Summer

When is summer going to arrive? It is so wet - and I want to get outside to start painting the outside of the house. Dad has been in and replaced the rotten lintel over the kitchen window. He did a stirling job removing the rotten wooden one and replacing it with a new cement one. It looks horrible at the moment but once it has ha a lick of paint it will look fab. I was originally going to remove the kitchen window and replace it with french doors into the garden, but the increased costs in the electrics have put paid to that! I am trying to keep a tight hold on the budget but it is not easy.

We have had a good look at the kitchen we found boxed up under the stairs and I think it looks pretty good. The work surface is shot and will be binned, but we took a look at some on offer at Wickes and 2 new surfaces will set us back about £150 which I dont think is bad at all. I am going for stainless steel appliances so that is the next thing to look for.

Shopping

Now this is the bit I really like - the shopping. We went out and bought the new bed today. I know I don't have anywhere to put it (the floorboards in bedroom 1 are up and the plasterer has not yet been) but it is nice to get something done - even if it has got to go in my spare room at home!

The budget is looking a bit strained but if I want to get the best out of the property I need to dress at least some of the rooms. I am not going overboard, but I want to dress the large bedroom, the small bedroom (to show it is a good size single) the living room and the dinning room. This should look great for photos too.

A little aside... in the garden.

The inside of the house is a tip - and to cheer myself up I have moved to the outside for a bit. There is a little flowerbed in the back yard that could do with a little TLC and so I decided to do something about it as there is not much for me to do inside at the moment.

I went to a plant auction in Spalding and had rather a good time. I bought a boot load of plants for a fraction of the price that I would usually have to pay and so set about planting them at the house. That's when I discovered the previous owner's pet graveyard - dead rats! Once the nausea passed and I bagged up the remains, I planted the new plants and gave them a good watering. If I plant them now they will have a chance to get established so they will look their best when I come to sell.

I stood back and surveyed my handy work, and congratulated myself on a job well done. Now I bet we have the hottest May on record and they all die!