Working for the Mrs

16 June 2011

Who would have thought that a tiny bathroom could take so long to tile. I have only been able to work evenings this week on our little house and all I have managed to do is tile the bathroom and lay the floor.

I guess I could have figured that buying smallish tiles because they were cheap would be a bad idea. I managed to get a great job lot of plain white tiles (enough for the bathroom and the kitchen) for 50% off the recommended retail price. I couldn't turn it down.

Unfortunately it has meant many more tiles have needed to be laid than I would normally do. Then on top of that, I had decided to cover the bathroom cupboard in mosaic tiles – bad idea. It looks great, but it was so fiddly and annoying that I would never bother again. The problem with me is that I am way too picky and all the lines had to be perfectly straight.

We have decided not to install the conservatory after all. We just can't afford either the time or the money. It is something we can think about for the future maybe. But right now we need to get tenants in asap.

Away from the little house I have been laying decking. It has been OK actually. Normally I am not really all that keen on doing outdoor or garden stuff, but Claire asked me to give her a hand with her client. She wasn't completely ready to do such a huge deck on her own, so I offered to help her out.

Why on earth did I agree to that? We have figured out that we do not work well together. Although it is great that we have that flexibility to be there for each other, we both hate being told what to do. In this case, she was boss and I hated it!

I thought her design for the decking was all wrong, but she was adamant that it was staying how she had designed it. So I had to build a decking which I thought would look awful. She had asked for the deck boards to be angled into a “V” shape in the centre.

I thought it would make the garden look too small. She pointed out that the garden was much wider than it was long and so it needed something to draw the eye towards the back of the garden and not simply widen it further.

OK, I admit it. She was absolutely right. From the house your eye is drawn along the “V” to the edge of the decking and then along the path she has created. The garden looks longer and less wide. She has also put in some small bushes along the garden sides to bring it in further.

She has worked so hard and the pay she received was actually on par with what I might get for a full kitchen or bathroom. The best thing is that she is so impressed with herself and so happy she has found what she is good at. I can't argue with that – but no more working together, I am afraid.

So finally we are ready to get the kitchen done at the little house, then the decorating, flooring and finishing touches. Two or three more weeks I think and we will be set to go. Can't wait to be a landlord. I wonder what sort I will be?