Just Found a Great Way to Get Stuff Done!

Wow, it's been over a month since I last had the computer out...with all the floor sanding going on here.
It's all over and now I'm doing the staining and 2 coats of "estapol", the local version of it anyways to 2 rooms over the next 2 weeks...then move everything out and complete the front room.

A lot of upheaval in the place whilst doing it, with Imre only able to work about 2 to 3 days a week...and not full days at that.
A bit of a nuisance really, but we are over the hill now and heading into the clean up stages and final few last things before leaving this place for the girlie things to be completed.

I'm getting a new guy in to do the cottage roof, (too high for Imre and I don't want him having a dizzy spell or whatever up there), then Imre can go over there and work on the cottage until it is completed.

We have done so much in the last 6 weeks...am surprised when I look back at the pics.

• Have moved the garden fence out to create a private space, 
• dug in some "new" fence posts and new stirrups to hold the pergola posts, 
• laid the 2 new concrete paths, 
• have cut the pergola shapes, so I can paint them, 
• broken up the old concreted areas in the garden and moved them to the growing rubble pile...
• put down the last 2 floors, 
• now the final 2 things to do are to finish the new pantry and put up the pergola.

Imre has also mended lots of odd things that don't fit or work anymore after moving fences and gates etc...

I'm surprising myself at all the work I can do this year...I guess now that all the un noticed hard yakka by myself and the guys over the years has been completed and the planning, cleaning up of and shaping the house and yard is completed, it is a lot easier to actually do real work that can be noticed...and for that it is very encouraging and rewarding indeed.

I could not get a lot of things done before because I was unsure of how to get the end effect I was sort of after.
But over time I found, just by doing one small thing...like putting pretty knobs on cupboard doors...the next step revealed itself and came so much easier.
So, on a roll, once I twigged that this was actually causing me to move on other things with more ease, I just went with the flow and it is coming together faster than I ever thought.

For example...the front of the house...I thought I wanted a teal colour, like I discovered was actually, a colour that had been one of the original colours on the gates and other areas here. But somehow, it didn't feel right, so it didn't happen for 2 years.

Then, the other day I thought I'd like a pinky brownish trim colour, so bought a bottle of brown tint. I had a half tin of white paint left over from the pergola beams I've been painting for seemingly ever...and added some of the tint, tested it on the front and kept playing with it, finally I added some red to it...

PURFECCCC...

Check it out...The place looks like a luscious lollipop now!

So happy with the result, I only hope I can mix the next tin to match the awesome colour and finish it  all off OK.
If it didn't suit, it only took an hour to paint it...I didn't cut in or anything, just applied paint to the easiest areas for a looksee...so it would be easy to paint over it with another colour.

Under the eaves and for all the many tiddly bits of front decorative trims, I thought a blueish type color to blend in with the inside entry floor tiles colour.

Have all the gardens underway, flowers growing well, fruit trees all blooming and growing new leaves and the garden edgings all moved and finalised...except for one big inside house path, I have to do this evening. Too much glare in the day.

Got another fellow in for a day on Thursday and we went to town, found the correct outside house paint and he did a quick freshen it up coat on 2 sides and the back of the house. Looks great and feels great too.

Once Imre completes the pantry, hopefully, this week, I'll paint it, stain and seal the middle room floor, then when the floor is dry, load the pantry up.

Only have to get some kitchen benches in then...but am not worried about that as we can't shift the massive water heater until next year...as it is right in the way of everything there.

Hope everyone had a great Easter break. The weather has been perfect here for almost 3 months now...amazing. It's only rained or has been cloudy for a few days here and there.

At the markets in 'Fured on Saturday...

Golden Rain...a lovely, longer lasting hedge, like the one I'm growing. This is not mine, unfortunately!

Cherry blossom time in Tiszaigar...

Goodbye old path...and excess slabs of concrete..

Welcome new path...

3rd coat of paint...now the pergola posts, I forgot to order,  have arrived...More painting.

Messy me...I have to slide up, in between the beams on the saw horse...hence the messy shirt.

Smoothing the new path down...

A week later, I'm filling up the holes from moving the old concrete, using old mud bricks and chopping them up..

All the spare beds are on the verandah, along with the stove and...

Meanwhile, I completed ppaving most of the front path and am waiting to finish it all when Imre lays the last slab of concrete near the green towel.

New garden in, edges in...Waiting for the new garden rails to weather a bit, before oiling the timbers.

Nothing like the view from my swing seat...

Early morning...the storks all flew in on the night of 23rd March...

This end is all completed now...Gardens in, edging done, bricks all relaid...

This garden end will be a month or so until completed. Leaving the fence ends out so Imre can put up the pergola easier...

It rained for a day and the next night, thankfully...

So, I took off into town on a looking for ideas, spree!

This path is next on the straighten it out now list for my Easter work list!

Paved the entry at the gate and raised it almost a foot! Swimming pool gone!

Cherry blossom everywhere...Pink carpets...

Try and take a pic without your arm being in the shot! hahaha...My friend Eniko and I in Eger a few weeks ago.

More pink carpet...

White blossoms follow the pink ones. These are also eating cherries, plums and bitter cherries...

