So What Have We Learnt?

Thanks for your interest in our renovations at home. As promised I shall now impart our combined wisdom in what we learnt along the way. Left - not a party streamer but something I made to clen down the fluted fins behind your radiator! I used a steel punch to tape to four strips of cloth. The weight of the punch takes the cloth down the flutes and a good wiggle before you pull it through should remove all the cobwebs and dust that accumulates there over the years!

Centre pic - after deciding that we wanted the tv on the other side of a doorway, it was necessary to get the aerial cable over there without looking unsightly. No good going under the carpet (too lumpy) so I went up the frame of the door, across and down the other side. If you look carefully it is there. I didn't want to use those plastic cable clips that you nail in. Firstly it's not that acessible in the corner and secondly you'll notice them too much. I wanted something neater so - moving six inches at a time - i dribbled superglue along the edge and then held the cable in place until it stuck. Hey presto! Job done!!

On the right - our new dining table. It's not that I'm tight but I didn't want to pay out for a new table when the one we've got does the job. It was just too big. Here, I've used one of the two pedestal supports for the new table (the other's become a lamp stand elsewhere). Although I could only buy 18mm MDF as an 8x4 sheet, I had it cut in half at the store (they do up to two cuts for free). Marking out a four foot diameter with a pencil I carefully jigsawed the round top and then used a router to bevel the edge. For my part that was it. Sheri didn't want to paint it and wondered if staining varnish would work or would it just sink in to the MDF surface. Here's your answer. This is what she's got it to after about six coats using a cloth. By swirling the motion as she applies it, the effect is building up to a high gloss patterned finish that you'd buy in an Italian style shop. It's quite remarkable and the photo can't do it proper justice but trust us - it works!!