Although the fierce winds that we have experienced for the last few days continued to pound us for much of the day, it was warm, sunny, and bright, encouraging me to wander round the garden with my camera.
A few trugs were transported, and a few pots blown down;
some trees were being stripped of their foliage,
although others still sported autumn hues.
Flower beds remained reasonably colourful.
The good news of the day is that Nick Hayter was able to start our decorating project on time and that the impending lockdown allows him to work on. Living up to Barry’s recommendation he is a relentless, thorough, worker, and, given the atrocities we inherited he needs to be.
He began today with a zinsser primer on the false ceiling rafters, and progressed to
the momentous removal of the equally fake picture rails, which longer term readers will remember are in fact dado rails – still bearing the supplier’s bar codes – and as such flat topped and therefore useless for picture hooks.
It was later that Nick realised that the original wall paint had not been thinned and consequently simply peeled off like stiff paper.
This evening we dined on Jackie’s spicy lamb jalfrezi and aromatic savoury rice with a plain paratha. The Culinary Queen drank Hoegaarden and I drank Coudougno Faugeres 2019.
You are back into construction mode, just as I’m getting out of it.
🙂 Thanks very much, GP
What a huge project that is turning out to be! I’m glad you have a reliable workman who can continue to work through the lockdown — that will help both you and him!
Quite so, Janet. Thanks very much
Hi Derrick – glad nick can stay working and love the action shots of him
Also – we have had winds on and off here too – pulling the leaves a bit
Thanks very much, Yvette
Ik dacht, dat een aannemer naar de lekkages in de keuken kwam kijken. Dat dacht ik, maar bemoei me verder helemaal nergens mee, als het voor de Kerst maar klaar is, dus . . . Amsterdam, 2 november 2020 * http://www.friedabblog.wordpress.com *
de lekkages in de keuken zal snel klaar zijn, heel erg bedankt, Frieda
Wow, that was some storm. Glad your renovations can carry on.
Yep. Thanks very much, Peggy
Have fun with the reno.
Thanks a lot, Chrissy
We had some damage to our home last night due to high winds. I’m happy to hear Nick will be able to carry on with the renovations. I’m sure that’s a relief.
It is – for all concerned 🙂 Thanks very much, Jill
Peeling paper looks fun. I would have been tempted to join in. I wonder the significance of the Roman Numeral tattoo on Nick Heyter’s arm. Children’s birth dates perhaps? Or a reminder for wedding anniversary ?
I’ve been having similar thoughts, Gwen 🙂 Trust you to notice. Thanks very much.
Hard to be sure but I think it starts with 20th July 2003, and I’m guessing it has an end date, so I’m thinking there’s a sad story behind it.
Your first guess was correct. Sons’ birth dates
That’s a relief!
ps: my brother taught me to be observant in all things (or tried to anyway)
The garden is still looking beautiful and good luck with the decorating project.
Thanks very much, Sheree.
Glad the storm/wind effects were more aggravating than destructive. May your project be completed swiftly, safely and successfully. 🙂
Thanks very much, Maj. We have every confidence.
Glad he won’t have to stop the remodel for lockdowns. Sorry to hear about your wind damage.
Thanks very much, Mrs W. It will recover – the lamp wasn’t actually broken
That is good. Your welcome.
I hope your beautiful garden does not suffer further damage from stormy weather, Derrick.
Thanks very much, Dolly. Not too bad really
My pleasure, Derrick.
Ah! Jalfarezi! I love it. These days, because mutton (goat meat) is out of my diet I make it with chicken. Not as robust a flavor as the one with mutton, nevertheless, delicious.
Thank you very much, Joycee. Mutton was once regularly served in our restaurants
Having been through too many DIY misadventures of home renovation/repair, I say it’s much better to pay someone else to do it!
I’ve always thought that. 🙂 Thanks very much, Liz
Smart man!
Still so much color in the garden, Derrick and Jackie! The home renovation project looks like it is coming along nicely, and should get finished in good time.
Two and a half weeks is the rough estimate. He works non-stop all day. Thanks very much, Lavinia
I love renovations and new looks.❤️
Thanks very much, Laleh
My pleasure.
the garden will recover, hope the glass lamp on the table didn’t sustain a break – and it looks like the house is going to finally be “yours”. I can’t understand why someone would install a fake dado rail! You are lucky that the renovation could continue, here everything but emergencies were cancelled…
Thanks very much, Catherine. Believe me, the fake dado rail was the least of the atrocities 🙂
You seem to have had much worse winds than we did. Mind you, your garden has a lot more things to blow over than ours does. We get so much wind on a regular basis that there is no percentage on putting up things that blow down. I hope that your garden will soon be back in apple pie order.
