I’ve spent today scurrying around working in the kitchen in advance of the gas man coming to connect the hob of the cooker on Friday. Today I’ve finished painting the ceiling, which had to be done in stages because I couldn’t access it all in one go so I did half a few weeks ago and the other half this week.

It’s Artex-ed with the infamous circular pattern. We have spent the last goodness knows how many years putting plaster onto ceilings in our homes to get rid of Artex, though ironically I can remember using the stuff myself in my first home. This time, we can’t afford to have the ceiling re-plastered so I’ve had to make repairs to the Artex myself. There were two old light fittings that had been Artex-ed around, leaving flat patches under them both and holes in the ceiling for the wiring to come through.

I filled the holes then hit on a “ingenious” idea – I put a moderately thick layer of filler over the flat bits, then with a piece of kitchen towel I made circles in the filler in as similar a style as I could to the rest of the ceiling. Now it’s all painted, it’s very hard to spot mine from the original. It may not be the most stylish solution but it saved me at least £500 for a re-plaster.

In a bid to try to prevent me from gumming up the new light fittings, DM pulled them out of the ceiling and taped around them. I still managed (as evidenced here) to get paint on them, but fortunately it’s on a bit that will be inside the ceiling when the light fitting is back in its rightful place.

Tomorrow, two more coats of paint on the wall you can see in the background (with its first coat just done when this shot was taken) then it’s ready for the fridge freezer to be moved into place after Barry finishes his plumbing on Friday.

Then the real fun begins because work on the main run of food preparation area can commence. Yee ha.

By the way, for anyone who remembers my rant a few days ago about gary Rhodes and Flora Buttery - see this.....

"The TV ad for Flora Buttery, stated that more people preferred its taste to that of competitor Lurpak Lighter Spreadable.

But the research upon which the claim was made was based on just 200 participants.
Of these 96 selected Flora Buttery, representing a 3% difference between the two brands.
Advertising watchdog the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the sample size was too small to support a 'preference' claim.
The ad features Gary Rhodes approaching shoppers and asking them to decide which was their favourite spread in a blind taste test.
Some of the crumpets are covered with Flora Buttery while others are smeared with Lurpak Lighter Spreadable.
One shopper chooses a crumpet covered in Flora Buttery as her favourite.
When asked why by Rhodes, she explains "It seems a bit more creamy".
On-screen text then states: "Out of 200 people tested 48% preferred Flora Buttery, 45% Lurpak Lighter spreadable, 7% had no preference".
Unilever, the makers of Flora Buttery, said the subsequent claim "more people prefer the taste of Flora Buttery" was not an "absolute" assertion.
It was based on the results of independent research and Gary Rhodes's own experience as Flora Buttery's brand ambassador.
But the ASA concluded it had not been supported with "sufficiently robust evidence" and was therefore "likely to mislead."" Thanks to janet L for pointing me in the direction of this judgement.

I am so glad to see that the Advertising Standards Authority agreed with me and I reiterate my point that it could have only got onto the air in the first place because those responsible had no morals or scruples about misleading the public. Shame on them.