Bite sized pieces

This week I am feeling a little better than I have recently, my back is a great deal better thankfully so I am in a position where I can do more to help Cat out with the house. I am determined to do something little every day this week while she is away working, bite sized pieces, and see how my back reacts…

Monday morning and the snow is still here and today the sunshine is out and it is truly glorious! This shot looks just like Jasper the dog is on the moon…

The Battle of Waterloo obelisk above Radway Grange.

Yesterday we lent all the oil radiators from the house to the neighbour across the road as their boiler had broken, and unbelievably this morning we ran out of heating oil next door meaning I have no heating or hot water and cannot get it delivered for at least a couple of days!

I fetched some of the fan heaters from the house as it was -4 degrees this morning, but amazingly by the afternoon Colin had saved the day (yet again) and collected 25 litres of oil from the supplier to keep me going for a few days!

Tuesday morning and the snow still remains on the fields and in the woods along with this very cute snowman perching on a tree branch.

The test pots arrived from Fenwick & Tilbrook, so I cut up a cardboard box and painted 4 large samples so we can hold these up to the walls to get an idea of what they will look like.

I have set up the dining table to finish oiling the oak window seats. There are three to finish, then the bathroom shelves need doing so I will chip away at them so Cat doesn’t have to. Bite sized pieces.

Wednesday and the weather is relatively warm and dry, so me and a bucket of hot soapy water are going to clean the dust, mud and lime mortar from the doors and windows at the front of the house. They all look awful as they are orange from the stone dust and have shit splashed all over them.

Our lovely quirky old front door has cleaned up beautifully.

Our main front door has had most of the traffic over the last few months and has remnants of literally everything splashed up it! It’s disgusting and every time I go into the house I think about cleaning it.

Oh my god that is so much better! Ultimately this will be painted in F&B’s ‘Railings’, a very dark grey, to complement the windows. I have washed all the windows, garage doors and new drainpipes at the front as they too had mortar, mud and god knows what else splashed over them. The house looks a little smarter.

Thursday and I have cleaned and oiled the oak architraves for the new bathroom door and finished one of the window seats with two coats of oil.

I collected the Earthborn Claypaint in ‘St. John’ for the stairs and landing from Relics of Witney Ltd. This involved a two hour drive across beautiful rolling countryside. It was bloody lovely to get out and have a change of scene. They were super helpful and took the time to explain exactly how to apply the clay paint to lime plaster, while wearing masks and standing in the car park.

Friday and I start oiling the next window seat.

Perfectly named, these have popped up everywhere in the last few days.

The new paint samples from Fenwick & Tilbrook. This is ‘Ladyholme‘.

Fenwick & Tilbrook’s ‘Aged Copper‘.

Fenwick & Tilbrook’s ‘68 Degrees North‘.

Fenwick & Tilbrook’s ‘Major Tom‘.

All the colours together! From left to right: F&B’s ‘Pigeon’; Fenwick & Tilbrook’s ‘Ladyholme’; F&B’s ‘Oval Room Blue’; Fenwick & Tilbrook’s ‘Aged Copper’; F&B’s ‘De Nimes’; Fenwick & Tilbrook’s ’68 Degrees North’; Fenwick & Tilbrook’s ‘Major Tom’; and Earthborn’s ‘Secret Room’ and ‘Sunday Stroll’.

8 comments

  1. Not sure about the UK, but in the US home heating oil is the same as diesel! In fact, they dye home heating oil pink here, so that people don’t buy it and put it in their cars (since buying it as diesel is much more expensive due to taxes, etc.)

    A friend of mine here had a similar problem two weeks ago, his heating oil tank ran dry and he couldn’t get a delivery scheduled for some time. So he went out and bought 10 gallons of diesel and poured that into the tank. That was enough to heat his house for about a week. Woo!

    Glad Colin was able to sort you out, though!

    1. Ooop! I googled it because I was curious, I guess home heating oil in the UK is *NOT* always Diesel, it’s often Kerosene!

      https://www.crownoil.co.uk/guides/heating-oil-guide/

      “Heating oil is the name used for heating applications in central heating systems. There are two types of heating oil – gas oil and kerosene. Gas oil (also known as red diesel and 35-second oil) is generally for commercial and agricultural use. Kerosene (also known as home heating oil or 28-second oil) is a lighter oil that is used in many homes.”

      Welp, now I know!

      1. Ah yes, ours is definitely Kerosene, but you can buy it from the pump up at our local supplier up the road (Red Horse Fuels, great local business that sells almost everything!)

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