Floor tiles! How can thirty pieces of ceramic take so long to turn into a floor? What an utterly horrible job. I can do tiling. The bathroom took over six hundred tiles and while they drove me a bit potty I could manage to get them on straight and level. Floor tiles though? Never again!
It has taken me two days to lay those thirty tiles. Yesterday I got just over half of them down but it was so hard to get them in a straight line against walls that must have been put up by myopic alcoholics. I can’t do the maths and work out the angle but in a mere twenty centimetres they were out by six millimetres and that’s a hell of an angle when it is supposed to be straight.
The huge tub of tile adhesive I bought on Saturday wasn’t going to go as far as the floor let alone the walls so it was back to Topps Tiles for another tub and some additional wall tiles because I had been thinking about how many I bought before and wasn’t convinced that I had bought enough. That was another £45 so the budget is well and truly knackered now. The latest budget is £2,500. I am going to say that I didn’t take the VAT into account in the original budget. At this rate I might get a job as Financial Controller for the 2012 Olympics.
I have got to admit that I wasn’t exactly “in the zone” yesterday and was making hard work of it so by just after four in the afternoon I decided that retreat was the best option and had a lovely hot shower and sat on the sofa, having a good read and at seven decided that I would eat out at that classiest of joints, McDonalds. I did think of going to the pub for dinner but was wearing jogging bottoms and an old t-shirt and really couldn’t be bothered with changing. Even so, it was nice to get out of the house for an hour after such a crappy day.
Today I got my mojo back! I went to bed just after nine last night and listened to Sherlock Holmes on the radio before sleeping right through until eight this morning. I woke feeling great and much more ready to get stuck in!
By midday I had the rest of the tiles down but was disappointed to see that the adhesive from the tiles laid yesterday hadn’t quite set although it was dry enough to step gingerly on the tiles.
My mum came over to help me with the garden and she got stuck into pulling the summer flowers out and planting the spring bulbs. I have no idea what she planted or where she planted them so it will be a lovely surprise in the spring. Thanks Mum x
While mum toiled in the rain I was nice and dry inside grouting the tiles that were laid yesterday. I did complain that my back was aching to make her feel better but really think that she had the grotty end of the stick. As a gentleman, I did lend her my coat!
We did inventory the kitchen delivery. Why does Ikea not put the same part numbers, and in one case the same dimensions, on the boxes that are on the kitchen planner? Finally they did tally with the original order, even if that doesn’t quite tally with the delivery note. At the very least the units are all there and they are the sizes that I was expecting. If a drawer or hinge is missing I can live with it but it would have been disastrous if I couldn’t even get the base and wall units installed.
Tomorrow will be grouting the other half of the floor, getting the first corner base unit and oven unit assembled and into position. I might even get the oven in and hooked up to the mains! Could it be too much to hope for the other base and sink units?
In the meantime it is off for another hot shower, a couple of beers and a DVD. Success tomorrow might depend on how many of those cold beers in the fridge get consumed. I might be sensible.....
It has taken me two days to lay those thirty tiles. Yesterday I got just over half of them down but it was so hard to get them in a straight line against walls that must have been put up by myopic alcoholics. I can’t do the maths and work out the angle but in a mere twenty centimetres they were out by six millimetres and that’s a hell of an angle when it is supposed to be straight.
The huge tub of tile adhesive I bought on Saturday wasn’t going to go as far as the floor let alone the walls so it was back to Topps Tiles for another tub and some additional wall tiles because I had been thinking about how many I bought before and wasn’t convinced that I had bought enough. That was another £45 so the budget is well and truly knackered now. The latest budget is £2,500. I am going to say that I didn’t take the VAT into account in the original budget. At this rate I might get a job as Financial Controller for the 2012 Olympics.
I have got to admit that I wasn’t exactly “in the zone” yesterday and was making hard work of it so by just after four in the afternoon I decided that retreat was the best option and had a lovely hot shower and sat on the sofa, having a good read and at seven decided that I would eat out at that classiest of joints, McDonalds. I did think of going to the pub for dinner but was wearing jogging bottoms and an old t-shirt and really couldn’t be bothered with changing. Even so, it was nice to get out of the house for an hour after such a crappy day.
Today I got my mojo back! I went to bed just after nine last night and listened to Sherlock Holmes on the radio before sleeping right through until eight this morning. I woke feeling great and much more ready to get stuck in!
By midday I had the rest of the tiles down but was disappointed to see that the adhesive from the tiles laid yesterday hadn’t quite set although it was dry enough to step gingerly on the tiles.
My mum came over to help me with the garden and she got stuck into pulling the summer flowers out and planting the spring bulbs. I have no idea what she planted or where she planted them so it will be a lovely surprise in the spring. Thanks Mum x
While mum toiled in the rain I was nice and dry inside grouting the tiles that were laid yesterday. I did complain that my back was aching to make her feel better but really think that she had the grotty end of the stick. As a gentleman, I did lend her my coat!
We did inventory the kitchen delivery. Why does Ikea not put the same part numbers, and in one case the same dimensions, on the boxes that are on the kitchen planner? Finally they did tally with the original order, even if that doesn’t quite tally with the delivery note. At the very least the units are all there and they are the sizes that I was expecting. If a drawer or hinge is missing I can live with it but it would have been disastrous if I couldn’t even get the base and wall units installed.
Tomorrow will be grouting the other half of the floor, getting the first corner base unit and oven unit assembled and into position. I might even get the oven in and hooked up to the mains! Could it be too much to hope for the other base and sink units?
In the meantime it is off for another hot shower, a couple of beers and a DVD. Success tomorrow might depend on how many of those cold beers in the fridge get consumed. I might be sensible.....
