![](https://peartree.zanna.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/study-prep01.jpg)
Saturday and Colin is back to help Cat get the study ready to paint (I am out of action with a sore back). We are super excited about getting another room done and cannot wait to see the colour!
![](https://peartree.zanna.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/study-prep02.jpg)
Colin comes with doughnuts, they don’t last long. These doughnuts have fuelled the build over the last few months…
![](https://peartree.zanna.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/study-prep03-768x1024.jpg)
Cat is removing the last of the blue and orange tape buried at the edges of the plaster with a sharp knife. Cat is still quite sweary today.
![](https://peartree.zanna.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/study-prep04-768x1024.jpg)
She is also cleaning up the last of the timbers and stones and that I didn’t manage to finish.
![](https://peartree.zanna.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/study-prep05-768x1024.jpg)
Colin, with his new found skill of lime plastering, is repairing and tidying up areas where the plaster has been damaged.
![](https://peartree.zanna.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/study-prep06-768x1024.jpg)
![](https://peartree.zanna.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/study-prep07-768x1024.jpg)
Colin’s ingenious bolster made of cardboard and plastic works a treat for repairing the plaster around the tops of the sockets.
![](https://peartree.zanna.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/study-prep08-768x1024.jpg)
The small trenches in the concrete floor where the new radiators will sit have been cleaned out (they were full to the brim with rubble still) ready for the plumber.
![](https://peartree.zanna.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/study-prep09.jpg)
The lime plaster, repaired and ready to paint!
![](https://peartree.zanna.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/study-prep10-768x1024.jpg)
After all the scrubbing has finished, the whole room – walls, ceilings and floors – needs hoovering. Cat is demonstrating why all our backs are sore.
![](https://peartree.zanna.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/study-prep11-768x1024.jpg)
![](https://peartree.zanna.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/study-prep12-768x1024.jpg)
Colin knocks off the edge of the plaster in the sitting room, the part that looks a bit ‘Flintstones’ that we hate. We want it to continue around the corner to the edge of the front door now. As our plasterers are not available for a few weeks, Colin is going to attempt to plaster this. He has watched some YouTube videos…
![](https://peartree.zanna.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/study-prep13-768x1024.jpg)
You can clearly see the three layers of lime plaster here. The first coat is called the ‘scratch coat’ and uses haired lime, the second ‘float coat’ uses un-haired lime and is textured with grit, finally the ‘top coat’ is smooth and thin, mixed with a very fine silver sand.
![](https://peartree.zanna.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/study-prep22-768x1024.jpg)
The plaster in the sitting room (that I knocked a chunk off last week removing some buried orange tape) has been repaired and can be painted over tomorrow. It’s as easy as that to repair, a good thing as the plaster is quite delicate. A small knock and it leaves a mark.
![](https://peartree.zanna.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/study-prep23-768x1024.jpg)
It’s definitely green here.
![](https://peartree.zanna.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/study-prep14.jpg)
A gloriously sunny Saturday, reminding us that we are nearly through the long, dark, wet, cold, muddy and sweary winter, thankfully.
![](https://peartree.zanna.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/study-prep15.jpg)
Our front garden looks like an abandoned building site (it is essentially) so Colin is having a tidy up.
![](https://peartree.zanna.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/study-prep16.jpg)
Hopefully this will make our neighbours happy, it makes us very happy.
![](https://peartree.zanna.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/study-prep17.jpg)
All the good timber has been stacked up in the back garden, raised off the lawn so it won’t kill it.
![](https://peartree.zanna.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/study-prep18-768x1024.jpg)
We have gained a years supply of kindling, thanks to Colin, tomorrow we will have somewhere to put it.
![](https://peartree.zanna.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/study-prep19-768x1024.jpg)
Incredibly Cat has just dug these up from the abandoned vegetable patch in the front garden!
![](https://peartree.zanna.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/study-prep20-768x1024.jpg)
Home grown beetroot and knobbly carrots, with the emphasis on knobbly!
![](https://peartree.zanna.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/study-prep21-768x1024.jpg)
Hello just been looking at your various blogs………can see it is a LONG hard slog.
Hope you are both safe and well
Give our regards to John
Love and best wishes, Doreen & David
Thank you both! Yep, we have a long way to go yet but we are close! Planning to be in at the end of March, we shall see… Also, apologies for the swearing! xx