Fricholsons' NYE

Howdy Peeps.

As I am too efficient for my own good and therefore quietly bored at work this arvo, I thought I'd plug the hole in posting over the last 7 days with a little look back at our NYE in sunny Tumut.

It was just the four of us - Ma, Pa, Favourite Son In Law and I, so we decided to knock over one of the most unsociable inside jobs and escape the up to 40 degree heat by tackling the 'hideous room' as we so unfondly call it. Some of you may remember the ambience of the room at the cottage with the two twin beds - bubbles of grimy 'liver pink' paint sagging in slimy balloons from the walls, five varieties of mould creeping across everything, piles of dusty crap stacked up in corners and under beds - the room we were MOST embarrassed about putting guests in. (Luckily most people are just after a soft spot to lie after days of operating heavy machinery and eating & drinking too much.)

So we donned our raggiest rags, rolled up our sleeves, snapped on gloves and tightened protective facemasks to let the battle begin. There were all manner of uninteresting and completely dump worthy treasures stashed away, along with a few priceless old books and letters. We quickly built our 'to burn' pile and shoved everything else out onto the veranda.

Quite a lot of paint peeled off in giant strips, revealing close to a century of old dead mould, now dust falling straight onto the carpet. We were not surprised to discover an even fouler dark green wall colour beneath, sighted in other already solved rooms around the house. Someone really knew how to add life to a dingy space!

Where the paint would not easily budge, we went over it with sugar soap, twice, to remove layers of filth grimy dirt.

And for the big ugly cracks due to water damage, some gap filler and a lot of patience.
Then we got cracking on the painting. The ceiling took some back-bending but turned out to be the easiest job. The toughest was combating the weird green 'blood' that kept weeping through coat after coat of super fantastic one-coat-only undercoat and trickling down the wall.

After what was in some places 6 coats of undercoat, we were ready for the very clean and bright pinky white Mum had selected and managed to do the room with only a few drops left in the tin. Because I am an idiot, I did not get any 'after' shots to go with the 'before' shots I also forgot to take, so you don't get either. Just the bits in between.
And one of us all cleaned up and launching into the first course of our NYE celebration delights...

(I was not up to take one of Noodle and Pa, completely tanked at whatever time in the morning, 1 January 2008.)