Merry Christmas Everyone

I ran the idea by Deb wondering how much time I would be able to have on the boat today?

Answers on a postcard.

 Merry Christmas Everyone

A Different Sort Of Christmas Trimming

It's started.  And mighty good it's looking if I do say so myself.

 A bit later:-

 

Oak Everwhere

Yesterday I went to collect my oak order form DW's.  I have to say I am delighted with the production and the finish.  I decided to get them to finish the wood as they have the setup and its one less job for me.  I'm glad I did, it looks great.

On paper the quantity didn't seem that much, I certainly didn't visualise just how much there would be.  So now I have oak trim everywhere.

 

Guess what I'm going to busy doing over Christmas.  This is now the beginning of the end of the fit out.

Lounge Ceiling

I have finished putting up the lounge and kitchen ceiling and additional lights over the hob.  It was touch and go as weather or not I would have enough material.  I did a calculation before I ordered.  Due to the cost of it I didn't want any over.  Looks like I failed ;-)

It was this and the end trimmings

This is the finished ceiling.  It has a light oak grain imprinted in the paneling and its a cellular construction.  Its made for outside cladding so is fairly tough compared to the products you can get in B&Q etc.  It cuts well with a sharp saw but will splinter with a blunt one.  All my engineered products are cut using a Triple Tip TCT saw blade.

Nice and tidy up top, not so below!

Oh well that's just me, I've always been the same.

Bed Time

After yesterdays mishap, today was considerably better.  I put up another 15 strips of ceiling cladding in the lounge area first thing this morning.  Then it was on to the the bed room.

Last week I made up the top of the bed ready for the base to be constructed.

The panels are made by the same firm as the wardrobes and chests of draws.  The finish is oak with a pigmented lacquer about 30% gloss finish.  The colour is Truffle.

I fixed the wardrobes in place yesterday.  Today I fixed the bedside draw units to the wardrobes, made the frame then clad the panels to the frame.

 The white strips are edge protection tape

The fix is only temporary for now as the bed might have to come out as the floor sheets  might need to be lifted to put trim ballast in.

It Was All Going So Well

For the last couple of mornings the CH has failed to start on the programmer but would get going with a bit of fiddling with.  Not exactly what's needed so today it failed to start at all so the control box has gone back for assessment.

Anyway the gas fire soon got it warm enough to work in.I needed the lounge warm to make the adhesive go off on the ceiling cladding.  I can only put up 10 at a time as that's all the props I have so did one lot this morning and one at the end of the day.

So the rest of the day was working in the bed room.  This was going fine until I put a screw through the central heating pipe.  So that took care of most of the afternoon to put right.  Which involved taking off a strip of wallpaper and cutting into the bedroom wall.

Oh well tomorrow's another day.  I did manage to get the wardrobes in position and fixed to the wall though.

Gas Fire Fitted

I bought this fire about 5 years ago with the intention of fitting it in our previous boat but never got round to it.  I got it off e-bay brand new and delivered for a stupid winning bid of £50. 

I then bought the canopy and an LPG conversion kit and that came to £120, so all in all a bargain.

I am glad I didn't fit it in the other boat now as it chucks out so much heat.  It would have been way too much for the space.

I have made the flue from 3mm walled tube which catches and radiates loads more of the otherwise wasted flue heat.

So why a gas fire you may ask as I have oil CH.  Well 3 reasons, as a secondary form of heat in case the CH fails for any reason, as a focal point and also gas because as a second source I'd rather carry a gas bottle than logs or coal and there's no ash to clear up and the heat is on and off on demand.  OK I know firewood can be generally gathered for free, but I really can't see myself gathering and chopping and storing etc.

A local wood turner made me this oak flue trim which I am delighted with.  He is going to make the trims for the mushroom vents when I know the size.

A lot of preparation has been going on in the bedroom.  Next week I should finish the bed and furniture fitting.  The bed base is made and the first wardrobe is in place.

More On The Wallpaper

This is the wallpaper that's going in the bedroom.  It's the same pattern as the dark one in the lounge.

Here it is in detail.  You can see the steps I had to take to match the pattern and hang it right.  

All this was done on my dining table in good light and horizontal,  I think trying to do it in the boat vertical would be near impossible.  At least the dark one had some contrast but even then Debbie had to hold an LED light stick so I could move it into position.