Gettin' plastered. Then and now.

Many years ago (well in the early 90's) when I did my 3D design degree course I learnt to make plaster moulds for ceramics. We mixed the plaster by hand, and poured it over the object we were making a mould from. I hated the dry dust under my nails, it made me shudder, but I loved the heat and creamy texture of casting plaster just before it 'went off'. Multi and bonding thistle plaster is nowhere near as nice, it gets on your hands, face and hair and leeches out any moisture you had like a blood sucking vampire!

I also learnt how to get pretty plastered at university, everything they say about art college is true...it's bloody wonderful, hedonistic and even if it may not always give you a career path (well not for some years in my case), it gives you life skills. The sort you may not want to pass on to your kids, but skills all the same!! I met some of the most fabulous people over that time, some I'm still in contact with, some the best friends for one night only. We learnt, drank and partied in pubs and fields together, sometimes to the sound of punk rock, sometimes to Spiral Tribe, always pretty much all night!

Anyway...back to getting plastered in 2015 onwards...as you'll have gathered, the walls in my house are an ongoing task. They could potentially cost me thousands to repair, unless that is, I learn how to Do It Myself. 

Now, sometimes I'm very like my Mum, other times I'm very like my Dad. My practical side I definitely inherited from Dad. I grew up in an old Forest house, that Dad has been renovating for the last 40 years. He has taught himself many practical skills which luckily he is now passing on to me in my house. I was nervous about messing things up, but Dad said that with my artistic skills he was sure I could do it. It also helps that I couldn't really make the house much worse! Besides, he gave me little opportunity to chicken out. When we started plastering the bathroom, he gave me a bucket of plaster and a trowel then told me the trick with plastering is to get it on and work quickly.... Ahhhhrrrgh!!!! So that was it, I copied what he did and it was actually ok. 

I practised on the walls in the shed after that and it's kind of improved from there really. I'm not sure I would go as far as to say that this type of getting plastered is quite so enjoyable, but it's cheaper than a night out, and the results make me stupidly happy even if they are a touch rough 'n' ready. I'm quite proud of what I've learnt, and that I will just get on and try things. It means that in the last 15 months since the boys and I moved in, we have been able to crack on with getting rid of the unhealthy and quite frankly, hideous damp, depressing and decaying walls, without having to spend a fortune on plasterers, painters and decorators...Once upon a time I'd have spent the money I saved by plastering walls myself, on getting plastered myself. How times have changed.....although I did write this with a glass of decent red listening to this: Spiral Tribe Breach the Peace

Shed practise wall 1

Shed practise wall, round window

Shed practise wall 2

Plastering in the bathroom

My first ever attempt at plastering - Dad's right hand woman!

The Room of Doom

I've been really busy lately doing things around the house in the run up to Christmas. This will be our first year here as a family. The boys go to their Dad's every two years and it so happened that Christmas 2015 was a Daddy year. Needless to say, I'm blooming excited! Last year we put the tree up in the worst room in the house, affectionately known as the room of doom. One day I hope to refer to it as the Withdrawing Room. Kind of a grown up hang out snug.

This room was absolutely drenched when we moved in. The fascias were trapping the rain in, where the outside render was taken right up to their edge. Rather than protecting the house, the result meant the water had nowhere to go but inside. When it rained the wall inside wept (at least that's how it felt)! Water would also pour down the chimney, pooling in the fireplace. The plaster and interior render had mostly blown and the room smelled very damp and musty. It had a kids dragon lamp hanging up as a makeshift light and the paint had flaked off and continued to do so. Meaning I'd have to hoover the walls to stop it continuously being all over the floors looking like a bloody snowstorm!.

I decided last week to give this room a patch plastering and pre Christmas lick of paint, it couldn't make it any worse Well, that turned into a slightly larger chore. This seems to happen every time I bloody touch anything!!! Dave said he just knew this was going to happen! Whilst knocking off the blown plaster I made the mistake of just investigating what was underneath it. I mean, I knew I'd have to replaster them anyway, so taking a little bit more off for a peek surely couldn't hurt, could it?

