mybigadventures.com

Half term has arrived at last, as always it seems to have been a busy one at school, so the break it a nice change of pace. By a change of pace I actually mean we've taken on a big project that will keep us busier than ever tackling our upstairs spare bedroom. We decided a few weeks ago that we wanted to have a bit of a change around, and decorate, but in order to make the most of the room, we needed a bit more storage. We settled on some cupboards to run along the wall under the eave and had already made a start on creating the shells by the time we broke up today.

Last weekend we bought the wood needed to make the shells, MDF for the sides and some timber to brace across. We had the MDF cut to size at B&Q, but still needed to cut out for the angle and the skirting board. We made a template out of cardboard to speed things up and keep all the cuts consistent and then got started with the jigsaw. Over the course of the last week we got all of the pieces cut ready to put them together tonight.

After a nice tea, we got started and before the evening was out we had 4 cupboard shells ready to roll. A great start to the break, but a long way to go! 

There were two main jobs to complete today. First we needed to get the extra wood for the shelf back panel, cut and fit it, and secondly we needed to get some paint. We ended up buying another full sheet of MDF and geting some shelves cut, as the size of the piece needed for the back panel required the bigger sheet. Whilst there we had a look at the paint colours as they are in the middle of a 3 for 2 offer. We saw a Farrow and Ball paint colour, "Pigeon" on the colour chart that we quite liked, but B&Q didn't have it in stock, so we ended up coming away with nothing more than a couple of colour charts. On the way back we also picked up shelf supports from Screwfix for our new shelves.

Back at home we decided to make a trip over to Homebase as they tend to have a larger stock of the Farrow and Ball range. Sadly they didn't have any tins eiither, we did ask about ordering it in, but it was going to take 14 days, so the assistant suggested looking online. Back at home again we found we could order the paint from B&Q with the 3for2 offer and get free next day delivery - winniner! With the paint ordered, we made a start on our other job, cutting the back panel. This ended up being a massive faff, with a height difference of more than 10cm from left to right, this was in addition to cutting the angle away from the back. It took a long time but we were really pleased with the final result. We added wooden blocks to the rear or the backpanel and then secured it in place screwing through the underside of the shelf from inside the cabinet into the blocks. Finally we added decorators caulk along the edge where the MDF met the underside of the eave, and the job was complete.     

Hello one and all,

I hope you're all enjoying Febuary 29th, I'm not sure I know anyone that works for the National Trust and has rather nicely been given the day off so I imagine it is just another day for most of you. I thought I would mostly take the opportunity to post a little blog on here as the day comes but once every 4 years so haven't got an awful lot to say.

I'm now on the second placement of my PGCE course. I'm at a mixed school in Streatham, mostly observing this week (as its my first week here). The teaching should start to pick up over the next couple of weeks though which I'm looking forward to. Meh. I think I've run out of words really, didn't think this through perhaps I could have typed something a tad more comprehensible.

Oh last week we went to see the Natural History Museum which was rather cool - good to see they still have the big whale suspended from the ceiling and not forgetting all those dinosaur bones. We had an awesome time and took a few snaps which I may stick up here if I happen upon another spare moment. On Sunday last week we also visited the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms which was pretty cool - we managed to get in for on a 2 for 1 dealio that we cut out of the Metro (free newspaper).

I think I'll leave it there. Maybe get another update on here sometime next month.

Cheerio ta ta