-safety2") },
    { title: "'Proper Equipment'", src: s("hall-safety1") },
  ]}
/>

#### The Upper Stairs

Ever since we moved in we've noticed that one or two of the stairs on the upper staircase were a bit more mobile than the others. It appeared to have pulled away from the wall and was in an area where the water leaks down when the gutters are blocked. Given that mobility isn't a feature we look for in a staircase we asked Simon and Will to have a look at it whilst they were here.

<Solocard title="Cracking stuff" src={s("stair-crack")} />

Simon cut a hole in the plaster to have a better look at what was going on. We found out that the construction of the stairs was a lot more chunky that we had suspected. The stair was actually very firmly attached to the wall, but the issue seemed to be that it wasn't very firmly attached to the other steps next to it and so was flexing at a different rate. Simon put a load of beefy screws in to make sure the steps flexed together and we're much more confident they won't all fall down. We will keep an eye on it and if the cracks return we will get someone proper to have a look.

<Cards
  images={[
    { title: "Investigate and beefily screw", src: s("stair-crack-hole") },
    { title: "Cover up and leave it", src: s("stair-crack-fix") },
  ]}
/>

#### Other fittings 💡

We spent a while searching for some lights we liked and eventually settled for lantern style pendants that we found online.

<Cards
  images={[
    {
      title: "Building a model to check the scale",
      src: s("proto-lights"),
    },
    { title: "Can't even tell them apart!", src: s("proto-lights-2") },
  ]}
/>

The inside of the pendant was only available in chrome, which isn't what we wanted, so Nikki picked up some black spray paint and got to work.

<Cards
  images={[
    {
      title: "🎶I see a chrome light and I want it painted black🎶",
      src: s("hall-lights-before"),
    },
    {
      title: "🎶No colours anymore, I want them to turn black🎶",
      src: s("hall-lights-after"),
    },
  ]}
/>

We weren't sure it would work very well but it turned out fine. It just needed care when installing to make sure the finish wasn't scratched. Most people aren't going to be looking too closely anyway 👀

#### Other fittings 🌡️

Nicer radiators! Simon and Will have finally found a decent plumber that they're happy to work with. We got them in to do the radiators and they did a proper job 😁 No stain marks on the ceiling, no leaky hot water tanks. We'll definitely be using them in future and go nowhere near our nightmare boiler people!

#### Carpet

We went with the same people to do the carpet as with the lower hallway and they managed to get it all done in one day...

<Solocard title="Well, nearly all" src={s("carpet-during-2")} />

They ran out of carpet for the last 5 steps and had to come back the next week to finish it off.

We're pretty pleased with it. It's nice to walk on, looks good and should be durable.

<Solocard title="The sorts of decisions you have to make" src={s("carpet-2")} />

We think the hallway looks so much better but it's currently very bare and impersonal. It's a blank canvas on which to add photos, pictures and knick-knacks - which we are bad at getting around to putting up.

<Cards
  images={[
    { title: "Looks lovely 😄", src: s("hall-done-1") },
    { title: "Bit bare though", src: s("hall-done-2") },
    { title: "Lights look bright, don't they!", src: s("hall-done-3") },
  ]}
/>

## Garden Plants

Since getting some gardeners to help cut back the overgrowth, we've had them back semi-regularly for maintenance. Unfortunately some of our trees didn't survive the winter and had to be removed, so we have been investigating the local garden centres (and their cafes! 🍰) for new plants (and cake! 🍰). These have now been planted and we hope in future to have some jasmine nicely trained around the patio and wisteria on our archway.

<Cards
  images={[
    { title: "Getting plants home", src: s("plants-transport1") },
    { title: "Fits in the car?", src: s("plants-transport2") },
  ]}
/>

Whilst at the garden centre, we bought some herbs for the kitchen balconet 'breakfast bar'. They are doing amazingly well so far, but we will see if we can keep up the watering schedule long term. It's really convenient to have fresh herbs readily available when cooking, plus we can cadge a cheeky smell during breakfast.

<Cards
  images={[
    { title: "Herbidacious!", src: s("herbedacious") },
    {
      title:
        "The 🪄 water wizards 🪄 that look after our plants when we're away",
      src: s("water-wizards"),
    },
  ]}
/>

It's been really good seeing the garden getting tamed and being able to start influencing it ourselves.