I knocked a wee bit of the plaster off, then a little of the render, oooh I found stone. I chipped away a little more...partly thinking what the hell have I started, as I had no plan and was, to be honest, just making a massive mess! As tends to happen, Dave came and started pulling bits off too. Then he went and found bolsters and chisels. We set to work. This was really hard going and I was regretting starting it after about 2 hours. I am however, VERY stubborn and wont be beaten by things. I called Dad and he bought over his hammer chisel drill. Now, this is possibly one of my favourite bits of kit for wrecking shit...IT ROCKS! Dave and I then took turns for as long as we could tolerate it ripping the concrete render off the walls! With ringing ears, throbbing elbows, new bruises and shredded hands, around 8 hours later we had exposed a beautiful Forest stone wall surrounding the old fireplace. It clearly had been damp for some time, needed some attention, but was a sight to behold. Jesus, we were knackered! I also had the small matter of patch plastering the other two walls still to do. Mind you, plastering small areas is nothing to me these days, so it was more fatigue than reluctance regarding that task! Even so, I had to finish the job, otherwise it would set me back another couple of weeks. Dave made up the plaster and I put it on the walls. Thankfully, its all rough plaster in this house, as my blistered hands had virtually given up the ghost by then.

This weekend I have painted the plastered walls, one a warm grey as I thought it would compliment the Forest stone, I will add some subtle stencil on this at some point (mixed from three odd chalk paint tins I had -, so I could never recreate that colour), the other white. The stone wall needs cleaning up, a hole rebricking and repointing, which may take some time. The edges of the ceiling on the stone wall need fixing and replastering, but I'm allowing the damp to dry out for another couple of weeks first. The floor has gaps going down into the cellar so it's a bit drafty, they will need filling. I'm actually debating using that vile expanding foam stuff as it will do the job quickly for winter. In the future I will look at getting a liner put down the chimney so we can use the wood burner, and maybe put some rattan carpet down, but finances wont permit that just yet.

The room is looking really cosy (even if it's bloody freezing)! I've put up new curtains, we moved the red Chesterfields (thanks again to Clive & Jess for the 2 seater) into the room and put an old trunk in as a coffee table. As usual I'll fill it with my hoarded vintage stuff, that's a given - I cant actually help myself! So even if we don't get it all done before December the 25th, it is liveable and the Christmas tree will look far cuter than it did last year not being covered in paint (snow)flakes!

*I'm writing this with gloves on and a glowing fire from the old rotten red shed beams on the wood burner. Free fuel!

Extremely damp walls and kids dragon lamp

Makeshift room, but the walls were still diabolical

Chipping off plaster but having a little excavation

Close up

Oooops it's started!

That was bloody hard work (the top hole needs bricking up)

Plaster patched and back together for the night. 

Grey wall and cosy curtains!

Vital statistics - floor plans

I thought I should do a post about the basic statistics and floor plan of the house.

It was originally on the market for £185,000 over a year before I bought it. It had a buyer, however it fell through as the mortgage couldn't be arranged. It then went to auction but didn't make the asking price. Amazing only by a really small amount, however the vendor wasn't happy to sell. I suspect by the time I came along everyone had given up on the place, so my offer was accepted - £30,000 less. I didn't push my luck by asking them to clear it, he wanted a quick easy sale, I wanted a quick easy buy.  So the following is the description and floor plan as it was in the advert when it was on the market. As you will see, true to most older houses the rooms are a good size in comparison to the boxes they build nowadays. 

Pilgrim Cottage

Key features

·         THREE BEDROOMS

·         THREE RECEPTION ROOMS

·         KITCHEN

·         BATHROOM

·         GAS CENTRAL HEATING

·         GOOD SIZED GARDENS

·         OUTBUILDINGS

·         POTENTIAL

Tenure: Freehold

ACCOMMODATION (Measurements approx)

Front door to –

DINING ROOM – 12’ x 11’2. Wood burning stove in stone fireplace with feature exposed stone wall, window with window seat, radiator.  Open plan to –

KITCHEN – 10’11 x 10’3. Fitted at wall and base level providing worktop and storage space, fitted oven, hob and hood, gas boiler for central heating and domestic hot water with feature stone mantle, window.

LIVING ROOM – 13’ x 12’. Window, radiator, arched alcove.

LOUNGE – 11’10 x 7’5. Radiator, fireplace.

First Floor:

STAIRS TO LANDING –Loft access.

BEDROOM ONE – 12’2 x 12’. Wall to wall wardrobes, window, radiator.

BEDROOM TWO – 12’ x 7’6. Window, built-in wardrobes, radiator.

BEDROOM THREE – 12’ x 11’. Two windows, radiator.

BATHROOM –Three piece suite in white, radiator, tiling to walls, over-bath shower.

WALK IN AIRING CUPBOARD- Window, hot water cylinder.

OUTSIDE –Side pedestrian access to rear gardens with large outhouse and outbuildings.

Floor plan for 3 bedroom detached house - Pilgrim Cottage