Finally!

I can now finally share with you the DIY that has been keeping me busy since the end of July.  The reason behind many late Blips and not much commentary!  I wanted Mum and Dad to see if first and they popped down this morning so we had a lovely chat in the "new" sitting room which is such a lovely place to be.  It was just so nice to sit and have a chat.

Ever since we have been here the stairs have been an adverse feature of the house making the lounge feel cramped and always lacking natural light.  Dad for many years had wanted to open the wall up but Mr T mostly was lass keen.  In August I decided to help Dad by drilling a pilot hole, but mission creep attacked and I ended up taking most of the wall out.  Dad helped me cutting out some of the columns and the stringer and putting the left hand hand rail up, and a few other bits but mostly I did the rest myself.  I put up LED coving in the living room, so that looks loads better than the strips, painted the living room walls in mulberry burst and stone in love, put up dado rails in the hall stairs and landing and painted that ducky and moon whispers.  I painted the ceiling too so when looking through the white angular stairs ceiling blends in to the walls and doesn't draw the eye. I just need the electrician to replace the sockets and light switches with polished chrome ones to match.

In the extras you can see the holes, hall stairs and landing and the sitting room which now has a really nice sofa.  I put down the carpet tiles, covered the green worktops with a wood effect vinyl which matches my now painted kitchen cupboards.   This is last year.  I'm not going to lie, I'm super pleased and amazed at how it looks now.  Now I am catching up on the crochet blankets.  I got all the squares made and up to date during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix today, and now they need attaching.  There are a few bits and bobs still to finish but I will do blankets first and potter at those.

Mr T was mostly ok today, snoozed while Mum and Dad were here and generally followed the GP.  He didn't really quite understand it, but couldn't escape me jumping up and down during the last lap and then trying not to cheer too loudly!  So far the Mercedes appeals have been rejected but they have lodged to take it further.  This has been the best season of F1 I have ever watched (in 27 years) and it's a shame to tarnish the global image it's gained this year by pushing it through the courts.  The decision to make sure the season ended under green flag was the right one, and it was Red Bull's gamble that meant they had the right tyres.  Hamilton won his first title in 2008 in similar fashion, and I still believe Massa was robbed that year (by Crashgate mainly) so maybe a long awaited rebalancing.

OK enough from me today!  I need to catch up with your journals now.