The Tiling begins...

Before I do anything else I must tell you all that I am very excited to have learned today that this photograph of Boris and Charlie has been short-listed in a 'cat-napping' photography contest for a cat calendar.  The 12 photographs for the months of the year have been selected but there is a public vote for a 13th and mine is in the running for that.  You should have time to vote if you go to the link that is highlighted.  My picture is number 8 out of 26 and it would be so lovely to make my two boys famous so please please please cast your vote in their favour at this site:    http://icatcare.org/photography-competition/vote

So back to today and Bassam was coming today to help John tile the conservatory.  Bassam would clean up the tiles that are there and seal them but we don't like them - they are the original outside flags in a rather nasty pink colour with all sorts of nasty looking stains and things all over them and the raised pebble-dash border harbours all sorts of rubbish!  I am excited about the tiling going down as the old carpet is going to the Polis Animal Rescue for the cats and I will be able to sweep clean rather than hoover which freaks the cats out.

I am builders mate today, chief coffee maker and water provider and general gofer so whilst waiting for orders I busied myself doing something I have been planning to do for months and that was to sort out the linings of the curtains we bought which seem to have had a mind of their own and are longer than the curtains.  I am guessing that the curtains were washed or cleaned and have tightened up and so the linings are now a bit long - whatever it is that has happened it looks awful so I busied myself doing seven full width curtains by hand and I am glad I have finally got round to sorting it.

Being at home has also given me a chance to get on with the sign that I am making for Louise.  As you know I am burning the image onto the planks which is a long and smelly job but worth it if the sign is to last outside without any further attention.  I have to do a bit and then leave it and then go back to it.  Fortunately the pyrograph pen is holding up to the extended use - when I did the signs for the Brewery my old one died part way through and I had to wait for another to be delivered.

There is really very little more to report on the day as it was taken up with the tiling.  A lot of preparation to start with to make sure that they could get a good straight run at which point they found out that the floor slopes in every direction except perhaps the one they want so there will be a lot of leveling required.  Anyway satisfied that they had a starting point the work commenced.

It is going to be a dusty messy job until it is finished - we are hoping it will take a couple of days as the front door needs to be taken of and then taken away to be made shorter to accommodate the rise in the conservatory floor level but this will depend on Bassam and whether he has to go anywhere else.  He had to shoot off this morning for an hour but that was fine as John was getting tiles cut in readiness.

They worked really hard and got on well - I know laying the full tiles is the easier bit of the job but we can really begin to see how it is going to look and we have both said that without the furniture in and the tiles down the conservatory looks considerably bigger.  I think we need to take a good look at what goes back inside and try and keep it clean and uncluttered.

There is practically no hope of that as John and I like different things so he will want to throw something and I will want to keep it and vice versa!

So I will leave you with a photograph of the progress made today - we cleaned up and rewarded ourselves with a well earned pint - well John did - I had one of the bottles of low alcohol beers that Mum had given us yesterday.  John is planning a very early start tomorrow so it is an early night for us.