Monday 29 July 2013

Singing the blues

One of my other real pleasures in life is boating. We're lucky enough to own our own narrowboat and there's not much in life that can beat throwing the kids and the dog on board and travelling around England at 3 miles per hour. Unfortunately, with the torrential rain of the past 24 hours, it means the rivers are officially in flood and we're going nowhere. It's typical - umpteen weeks of heatwave and the weather only breaks when we're ready to head out on the boat.

So, it's back to the £100 house, which I'm thinking of naming The Cakery - for the obvious reasons! It's now a snazzy shade of blue and, rather than weeping into its beer with only the cat and some guitar riffs for company, it looks like it has taken on a whole new lease of life. The Annie Sloan clear wax has really lifted the matt paint. This shop is actually a bit of a looker when it comes down to it! 

One thing that really surprised me was that Sid Cooke houses don't come with 'glass' in the windows for 'safety reasons'. I'm not quite sure what's unsafe - does the perspex morph into an axe-wielding maniac when the moon is full? 

Not to be perturbed, a lovely colleague unearthed the perfect thing... overhead projector acetate. It's completely obsolete now that we have fancy interactive whiteboards in classrooms, but perfect for mini-glazing! A bit of snipping later, and we have fully fledged windows at zero cost.

Much as I'd like to paint the window frames themselves, it's probably not going to happen. They're plastic, and getting a decent finish on that is going to be nigh on impossible. So cream they are and cream they're going to stay. There's a bit of touching up to do where the blue has bled a little onto the render, and the green street sign needs to turn white, but there's progress definitely being made.

What do you all think?

Total spent: £35.95
Remaining: £64.05

4 comments:

  1. It's looking good, the blue looks lovely, so fresh! Fab idea regarding the acetate, it's perfect for curved glass.

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    1. If you ever need any, I have a HUUUUGE box full of the stuff!

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  2. It looks lovely and like the blue. What about trying Annie Sloan paint on the window frames although they look okay. Hope the rain subsides for you so you can get away :)

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    1. We used Annie Sloan's wax on them and it really lifted them. Just got to touch up a couple of bits and the outside is pretty much done now :)

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