The entire village is swathed in blossoms...

Very hard to capture it...

On my way back from the little"sells everything" store!

This is a crab apple tree...

So is this one...

On the way to the bus stop...blossoms everywhere..There are crab apples. plums and on the right, weeping black mulberries...All free, all edible.

Found the tiles for the entrance. very happy with them...

Found real sandstone slabs...pretty cheap I think at $15  for M2. They are real sandstone and not the fake slabs that are flat and look like tiles.

You can see the real chunks of sandstone. Will eventually get some for the steps over on the big deck...

Waiting at the bus stop outside a hardware shop where I found the awesome blue tiles for the entry..

My friend's driveway...covered in cherry blossoms...

Some flowers in town underway...

All this rubble...and this much again, came from the the exterior and interior walls of the house in the next pic.

They put on a new roof, stripped back the walls inside and out...All good mud brick construction.

A really nice flowering bush...

A good idea for a potted plant display!

Coming home near the bus stop...

Outside my place on the nature strip...

Beautiful...

Mowing time this afternoon...It takes me 3 or 4 goes at doing the lot.

Still thinking about it!

Dog is even trying to get me going...

Naaahhh...too nice swinging away in the dappled sunlight...

This is a turkey leg...It is the size of a leg of lamb!

Cooked it up in my improvised kitchen, while doing some mowing!!!

Nice little blue door topper I found in 'Fured at the markets for a dollar!

And one for the front room...which will be a bit more formal...ish.

Meanwhile, I'm crammed into the front room with half of the stuff...the rest is on the verandah!

Imre getting ready to sand the 2 floors. The sander was out on hire for a whole week...so we are behind a bit now.

The kitchen area, ready for sanding...

Other front path slab concreted now...I can complete the brick edges out side...

Just the sawdust that blew into the entry from the end room!!!

Imre emptying the saw dust bag. 11 big bags of sawdust from the 2 rooms...

All done...now the cellar doors, lower right,  need hinges etc...

We left the 3 robes in the family room and slid them around as there was nowhere else to put them!!!

Now the shelves come off and the pantry goes on in their place!

These are the old doors, I'm halfway through painting, from the bread ovens...One even has a bifold on it...Using them for the pantry.

If you turn your head to one side...hahaha...anyways...this is the pantry design. I design work in pantries...not walk in, but work in. You make a mess, then shut the doors if anyone comes! About 4 foot long...ish, that is 1.2 mtrs long ish....

Rough sketch, but you get the gist of the exterior design...

OK...power points had to be moved over 9 inches...pantry wall right in the middle of the left ones!

Also, I got Imre to put in a step thing like this between the kitchen and end room. I love them...but also wanted the new doorway into the old cellar room, to look as though it was always there. Previous access was from the outside.

Presto...found some old timber which was actually used in the old cellar work room area, and he worked his magic...Now I have a real, genuine piece of history in place!

Off to the shop...more blossoms...

Just the strangest trees...

But beautiful blossoms.

Incredible...

The nature strips are filled with all types of blossom trees...

Waiting at the bus stop and Jim's Mowing Services went by...Whipper snippers today!!!

Saw a great hanging rack idea at Tesco...Can use some of my spare knobs to make some of these later on.

Dug out all the edging bricks...so only have to pull out all the paver bricks and level the sand beneath them and re-lay them all. ..then replace the edgings...Now that the new paths are in, the levels are all wrong for the paths I made 4 years ago. No big deal as they are not cemented in...just laid on sand, so it is easy to fix them again.

Istvan painting the 2 sides and back of the house...last week.

The end room floor all stained...except for along the right side wall...where the sander didn't fit...so Imre has to do this with his new sander this coming week. The walls are not blue...just the way this room photographs!

Took my jogging shoes off today and noticed the soles! OMGoodness, I've worn them out, big time! who ever looks at the soles on their joggers???

A quickie paint job to test the colour I mixed ...Very happy. Ran out of paint...but will get more on Tuesday and do it all properly now. I love it...

Sanded back the old windows we put in the end of the verandah,  to stop the massive wind tunnel effect that blows through from the front. Will paint them the lovely taupe colour too. Undercoated some of them in a thin white coat of leftover white paint and the colour that came through is a nice pastel...making me think I might do the eaves and other trim colour a palish blue-aqua like this. It looks nice I think...what do you think?.

All 3 pics above,  taken at the markets on Saturday...

Finished...that end...another end to go...

OK...I'm off outside to get this last bit done...

See you all sooner I hope, than last time!

Hopefully you can see the pantry next time...then the time after that, the rooms all completed and furnished.

Forgot to mention,I have to repaint all the walls and ceilings, once the floors are sealed, as Imre has added extra power points etc...and he only ever did one coat of paint before. so, this will really be the end run!

Whill hire Istvan again. He said a day to do the 2 rooms.
Then in early May, when the front room is emptied and floor stained and sealed, I'll be OK to do the front room walls and ceilings myself, do the curtains, finally clean the windows.
Looks like a touch up to all doors and windows is needed too...

OK all, have a great remaining Easter break and stay safe,
Cheers,
M
xxxx