I see a brown chair...

…and I want it painted black.

You may remember, from an earlier post, that I renovated a table and made it into a desk for my computer:

When I was planning the desk I tried to get some high gloss black paint. I couldn’t get what I wanted off the shelf so I had to have it made up, which meant I had to buy a 1 litre tin.

So now everything I paint has to be black (I feel an Henry Ford moment coming on).

When I bought a framed Paul Klee print it looked like this:

Now it looks like this:

I purloined a lovely mirror from some friends who had it stored in a barn. When I got it, it was dusty, dark brown, and in need of some repair. It now looks like this:

And I still had three quarters of a litre of black paint.

Recently I wanted to find a chair that I could use at my desk. I have been using a very nice M&S garden chair since we moved to Truro, but I wanted one that went with the desk.

So I looked around various places and found the perfect chair (perfect once it was painted black) in a charity warehouse.

It need some repair to the seat, and needed reupholstering:

Some people thought I should keep its original colour, but for me it had to be black, with a splash of colour:

I'm really pleased with it, but I haven't sat on it yet, I am waiting for the paint to harden.

So, if you want something painted black, I'm your man!

I still have two thirds of a litre left.

Still Tracking Travis

Do you remember this picture of Travis who had a very traumatic birth in November 2010?


This was the picture I took about 30 seconds after he was born:

Last weekend I visited the farm as usual and went to see Travis, he is now just under 18 months old:

Isn't  he magnificent!

The fact that he is so well is down to the care given by Malcolm (above with Travis) and his wife Carla.

Well done you two.

Allotment 5: Water Butt World

There is only one water supply at the allotments and we are not allowed to use hosepipes. So after the guttering was fitted we got a couple of water butts. We needed to get the done quickly so that we could get them full before the hot summer weather sets in (LOL):

Again I used a bit of Gaffa tape and a dogs ball to help me:

We have also managed to put a shelf in the shed:

Allotment 4: Blood Gutters

As promised here is the next exciting instalment of the Allotment Saga.

We were fortunate enough to have a friend who donated the guttering for our shed. So all I had to do was buy the fixtures and then fit it.

Notice Davina digging in the background.

Fitting the guttering went quite well, until I broke one of the clips and had to resort to using a bit of trusty Gaffa tape:

 When completed we decided to baptise them in true Viking style. But, we didn't have a sacrificial goat. So ended up using my blood:

I then realised it would be better if I wore my gloves.

Allotment 3: Freeze Frame, I mean Cold Frame!

Finished the Cold Frame on the allotment today:

We put it together on Monday but I had to put the hinges on and replace some screws which were a bit short.

I caught the top just as the wind blew it over. No breakages!

The window came from a cow shed, kindly donated by Malcolm and Carla. The back, front and sides were made from an old garden walkway that some other friends had just dismantled. So, it has only cost the price of the hinges. Thank you friends!

Bet you can't wait for the next exciting installment, that'll be about the guttering, it should have been here today because I did manage to fit some guttering, but the pictures didn't come out for some reason. So maybe tomorrow.