Category:House and Garden

There are food mixers, there are food processors and then there is the ‘Kenwood Chef Titanium’ – a beast of a machine that can do everything except boil an egg –  err, actually I think it does that too! Ann’s new best-friend arrived today and nearly gave Paul, our neighbour a hernia bringing it round …
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Ben and Brian came round from Rock Revelations to measure-up the kitchen for their version of what it should look like. Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with …
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..and a freezer…and a cooker! We decided to start the search for all the replacement white-goods for the new kitchen – and just to be awkward, they need to be black! A short drive to Comet at Riverside near Northampton was our first stop. There weren’t many fridges or freezers on show, but Stephen the …
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We had a look at David and Val’s new kitchen. It’s coming on a treat! Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of …
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That was quick! John Lewis emailed through the revised plans for the kitchen. Nice….! Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of writing …
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We took a drive to John Lewis in Leicester today to see the results of their plans for our kitchen. We were very impressed – they’ve interpreted our wishes and added some creative touches too – a really great job. After going through the plans in detail – we must have been there for over …
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The electric garage door has recently taken on a life of its own. I don’t recall any stories of garage-doors being possessed – however, mine was opening and closing every time I approached it! (Ann’s was fine). Even more bizarrely, if I switched on the interior light in the garage, that triggered the doors too. …
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The Ryobi RLT30CET petrol strimmer arrived today courtesy of Screwfix. It was on special offer there and came with a free pruning attachment, so it was exceptional value (the pruning attachment alone was worth around £40). What a beast-of-a-tool – now all I need to do is assemble it! Update 17.45: David popped round (at …
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Ann finished painting the remaining bits and pieces in the kitchen and utility room – it all looks great! 👍👍 Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a …
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Whilst I was out this morning, Ann got stuck into repainting the walls in the kitchen and utility room. We’d chosen Wickes’ ‘Devon Sun’ – a slightly lighter shade of what was there already – nice job!! 👍 Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – …
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Today we decided to give the heavily-hyped ‘Paint Wizard Pro’ a second chance after my disastrous inaugural event, where I painted part of the ceiling and then part the blue carpet in the dining-room after the device ‘fell-apart’. So with all that firmly in our mind, we took extra care this time. We also took …
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Our long-term plan is to modernise the kitchen and utility room. Initially, we’re getting rid of the ‘swirly-plastered’ ceiling and dumping the crappy fluorescent tubes in favour of some modern down-lighters in both the main kitchen area and the utility room. Phase I (Thursday) – Mick, the electrician came round to create the holes and …
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Julie brought Georgina’s Dell (rather nice pink) laptop round. It’s refusing to accept an installation of the latest free version of AVG. After spending a lot of time clearing out the registry, I tried to reinstall it. After a couple of false-starts, it installed without a problem. I’ve been running various tests on it for …
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Mick and Nathan popped round to sus-out the work needed to replaster the ceiling and replace the lights in the kitchen and utility room. Work starts next week. Thanks to Val and David for the inspiration!! Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into …
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Today we dismantled the hammock – it’s been with us since 2006 and now it’s heading for the local dump! It hadn’t really stood up to the weather – it full of rust and the materials definitely weren’t weather-proof. I remember it took two of us about an hour to assemble it – and it …
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Richard arrived from British Gas and fixed our boiler problem – it was the printed circuit board that was shorting-out. Perfect timing actually, as it was cold overnight, and we were starting to lose all our hot-water too. Update: 4.30. Switched the central-heating back on and guess what? – the boiler’s not working!!! British Gas …
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It might be my imagination, but I think the central-heating is playing-up. I put it on when I got back from my meeting – two hours later, the radiators were only luke warm. I’ve booked British Gas to sort it out. Update: Yes, definitely a problem – the boiler keeps firing-up and then after ten …
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Not really my thing this, but it was a job that needed doing. The gardeners replaced the trellis on Monday – now it just needed painting. Luckily, we had some black paint in stock and about a zillion paintbrushes to choose from. I chose the biggest, working on the theory that it would cover more …
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