Hiya all,
We’ve had a year of DIY. Two tomboy girls together after losing the two males in our lives… SON in 2017 and HUBBY in 2022.
He and I had made a to-do list of things we were hoping to upgrade, change, replaced. So on and so forth. This humble flat was going to become our OAP Pad with our beloved daughter until she’d find her own love connection and create her own family.
We spend 3 months fixing the funeral, the paperwork and the accounts related. Granted I was rusty in my accounting just a bit but even though I’d shown hubby how to keep the books, he hadn’t…
So, we got a package delivered from Amazon, three days after he’d died. A beautiful 6 jets shower head with an wedding anniversary card for 1st June from hubby. It was sad, we cried so much but we had to install it.
That was easy to do and recently, I got a longer shower hose in order to reach the new bench from independent living agency plus the two handles they’ve installed.
Now, daughter and I are much safer taking a shower in the bath.
Then, I installed a wee bidet shower on the loo. Daughter finally relinquished her high bed and accepted the double bed we wanted for her. Another DIY job as it came in the smallest box I’d ever seen. Yup, it needed built up.
However, it was easy-peasy just following the Alphabet on the parts and one, two, three, bed, job done!
Later on found a new double mattress, once more in a small box. Wow, it was a laugh and a half when we put the burrito-style mattress unto to the base and opened up the bag… Whoosh!
It took a full 72 hours to expand to full thickness. The biggest DIY was going through every room and eliminate clothing, games, toys, stuffed animals and extra single bedding no longer required.
After giving all to SallyAnn, we took a break. Afterwards, we attacked the living room. All the furniture had been stuck in one corner after we moved in. You realise hubby was very ill but hiding it and his goals were to colour every room before he died.
So, thankfully to a wooden floor and light furniture, we shifted the lot, daughter rearranged the cabling behind the television and the other cabinets. So much more room now.
The futons needed a few slats replaced, found the pine wood, cut to size, added the varnish and got cheaply priced duvet covers to redecorate the futon mattresses. A floral black for colder months and a white with poppies for warmer ones.
In the summer that was so hot, we bought a DIY air conditioning unit, put it together and enjoyed cool icy air on these hot days.
Following that rearranging, we updated appliances. The 4 toasts toaster died, tried to fix it via YouTube video but gave up and bought a new two toasts one instead. Replaced the microwave cause after 10 years it wasn’t heating up much anymore.
The last biggies, were emptying the two refrigeration units and replacing with our new one 50/50.
On our list now, all that’s left is replacing two old TVs, scraping the peeling paint off the fence and setting the artificial grass carpet in our back garden and finally attacking the storage units outside and giving all windows frames a coat of fresh paint and trying to find a way to install the hanging flower baskets.
Yes, it’s been a year where we did so much by ourselves, but it helped us survive the crushing blow. Keeping busy was rejuvenating but the healing of our hearts continues…
PS if you’ve got tips and tricks on how to use a drill and Rawl plugs to hang things on walls, I’d be grateful.