Thanks very much, Tootlepedal. We do still have some apples left.
We lost all ours to the late frost so there were none to be harried by the winds.
A shame
I remember those dado rails from my childhood. Your renovations will be a great improvement. Nick looks like he’s having fun with that wall paper. We’ve had quite high winds here today, but not like yours. Glad there wasn’t much damage to your garden.
Thanks very much, Sylvia
gusty winds you had and lovely colors in you garden still. Nick is progressing quite well with the renovation. such projects are exciting. 🙂
We are quite excited, Lola – after seven years of living with it. Thanks very much
I’m glad you have persistent, responsible help with your decorating project. Not always easy to find. We’ve had a lot of wind over hear on this side of the pond, too. Maybe they are the winds of change. Good change, I hope.
Let us hope the winds will do their job
Thanks very much, JoAnna
The wind certainly did blow! And that is quite a redecorating job. Holy cats!
Thanks a lot, Laurie. I think Nick will do a purrfect job.
The continuation of the renovation work is a reassuring sign that life is back on rails, dado rails or not. The gentleman seems intent on the assignment. The garden seems to be in a brooding phase during the transition of weather.
Thank you very much, Uma. Your rails quip I like 🙂
I’m pleased the decorating prep is going well and according to plan.
I don’t know about you but I’m getting very tired of the high winds, it doesn’t help that we’re so high up. The rain has been constant this past week, so much so that down in Otley the River Wharfe has burst its banks.
Thanks very much, Sue. I hope your weather calms down soon.
Blue sky this morning but I think I read it would be short lived. Thank you, Derrick.
Once you have found a “relentless, thorough, worker” he is to be treasured. Very, very few can produce work of a decent standard, at a fair price, turn up on time and not need to be treated like a Disney princess.
Indeed, John. His pride in his work is exemplified by the corrections he offered for my technical errors, now amended. 🙂 Thanks very much.
YAY for Nick and his knowledge and good work! God bless him! I couldn’t do that work if I wanted to. 🙂 Hope it all goes well, in good time, and doesn’t cost extra. 😉
I hope in the fierce and gusty winds that all of the owls survived!
The autumn hues are a beautiful addition to all of the other colours in your garden!
HUGS!!! 🙂
Thanks very much, Carolyn. Owls all present and correct. Nick corrected my technical errors on the post, so I have amended it somewhat 🙂
Nothing like a trans-Atlantic construction tip. When you mentioned Zinsser, the name seemed familiar. I vaguely remembered using one of their paints in the far past, so I went to look. When I did, I discovered that they still manufacture a sanding sealer. I used to use another brand regularly, but it went off the market, and I haven’t seen any for some time. Some of the younger varnishers don’t even know what it is. I have a place to try some of the Zinsser, which I intend to do. If it works well, I’ll have an old tool back in the toolbox.
Wonderful, Linda. Nick really knows what he is doing. Thanks very much.
A construction site ? luckily he can still work during the lockdown ?
The garden is still beautiful and colorful! ?
Thank you very much, Ribana
Great to get a bit of redecorating done Derrick. I was delighted to see that you still have some beautiful autumn colour left in your garden after the high winds, winds which we also experienced over the past week but glad to say today was sunny and there was no wind at all.
Good news on your current weather, Agnes. Thank you very much
Yes Derrick, delighted!
Are you keeping the false ceiling rafters?
Yes – just painting them white which has made a big difference. With an art ceiling as well it seemed a bit too daunting to do anything else. Thanks a lot, Andrew.
We had some in a previous house and I tried painting them but they were made of plastic and it was a complete failure but then again I am not a professional painter and decorator. We moved house instead.
That was drastic, Andrew. Nick says Zinsser primer would have worked on the plastic.
It sounds like he’s a hard worker who knows what he’s doing. Good news that he’ll be able to continue.
Indeed. Thanks very much, Merril
Crikey! First, I’m glad your room is getting sorted. Fancy putting dado rails up where picture rails should be!
Sorry to hear about the disturbance caused by the wind. I hope it didn’t cause the Head Gardener too much chagrin.
The Head Gardener is managing to cope, Helen. The dado rails were not the worst of the aberrations we have been living with 🙂 Thanks very much.
?
I wish I could hire Mr Hayter, he seems tenacious! How nice to still have flowering plants in the garden and that they made it through the storm. Will there always be something blooming until spring? I know some places in the UK get snow but think of it as much more milder than Canada. Cheers xK
Thanks very much, Kelly. We are in one of the mildest areas of England and should have blooms right through until spring. Mind you, anything goes this year. We even have a large gladiolus blooming now. x
So envious ?