DIY-ing the bathroom!

We've been doing some DIY this week, trying to finish the work which we paid someone to do in our bathroom in November. We didn't have enough money to pay him to do the lot, so we have had the woodwork and floor to do ourselves.

Redecorating the bathroom was not something we had planned to do last year - our money was earmarked for other things, but it was forced upon us when the bath split with an enormous cracking noise and looking underneath, it became apparent that it had been slowly seeping water for quite a while as the floorboards were soaked. In addition to that, the handbasin was cracked and had been for some time, following a previous DIY accident about five years ago.

So we have had to spend about £6,000 we didn't really have on putting it all right and whilst so doing, bringing the whole thing up to date. We had a sense that the last time the bathroom had seen any serious updating was about 30 years ago, so it was well overdue. It still had lead pipes which also had to be replaced as well, so needed a full plumbing job as well as cosmetic updating.

It's now a lovely sleek black and white haven and for the floor, I have picked glossy black tiles with specks of silver glitter in them. I love them, even though The Hubby says it will make the bathroom look like a lap dancing club. Frankly, I don't care - it's my bathroom and I can have whatever I want. And there may be several amongst you that will have no problem with the idea of a bathroom looking like a lap dancing club. I don't know!

All the wood is now glossed, and we have boarded the floor with solid concrete boards on top of the floorboards (otherwise the glue falls through the gaps) so next weekend we are laying the floor tiles. Having tiled the kitchen a few years ago (floor and walls) very successfully, I feel something of an expert here and it one of the few jobs where I am allowed to be the gaffer and boss The Hubby around as my go-fer. It doesn't stop him trying to offer 'advice' but I am definitely in charge! It's great! I have my own tile cutting machine, and this time I have bought a posh tile saw and tile file so I can properly cut curves to go around the loo and basin pedestal.

So in about a fortnight the bathroom will be finished and that will be it for DIY for the year unless something dreadful happens. That'll mean that we have done every room in the house over the last few years and aesthetically it is unrecognisable from when I bought it in 2001. Then we intend to spend a year or so consolidating our finances, spending a bit of money on the garden then it will all start again!

There always seems to be something to do. And because we've been so skint over the years we have always had to do much of it ourselves. It's the same with our apartment in Greece, although we do try not to spend too much time DIY-ing out there so that when we go, we do relax and not spend all the time working.

Must keep buying those lottery tickets - I have too many ideas, not enough money and not enough time to do them. It's impossible to get out of Homebase without spending at least £50. Now, where's the paintbrush........?