Fencing - Part 2

Whilst I was away enjoying myself at the Runrig 40 year celebrations in Muir of Ord, which was absolutely fantastic to say the least, the bodach set about building the second bit of fencing for the side of the house. Set a couple of meters further back than the first bit, this second piece of fencing helps complete the much needed privacy from the street and creates a bit more shelter and helps hide the wood store down the side of the house.

Not much I can say about it as it's the same construction as the previous fence and there's no point in repeating myself. However, one lesson was learnt from the previous fence... It's much easier to paint the wood before you construct the fence, especially if you're painting on a really windy day... That way you don't end up accidentally painting your car...

Ahh that's better! :)

As you can see, the garden has disappeared from the street view! :)

Best self portrait ever!... ;)

I also discover something else had happened whilst I was away having fun! A new tree appeared! Definitely wasn't there when I left... It's a plum tree, so hopefully next year I'll be enjoying some tasty fruits! :)

Bedroom Upgrade

When I moved in I bought some test pots of paint for various rooms and for 5 months my bedroom still looked like this:

I finally decided it was time to do something about it and turn my bedroom into a proper bedroom.... So time to start painting, and it wasn't long before my walls went from looking like this:

To looking like this:

Still plenty to do though... That lovely magnolia skirting board for a start! Which against the magnolia walls make everything look very, well, magnolia... Who ever thought magnolia skirting boards was a good idea really needs a good talking too... It just doesn't work, especially if the walls are magnolia as well... Makes everything look tired and dirty... So, time to get the white gloss out and sort it out!...

Lurvely!... :(

Nice and fresh! :)

Now my bedroom looks and feels a lot cosier! :)

But not done yet. The alcove needed a few shelves to make more effective use of the space and create better storage. 

But I wanted to make sure everything blended in, so painted the supports before I put them up...

And on with the drilling with my new drill that actually works! 

Note to anyone thinking that a drill from Argos for £10 is a good deal, it really isn't, they really are rubbish!... Had it for ten years though, before I decided it was time to get myself a proper drill!...

And the shelves are up! The bodach was about to help drill holes in the wall and make sure the bubble in the spirit level was in the right place, which was handy!... ;) 

Looks like a proper bedroom now and I'm very happy! :)

Upcycling the Coffee Table

My coffee table is a handy wee thing, it's light, easy to shift back and forth with your foot, the perfect height to double up as a foot stool, extra seat or something to stand on if you need to reach something high up. And best of all, it was free!

It's an old suitcase table from a hotel which has been in the parents house for as long as I can remember. in fact I think it's probably older than me... And it has had various uses over the years, including being TV stand... And when I moved into the old house in Duisdale, the table moved to Skye and was reborn as a coffee table!

I was quite delighted to discover an almost identical coffee table in an interior design magazine priced at around £300 about a year ago! So bang on trend and totally FREE! :) But there was one thing wrong with it... It didn't have a shelf underneath to store my junk!... And I eventually decided I had to do something about this...

I had plenty of wood left over from other now redundant items of furniture and with a quick rummage, found what I needed to create my shelf! just a bit of trimming required on the wider planks and a few holes to fill...

However, before I started to fix the shelf, I first needed to give the whole thing a quick sand as it needed a new coat of varnish anyway, being a bit more brutal with the top of course...

Then on with the drilling, screwing, hammering and glueing!

And the first coat of varnish!

Several coats of varnish later and it's complete! And I can safely say, It's well used! In fact I'm not sure how I survived without it before now!...

Sifting Soil

Whilst I was at the painting of window sills the bodach was at the sifting of the soil... I have very stoney ground, about 30% of it is probably stones... Not huge stones, but certainly bigger than gravel... Not the best for growing anything, so the newly created and weeded boarders had to be sifted. Some might say, why bother, or why not just go and buy a big pile of top soil and swap it... Well apart from the fact that you need to part with money to buy top soil, you have to remove the stoney stuff to make room for the new stuff anyway, so why pay to do the same amount of back breaking work?...

The bodach got a bit of a production line going for his various soil particles. The wheel barrow for the sifted soil, a bucket for the stones and another bucket for any stray weeds.

You're probably wondering what we did with all those stone... Well, the area where I lifted slabs to put in the wind breaker was in need of some stone to make it level with the pathings and we are slowly creating a gravel path round the shed. Not quite half way yet, but already much better than the weeds and dirt...

Once the bodach had reached a certain point, it was time to plant the five Ash saplings donated by a friend which will eventually grow into a hedge.

nice plant pot!

The wee Ashies have been planted between the shed and the hazel tree, which is also quite small at the moment...

And after all the painting and the sifting it was time for food in the style of a BBQ with home made mushroom and mozzarella beef burgers! Yum! :)

Of course having a garden that gets all the all day long does have it's disadvantages when seeking shade... And in this case called for a makeshift canopy made from a ground sheet, some poles and string and a couple of clamps on the fence. It did the job! But will have to think up something better later on...