Benson Row - 14

Penrith, Cumbria. June-2020.

The big excitement was the easing of lockdown which meant work on the kitchen could resume. We retreated upstairs with a picnic lunch while Alan fitted the doors to the kitchen units. Barry also came and drilled a hole in the back wall for the extractor hood flue. Now it all looks like a show kitchen.

In the living room I made good the three walls that Mary had stripped of anaglypta wallpaper and painted with two coats of white emulsion ready for the top coat. The back wall was in a particularly bad state and I used most of a large tub of B&Q filler to smooth out all the dents and general roughness.

Next Mary did what she'd been wanting to do for ages: take out the false wall in the living room and open up the fireplace behind it.

Either side of the chimney breast was basically stud wall construction, the fireplace was bricked up and cemented over.

We got Barry's lads to chisel off the cement and unblock the opening. That left us to bag up huge quantities of rubble and make multiple trips to the local tip.

The fireplace has a lovely stone lintel and pillars. The interior had clearly been through several iterations to accommodate different ranges. We took out even more stone to get back the original opening.

The electrician had to chase in the exposed wiring which was then cemented over. Next the chimney breast was repointed and the two alcoves plastered (and still drying out). The interior still has to be cleaned up.

 

In other news I installed a mosaic splash back in the shower room; a lovely neat job.

Then Mary decided she didn't like it and I had to chisel it off and replace with a white one!

Down in the cellar we installed two sets of shelving so it is now more organised. Plus I have put a bolt on the wine cellar door so can finally tick that off the list.

Next month I will mostly be painting walls.