All systems go

It's been quite a weekend. Quite a week actually - so busy I was just about hyper-ventilating, finally lost my temper and snarled at my obnoxious colleague, and told my boss I want to hand in my sheriff's badge and go down to 4 days a week by July at the latest. She took it well (too well?) and told me I'm welcome to change my mind but I can't see that happening any time soon.
Flat-wise, lots on the go. :)

Last weekend, I picked up handles for my cabinet from BHV. I ended up going for slightly expensive ones that caught my eye and I'm really pleased it did. The end result is exactly what I'd hoped for. Now I just need to get the rest of the bathroom into working order...



I'm getting there. This weekend I've been working on the door. It's been difficult and I'm not out of the woods yet but things are looking promising. I ended up finding molding that was almost a perfect match in BHV - thank feck I didn't try and muddle something with bits of dowling, a thought which crossed my mind and was, fortunately, rejected. I can't imagine what a nightmare that would have been. To make the difference between the original bit and the new bit less visible, I ended up removing the good bit of molding on the right-hand side. It was tough getting the joints to align, especially as I don't have any sort of work table and my only saw is a small, increasingly blunt hacksaw (the last two weekends have been heavy on the tool-blaming front...).



Once I had the molding sorted, I set to trying to replicate the central panel. Lots of sanding to get the existing bit of mdf and the door frame smooth enough, little bits of sanding to soften the edges of the new additions and give them a similar look to the originals. Measured, glued, looks okay, probably should have let the glue cure a little longer than I did but I'm desperate to get my flat cleaned up tonight - I've been living surrounded by sawdust since Christmas and it's getting a bit old.

Getting the central panel into place was a real drag. The piece that was originally used to replace the kicked-in section isn't quite the right size, so I couldn't align it with any of the wooden edges or prop it on anything to keep it in place. I tried to glue it but I couldn't keep it in position long enough for the glue to set and I don't have any clamps or anything. I was also trying to manoeuvre it into place from inside the bathroom while peering round to the hall side to check it was correctly aligned. It was definitely an occasion when it would have been useful to have had another pair of hands. Or to have glued on the central panels once the main section was in place. Hem.

I ended up using some tiny nails which are hidden by the molding glued on the other side. I think the central bit will look fine once it's painted.


On the inside, I again resorted to the glue. Again, I'll withhold judgement until it's painted but I think it's a pretty decent save and it didn't work out to be particularly expensive.


The last thing I did this weekend was to finish the Shelves of Shame. Still shameful, but fully functional. I've been able to put away all of the stuff that's been cluttering up the corner of my bedroom since I moved in and my new Danish chair is now in place, just waiting for the rest of the room to come into shape around it. Bought new foam for the chair too, so a trip to the Marché Saint-Pierre will be in order too.

The Shelves:
- before: two clothes rails right at the back


- during: using my superduper new drill (AEG 600R) to throw up a heck of lot of dust


- halfway through: loading up shelves while cursing the mismeasurements that meant I had to shave half a centimetre off each shelf to take account of the cupboard narrowing towards the back and the top. With a small, increasingly blunt hacksaw.


- after: all loaded up with a salvaged clothes rail towards the front and space to hang brushes and the like between the clothes and the door. The organization will change slightly when I get a wardrobe, and I'm also planning to fix up something for shoes, but for the moment, it's a million times more useful than it used to be so I'm happy.