All The Boring Details
My last post was somewhat brief, in an attempt to stop the flow of emails coming in to my inbox questioning whether or not I was still alive.. actually, that’s a lie, none of you gits showed an ounce of concern 
Anyway, I thought that now I have actually had chance to sit down I can tell you every little tiny detail that you don’t care about, but that I want to document anyway.
So, Karl and I got the keys last Friday and started cleaning shortly after. Although the majority of the work had been done by professional builder-type people (filling holes, painting over children’s scribbling on the walls, etc) and what I assume was the landlord’s wife, Karl and I are definitely perfectionists. I gave the kitchen an extra once over with a bottle of disinfectant and started on the more important stuff… like trying to get rid of the weird chocolate brown colour on the walls of the main bedroom.
I swear to you, I have never had so much difficulty covering paint before. We’re now on the FIFTH coat of magnolia (bland, but better than what was there) and you can still see bits of patchy brown underneath. Karl has properly filled a lot of holes around the windows and door frames with decorators caulk, and my Mum put up some curtain rails yesterday for me. It’s actually starting to resemble a home, rather than a builder’s yard!
The fun is of course only just starting. We thought we had a gas leak because the gas was counting down on the meter, despite having no appliances/heating turned on. This on top of the fact that the boiler wouldn’t stay lit and the cooker wouldn’t work either. Karl called the emergency gas helpline and a nice chappie came out.. took one look at the cooker and asked me if I’d opened the lid fully when I tested the ring? No, I hadn’t — and didn’t I look stupid — they have a safety cut-out! So that was that fixed. Boiler also worked fine on test, and it was suggested that it hadn’t worked the day before because their may have been air in the system.
British Gas, our provider, sent us a new card (it’s a prepayment meter) which was supposed to reset the meter in case any previous tenants had run up a debt, but it didn’t. That left us with
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Your bum is not big! Well, definitely nowhere near the size of Vicks
House is getting there, soon you will be sat there twiddling your thumbs looking for things to do I promise. Rome wasn’t built in a day you know Jem. Besides, look at it this way…All that hard work cleaning and painting etc will make it so much more like home once it’s all done. We think it is really coming together now and looks fab too.
Comment added: February 27th, 08 @ 5:53 pmYay, Jem, DIY master of the universe!! Ha ha. I’m glad things are going well. How are you planning to transport Hex? When we moved with Kizzie, she wouldn’t stay in her carrying box. So, my mom cut air holes, put Kizzie in the box, and then DUCT TAPED THE THING AROUND so she would stay in. And she STILL managed to claw herself an opening in the box, but, luckily, by then we’d nearly completed the 20 minute drive to our new house!! I think there’s some animal cruelty in what we did to her, in there somewhere (we DID give her a blankie though, so she would be comfy), but mainly I just liked to watch the way the box moved about the floor (somewhat like one of those hamster balls…).
Comment added: February 27th, 08 @ 5:57 pmI was like that with the cleaning when I first moved into my flat. Now , of course, it looks like someone burgled the place - I expect you two will be a damn sight neater than me though! I really must get round to painting over the horrible light-absorbing orange colour in the lounge, care to share some motivation (aka pictures of shiny new flat)?
Comment added: February 27th, 08 @ 6:46 pmYou’re so selfish, Jem, spending time moving in instead of writing blog entries.
I hope the new place works well for you guys, and that Hex calms his fuzzy butt down. 
Comment added: February 27th, 08 @ 7:14 pmI am afraid that you are not joking re the cat-napping and am reporting you to the RSPCA asap. … aside from that, good luck with finishing! I remember when we moved into our house, there was such a horrid shade of cerise pink on the wood work and on the pipes that mum just burst into tears. In fact, they painted all the wood work and pipes an assortment of different colours; absolutely terrible!
Comment added: February 27th, 08 @ 7:16 pmHouse warming party invitation plz.
Comment added: February 27th, 08 @ 7:17 pm*sighs dreamily* That all just sounds so fantastic. If you could just see me now. I probably look like one of those goofy anime girls with big hearts and stars in their eyes with their wind blowing gently in the breeze. Ahhh! I am so excited/jealous!!
Comment added: February 27th, 08 @ 9:05 pmWhen you said the weird chocolate brown on the walls, the first image that popped into my head was a plain, neutral-colored wall with chocolate brown smears and smudges. And then my next thought was “Eeewwww!” Then I read on and realized you were talking about the paint color.
Comment added: February 27th, 08 @ 9:19 pmDid you apply primer on the walls before painting on the magnolia? Five coats of paint does seem excessive. It’s good to know that everything is going well with the new house and you, of course ;).
Comment added: February 27th, 08 @ 9:25 pmHmm. I’m no painting expert, but my Mom loves it, and so I’ve helped on quite a few projects of hers. She always uses primer first, if the color she’s painting on is darker than the color she wants it be. Maybe you’re using primer, though, and it’s just really stubborn paint? Anyhow, good luck with moving. Hopefully Hex’ll settle down- angry cats with claw in cars aren’t the most fun. ):
Comment added: February 27th, 08 @ 9:27 pmNo, we didn’t prime it…heh. Primer is expense, but a 10 litre tub of magnolia is cheap. Bedroom 2 is purple..on 3 walls. Wall 4 is grey/brown, and that’s slowly going magnolia too. Now I’ve filled the cracks and gaps, it may be boring but it looks neat. Amelie - housewarming..heh..the bloody boiler’s gone on the blink again, so there ain’t no danged warmth. I bled the radiators tonight though, so it may help. Calling the gas lot tomorrow.
Comment added: February 27th, 08 @ 9:55 pm^ I’m used to cold, my work has no heating in it because the radiators don’t work.
Comment added: February 28th, 08 @ 7:43 amOh I know, but we’re not moving until that works…no heating I could live with, but..no hot water? Screw THAT. Hmm. Actually…it DOES have an immersion heater as a backup…I forgot that. Rather have the gas though.
Comment added: February 28th, 08 @ 8:49 amIf you think 5 coats is bad, when I moved into my flat, the previous tenant had been a smoker and obviously never re-painted in the 20+ years he had lived there. It took 3 base coats of white and 8 coats of cream to cover the walls! Even with 11 coats of paint, the smoke marks will still coming through 2 weeks later.
Comment added: February 28th, 08 @ 11:09 amIt sounds all exciting, especially when you think it’ll be so worth it. So now you live in a house. I’m really envious… but then I’m always inside anyway so… =P I hope you settle in alright.
Comment added: February 28th, 08 @ 3:00 pmI hope you get the boiler fixed so you can finally heat up in the new house and move in. I’m sure Hex is going to love his new space! Just a little tip; they say cats have to get used to new places for about 2 weeks or so before you can let them outside, apparently if you let them out sooner they run back to their old house.
Comment added: March 2nd, 08 @ 2:13 pm