Table lamps and shelves

While i wait for the plasterer to arrive and give me a date i have more than enough to be getting on with. I am making my own table lamps for the side of the bed.

This is my shelf for in front of the window. What you see on the top are the brackets for underneath to add as supports as well as a feature.

Here are two table lamps for the side of my bed and in the rear two for the spare bedrooms. The one on it's own at the front is a gift for a friend and this one has had one coat of bee's wax and i can tell the difference already. The dark one is Chestnut and has been waxed already and it really does look so good.

Then there was light

Today was time to replace the window at the front of the house.This is the fourth window i have fitted and it is as difficult doing this one as the first window i fitted.

This is the old window small and they didn't let much light through and only single glazed so no good for any kind of insulation. 

Now this is a double glazed window and as you can see it offers so much more light. Pity i have a bit of repair work to finish of but at least now it's done i only have to paint it.

At last

I had a vision of what I wanted in my new master bedroom and designed units for my clothes that gave me a look of a walk in dressing room. I have now managed to get the last wall plaster boarded and i fitted the first two units in place.In the center i will be having some sockets and that's why there is a piece of plaster board still to be put in place.

This looks every bit how i had thought it would when i first came up with the idea. The two units next to this will not have shelves but i can have my shirts and jackets hanging and a shoe rack in one of the two units.

Don't make do with what you can get in the likes of the superstores create your own Look i have.

Pillar and lights done

Yesterday was a hard day, i had a wooden pillar over 2½ metres long that i had to cut to fit into the floor to sit on a wall below. This took sum planning and a cup of tea. Once cut i only had bits of trimming to do to finish and get it secured into place.

The pillar on the left is the one i had to fit today and then it was time to finish the plasterboard to the ceiling and cut the holes for the lights.










Before i put the plasterboard up i marked the ceiling where the extra cable was for the lights so i wouldn't have any trouble finding it after i cut the holes. This was all really quite easy and the lights all came on the problem is it was difficult to take a picture with all lights in it.

The ceiling and lights are started today

Today i made a start with the ceiling and the lights. I am not having a light switch i am having a movement detector so when the downstairs door opens the lights come on. The time will be set to about 5 minutes plenty of time to switch the bedside table lights on.

There are going to be 4 Led lights rated at 4W each and they are only a total of 16W but after testing the 4 lights are great just enough for the room.

The wires are where the first light goes one metre from the window. 

Wall units in place, well almost

Before the wall goes up i have to work out where to put my clothes units. they measure in total 4 metres and i need to leave a gap between each unit. I also have a TV to fix to the wall so it's a little bit of moving things around to get the units and TV in the right place.

The unit below is near to the front wall of the house.

Below is the unit near to the window, my other two units will have no shelves in as i need to hang my shirts ect.

My window seat

Well i went to Chicco to collect my new window seat he had made for me. I took it upstairs but the light conditions with the new window was no good the light was to bright.

I took this picture to show the colour after it's been varnished. The door frame is varnished Chestnut and looks Stunning but it will take about five coats of varnish to get this look.

Here is the window seat finished and in position. It won't have it's final fitting until the plasterboard has been finished and painted but it does look good.









How much would this cost to be made in the UK if you could find somewhere to get it made. Also all i had was a big piece of cardboard cut to show what i wanted and Chicco worked from that. The cost was only 45€ now it would cost many hundreds in the UK but i am lucky to be living where i am.

For those new to Portugal or any other country if you have an idea go for it and if you can't do it yourself then get someone to do it for you. How unique is this window seat and i have another idea to do in my master be

If i do inspire you please let me know

As you can see i have done a bit more on the opposite gable end wall  but next to the window is my log burner chimney. I need to have the chimney removed so i can cut the ceiling plasterboard downstairs in the lounge.

You can see i used some offcuts but when it's all done you won't notice as it will be all hidden.

This blue insulation is i am told the same as 8 inches or 200mm of Rockwool and when it's all done this bedroom should be warm and draft free.

The plasterboard arrived so i finished this bit of the gable end. The chimney needs to be removed before i can finish the stud work.


















I was going to carry on to the right of what you can see but i had a fall and hurt my bad knee so it's a day or two of for me.

That is where the bed goes

I have posted more this week than i normally do but i am creating a room in my house that was before only a loft. I will have a lot of storage space the way i have designed my room and i will come back with a photo.

The most important thing is all the roof is insulated and all of the plasterboard is insulated as well.This should all make the room nice and cosy.

The piece of wood on the right is being replaced by a piece of hardwood similar to chestnut but not quite the same but close enough for me.










I hope by my posting pictures and writing about creating my master bedroom i inspire others to take a chance and do something they otherwise would have just  got somebody in to do t

Another hard day finished

This week i have been getting the new master bedroom done and it's been a hard week up to now. After yesterday when i had put the battens up on the wall i insulated between them Today i had the enormous job of cutting all the sheets of plasterboard. Each sheet had different cuts and each cut was a different angle.