## Garden Gate

Our garden gate has been getting steadily less and less secure. The lock was dangling by a single screw in a slowly rotting screwhole and would probably have given way with a good shove or a slight breeze. We thought this less than ideal, so we bought a new garden gate lock. It was a bit annoying to install, avoiding existing rusty screws and holes and the doorframe, but we managed it with (on average) half our tempers lost.

<Cards
  images={[
    { title: "Less secure", src: s("gardengate") },
    { title: "More secure", src: s("gardengate2") },
  ]}
/>

## Shoe storage

Last time, we said that:

<Quote person="Nikki and Ozzy" date="Dec 2022">
  We are on the lookout for a nice bench with storage.
</Quote>

Well, we are delighted to announce we actually did order one at the beginning of this year. It was made to order, so it took several months to arrive. One of the reasons we went with this company was that they could use the exact same shade of paint as our walls.

<Solocard title="Shoe bench!" src={s("shoerack")} />

Woohoo finally. It is very useful to sit on to put shoes on. It is very long, can fit many shoes and has a little basket with spare slippers that our visitors can use.

Ozzy still picks his shoes up and goes upstairs to put his shoes on. Habits are hard to break.

## Tusks

The 3d printer has come in clutch many times during our house renovation - remember the <a href='/week5-6#ethernet'>electrical backbox</a>? - but it also has uses for the frivolous. On the list of prints has been proper tusks for our elephant toilet who had been dealing with split ends for a long time.

<Cards
  images={[
    { title: "Printing", src: s("tusks") },
    { title: "Anti-poaching", src: s("toilet") },
  ]}
/>

Every so often I wonder whether the 3d printer was worth it and do some sort of cost-benefit analysis of printing vs buying. Now that I can print elephant tusks I think I've covered the entire cost of the printer in a single print 🐘

## Kayaks

Two years ago, when Nikki had Covid, she bought an inflatable tandem kayak while dreaming of getting back outside and having adventures. We've used this kayak quite a few times now, on the river near us and on holiday in Windermere, but there are certain aspects of it which mean we don't use it as much as we'd like.

First off: Ozzy grew up a keen kayaker and his paddling technique is very good - if you are in a proper kayak. If you are in an inflatable one with no spraydeck then it is less good and the kayak ends up with a layer of cold water at the bottom that you have to sit in. This water was conspicuously absent when Nikki tried the kayak with a different copilot. We solved this issue by getting two single kayaks and Ozzy can have a closed cockpit one by himself.

Second off: Inflatable kayaks are a little wider than normal kayaks and don't track as well. They track a lot better than a cardboard box would but not as well as a nicer kayak. Ozzy, as a keen kayaker, actually notices the difference.

Third off: we saw these awesome origami kayaks and we couldn't stop wanting to get one. We would go through repeated phases of 'can't justify the price', 'do we use the kayak enough', 'let's not buy them', 'they look so cool though'.

So we bought some anyway with our personal fun money.

<Cards
  images={[
    { title: "📦 Down 📦", src: s("kayak-down") },
    { title: "🛶 Up 🛶", src: s("kayak-up") },
    { title: "Pub on the river", src: s("kayak-pub") },
  ]}
/>

The biggest downside so far is that they are so cool that everyone we pass in them has to ask us about them.

This also means we have a spare inflatable tandem kayak if anyone wants to come join us in a flotilla down the river!

## Closing Thoughts

It's been really interesting having people round again to do work. I must admit that my patience for them has gone down considerably compared to the last major projects. I think this is because 1) They were very much in the way all the time, and 2) There were no interesting techniques or cool tools (and as you know 🎉🎉🎉 tools are our favourite 🎉🎉🎉)

We absolutely don't regret getting people in though. If we'd been doing this ourselves it would have taken many times longer and we would have been grumpy the whole time. All in all, it's been a big success.

As a final sign-off, Nikki will be running the Bath Half Marathon this October and her runner's number has just arrived in the post. If you feel like sponsoring her, she's raising money for <a href="https://www.justgiving.com/page/nicola-osborne-1692702949098" target='_blank'>the Brain Tumour charity</a> in memory of Laurie Brokenshire.

<Solocard title="Looks all official and stuff" src={s("race")} />

See you next time!

<NextPrev prev="year2022-end" />
