Electrical Socket Covers

A little while ago Sergio helped me cut the MDF to size in his workshop for two of these electrical back box covers for the inside of the kitchen cabinets. I finally got around to giving them a coat of paint and installing them this weekend.

Kitchen Window Update

While I work on the cloakroom, Flo has been working hard on restoring the kitchen window and it is looking really fantastic. I managed to get a coat of paint of the frames and it looks almost like a new window!

There's still a bit to do, but he's done a lot of work so far including re-constructing the rotten sash boxes, adjusting the window frame so it closes properly where the panes meet, levelling the window head so there is no longer a gap at the top and re-aligning the architrave so its straight instead of crooked.

Cloakroom Plaster

The cloakroom plaster has been completed and is drying out nicely. Im really pleased with the result - all the bumps, cracks and unevenness has been taken out of the walls and ceiling, and new metal corner angles have gone in around the window opening to give a nice sharp edge.

WC Fittings

As I am saving on the cost of paying someone else to do the WC works, Ive decided to splurge on a nice towel hook and toilet roll holder. These are from the scandavian company Smedbo. I just placed the order today - I cant wait for them to arrive!

WC works Commence!

After receiving two quotes from contractors to do the wc works, (one who didnt fill me with confidence, and the other who was proposed a fee of £2500), I have decided to do the works myself.

This week I started demolition by ripping up the old painted cork floor and removing the window sill, skirting and old sink tiles. The plumber came on wednesday to shift over the radiator pipework so it is below the window and to do the first fix of the plumbing. This meant tearing a huge hole in the partiton to extend the pipework to my wall mounted tap.

Where the clutter hides

I have to confess that despite all the clean and tidy spaces that I post on the blog, there are a few areas where all the clutter gets hidden away. Binders are stored in a box under the sofa, unused IKEA doors and our hob are hidden under the bed, the kitchen cabinets are filled with tools, and under the kitchen base units are all the unused timber off cuts. In fairness this is why we bought the furniture we did - so things could be stored beneath them, but once the DIY is finished it will be time for some spring cleaning to get these areas sorted out.

Ive listed the un-used IKEA doors on gumtree, so hopefully someone will find a home for them soon.

The last room to finish

The main bathroom will wait for a year or so, but the cloakroom WC is the last on our list of work to complete together. As the other rooms were completed we slowly ran out of space to store all the tools and timber, so this became the workshop store room. Its a bit like peeing in a back shed at the moment... but I've listed the job on Rated People, have met with two contractors, and am now just waiting to get some quotes in to do the work.

A view to St Pauls

I leaned out of my bedroom window this afternoon to clean the ledge and realised for the first time since moving here that I could see St. Paul's Cathedral (speaking of viewing corridors recently!) At night I can see Canary Wharf in the distance to the East, but had never looked northwards.

1947 - Architectural Developments

Look at this last article complaining about how a large power station proposed on the south bank will block the views of St. Paul's Dome. That very power station, constructed in 1947, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (architect of the Battersea Power Station, and also the iconic red telephone box), and in operation until 1981, is now home to the Tate Modern! I wonder how this journalist would feel about the 72 floor Shard building now under construction nearby.

Today there exists protected viewing corridors to St Paul's from various view points around London where tall buildings are prohibited in order to preserve these sight lines.

There were so many other fascinating little snap shots of life in 1947 in the paper but today will be my last post from 1947. Other stories included those about:

- The rationing of meat and linen.
- A family returning to the UK from Canada as they felt it was 'too tough'.
- Guy's school of Dentistry lifting the ban on enrolling women students.
- The world record for the trans-atlantic flight being broken with a flying time of 9 hours 35 minutes (Now 7 hours).
- Planning approval being sought from the City Council for the Battle of Britain war memorial stained glass window in Westminster.
- A women in Camberwell being jailed for stealing a pair of stockings from someone's parcel at the post office.
- The Central line being extended from Stratford to Leytonstone

1947 - Rental Standards

It seems that rental accommodation standards in London havent really changed much since 1947!!

1947 - Fashion Institutions

Its no surprise that retail institutions like Selfridges & Co and Fenwick both still exist at the London addresses noted on these advertisements, but it was still fun to see their familiar names with slightly different logos, 1947 prices and fashions. (A suit costing £5.2.0 would be £156 in today's prices.)

I also just learnt that Henry Gordon Selfridge, who founded the store in 1909 worked previously in Chicago at Marshall Field & Company.

1947 - Beauty concerns sound familiar:

1947 - Asbestos & Saarland

Im not fully convinced that this stamp looks particularly like Hitler, but this brief article prompted me to discover (when looking for and image of the stamp) that from 1947 to 1956 Saarland was a French-occupied territory separate from the rest of Germany.

It was interesting also to read the death notice. Even though the harmful effects of inhaling asbestos fibers were known in the 1920's and 30's (the first case of death resulting from asbestos in the lungs reported in 1906 apparently), it was widely used and wasn't banned in the UK until 1986.

On this day in 1947...

Someone was installing new windows on our flat!

Flo has kindly been restoring the window in the kitchen. When he took down the sash boxes he found newspaper tucked into the gaps around the window, which he set aside for me to unravel (knowing that I love that sort of stuff!).

The date on the paper was April 29th, so I guess it might of been stuffed into the gaps a few days later - maybe even May 2nd, all those years ago!

The year was torn off, but this advertisement for the Academy Award winning film 'The Best Years of Our Lives', and a search on Google lead me to figure out that this was a paper from 1947 - 64 years ago!

The paper crumbled as I tried to unfold it, but I did manage to collect a few interesting little stories with my camera before it entirely disintegrated. I was so fascinated that I'm going to dedicate this week to the stories I found....

Starting with this one about a woman summoning her husband for assault for throwing his bacon and eggs at her... and people on the Night Bus to Croydon getting electric shocks!

The N12 bus still runs today from Oxford Circus through Camberwell to Dulwich, but doesnt go all the way to Croydon anymore.