Six hours hard work and i had time to do part of one of the main walls but more about that later when it's done








The sad part was that after looking closely i found that parts of the floor is not in as good a condition as i had first thought. Now i need a Plan B for what to do with the floor.

After a hard week it's time to relax

After a hard week it's time to relax a little after the last few days work. I am trying to get my master bedroom completed finished before i go to Liverpool in May to see my Mum for her 91st birthday.

It wasn't cold tonight but i just wanted to sit an look at the fire with a nice cup of tea. I use the fire to light an  incense stick to give of a nice aroma to the lounge.









For a few hours of relaxing comfort after today.

Now the gable wall is getting attention

It's been a hard day today and one I am glad to see the back of. I started by fixing battens to the gable end wall. Once done it was down to insulating and I started by using all the off cuts I had after insulating the roof.

It's looks an easy job and for an expert to tradesman it wouldn't have taken long to do but I am retired and not a tradesman so it takes me a bit longer to do. 

Floor to ceiling newel post

As a feature I am having two newel posts at the top of my stairs in my bedroom. Today I picked up my second newel post and now it has to be rubbed down and vanished.

The piece you see that's white is before it's been treated and varnished and when done it should look like the pillar on the right

Come back soon and see it finished.

A cardboard cutout

I said i wanted a window seat and a window seat i will have. I cut out a template to take over to my joiner Chicco to make for me. This seat is a little bit to complicated for me as where the legs go and the type of joints i couldn't make.

I took this picture at night so if you want to see the view you will have to come back again to see the view.












The seat part will be deeper than it looks on the photo and of course it will be made out of my favourite Chestnut to match the rest of the window frame.

Remember if you can dream it you can do it just find a way.

Plasterboard and I moved every sheet

Today I had eight sheets of plasterboard from my lounge up the stairs to the loft. Every sheet all on my own, each sheet has insulation on the back and they where heavy.  The delivery was great he always gives me a lift inside the house but I couldn't ask him to help me upstairs. Three sheets are for the gable end wall at the side of the new window the other five are for the walls of the new bedroom.

Two sheets left and they are all upstairs each sheet is 2.5 meters long and 1.2 meters wide and up a narrow staircase.

Bread And problems with it.

I have a problem with my bread. My bread is to big for the plastic container I keep my bread in. I now have to cut the top of you can see from the picture just how much I have to cut of so the lid will fit.

This loaf is a sultana loaf, the last one I made was sultana and walnut. Using almonds don't seem to work they do nothing to make the bread taste better.










What a problem to have much better than going down to the shops for a loaf full of additives mine has. Flour, salt, sugar, yeast and water how healthy is that.

Lighting and my table

I have a difficult job ahead this week, i have to lay in the cables for the ceiling lights. Today i set out the lights for at the bottom of the stairs and where my table is.

I set my table to give me a good idea of how the table would look under the new lighting. there is still so much to do before i leave in May to return to Liverpool for a short while.

Window

Work in the loft is coming on nicely by Monday this window opening will be finished and i should have an amazing view of the valley.

 

 This has all been cut out with a hammer and chisel as to use a power cutting disk would create to much dust.

This picture doesn't show the height from the floor but i am considering if i  can make a window seat even though the seat would be near to the stairs.

I have been known to do a good hard days work. Today i started early to get my window in. Cutting through the final part of the outside wall was harder thank i expected but i used my power cutter. Great idea until you are blinded by the amount of dust. Tomorrow i will finish the last of the facing of around the window frame. Next i will measure up for the window seat i want to finish done. For now because i have to take the glass out i have secured the glass with strips of wood.

Back to Liverpool

Well i have just booked another flight over to Liverpool. My Mum is going to be 91 years of age in May and i must show up for that. It will be nice to catch up with family while i am there.

Sadly i must leave before my Grand daughters 13th birthday but it can't be helped. I am going to buy a Portuguese van while i am in Liverpool and drive it back home.Sadly the IPO or as you may know MOT runs out and i need to get back before it does.

My mate Dave will be back from his over winter in Spain so it will be good to see him. Best of all will be to see all the work my son has done in his house. I have seen pictures and it will be so much better to see just what he has done.

No bedside tables for me

Well i do let my imagination get the better of me but what the hell i want something unique not the same as you find in every bedroom. I don't have any brown stain to match my units i have just had built so that's on my next shopping trip and then a few coats of clear varnish. The downside is when fitted that's where my bed will have to stay as to move the bed means i would have to take these down and that's a job to big I would like to do. Because of where the clothing units will be fitted it means I can't change the way the room will look so the placing of the bed is critical it's got to be positioned right the first time.

This is how it will look from the side of my bed with my hand made light on top.








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There was a program years ago on TV about a joiner and some of the projects he would show you how to make. Some of his tips came in handy while i was making the circles i had to make to make these two units for at the side of my bed.

This is a top, my table light will sit just nicely in the middle.