The Mad Panic

You’re probably thinking, “that J-Blog lass moved in two weeks ago, why haven’t there been any reveals yet? What’s she up to, that lazy old thing.”

Well, fair enough but I think you should hear my side of the story. You see, as you might recall when we moved in I’d only been able to paint the bedroom, nothing else was done. So, how do things stand now? Our wonderous builder painted our kitchen and it’s BEAUTIFUL. But that’s the only room that’s actually, almost, finished.

I’d rushed the paint colour decision for the kitchen and I was panicked as I hauled myself over to Ikea.

As I sat there with my two trolleys, hot dog, cinnamon buns, chips, waiting 2 hours for my Addy Lee driver to collect me, all I could think about was how bad would it be? You see, Jules (I’ve given up on that whole Mr. Brown thing, it annoyed me) didn’t like my idea of a luscious sagey green – the Tracery II colour I mentioned before. You know what? He was right. It doesn’t happen often but sometimes he just gets it. This worries me as he’s colour blind, I must be off my game. Choosing a lighter colour really worked as it’s a wee bit dark in our kitchen.

Can you see why I was panicked? I looks like putty here.

The colour I picked was Dusted Moss 3 by Dulux. The choosing method I used, in my hurried state to have it to the painters in time, was to take in a Farrow and Ball colour palette with colours I knew suited the room.  I held up the Dulux colours and matched the tone and I’m quite happy to brag about this – I nailed it. I wouldn’t recommend it for you but it worked when I was in a hurry. Also, I looked up online on my super smart phone other rooms which had been painted in that same colour. However, painting testers on multiple walls is still the best methodology.

So, I thought it was going to look sludgy but I wanted a soft greeny colour, which I wasn’t sure it would be when I saw the paint colours go into the tin – black, yellow and red. That’s brown! PANIC STATIONS. But then, me hearties, I came home, all flustered and hopped up on miniature Diam bars and it was GLORIOUS. Well done me. Only rushed decision I’ve ever made a success.

The kitchen isn’t presentable yet and it needs some extra lighting but here’s just a little idea of the colour. Sorry for the bad photo.

Now I just have to talk about my shelves. I sent the builder some pics of what I wanted:

And he created exactly that. In my inexperience I said to build them the same depth as the units on the opposite wall, but over a sink this is too deep. A couple of inches shorter and they’d be perfect but the way that they’re built meant that they’d need to be completely re-made. My fault, lesson learnt. With some extra lighting under them they will be much better.

Ray Ray (my builder, he doesn’t know I call him this yet. Shhhhh) explained to me the process of building them whilst he was giving me a lift home yesterday (he was viewing my parent’s flat to quote on painting) – see, NICEST GUY EVER. He made them to exactly match the picture on the bottom right and had to use some hardcore screws to attach them to the wall. He tested them to make sure they could hold my gazillion plates and nicknacks and boy oh boy do they. Our washing machine is underneath them and it’s quite the hyperactive little beast and there’s not even a tinkling of glass when it’s spinning, not even the slightest vibration when you touch the shelf. Now THAT, my friends, is a good builder.

Right now you’re thinking, “ooooh, ooooh, who is this wonderful builder, good builders are hard to find”. He covers 10 miles around South Norwood; if you fit that radius and need work, he comes with my stamp of approval, and I don’t stamp approvingly often. Here’s his website: www.lbscontractors.co.uk

Can you tell in the car I decided to plug his business for him? Did you know every time a builder quotes on a job on something like MyBuilder they have to pay the company, something like, £100? Ridic. So Ray Ray is very good and he genuinely cares about your home. I definitely felt like it was safe in his hands.

Back to the shelves. Here’s a pic of them pre-paint.

This isn’t a great picture, the lighting is wrong and the shelves aren’t styled properly but you get the gist of it – they’re incred shelves.

As for the rest of the flat? It’s a work in progress. I started painting the living room last night and so I’m completely done in today but I have the great fears.  We have Jules’ Mum and dog staying for a week over Christmas and my parent’s are over on Christmas day, friends with two kids coming over after Christmas and possibly my brother with his three kids. I want them all to come, I’m so very, very excited about hosting but we are no where near ready. The floor is still unvarnished. The second bedroom isn’t painted and nothing in there has been unpacked. I’ve only just started on the living room and the bathroom is still half finished. On top of that there’s the hall and all the doors that need painting, and inside the gloomy hall cupboard plus a million little jobs like putting up lights, curtains rails, window film, shelves and most importantly DECORATING FOR CHRISTMAS. I want to decorate so badly. I just have the need. But I can’t, there’s too much else to do. What if I only get to be in the flat decorated for Christmas ONE DAY beforehand? That would be TERRIBLE. Truly. So, the mad panic has set in. Jules has asked to be handed a paint brush when he walks in the door at 10:30pm, after having been up for 12 hours and driving for at least 2 1/2 of those. I mean, it would hardly be fair of me to let him paint then, would it? So I am playing the martyr and painting after work, which I actually don’t mind if I have Netflix on in the background and when you can only do x amount before 11pm you don’t get the aches.

We’re currently a very tired household. Jules more so than me but he’s being better about it than me. My eyes are so puffy and spongy today that I think it’s time for the hemorrhoid cream.