This is part one of an EPIC project… if moving out my random cupboards is my whale (still not done by the way), then I now know this job is my titanic - only it didn't hit the iceberg! Okay well maybe the iceberg sort of caught the side of it, but not enough to sink it - just slow it down!! Confused? Yep, me too... let me start again!
Some time ago in this post about how I didn't feel like the jobs to be done around my house were really progressing, I mentioned that our outdoor areas were in desperate need of pressure cleaning. Our good friends Julie and Tony brought over their pressure cleaner back in February, and it has sat in our garage from that time on, lonely and unused… It had been such a long time in fact, that when I mentioned to Julie that I was finally going to start pressure cleaning, she offered to lend me their pressure cleaner!! Oh the embarrassment when I had to sheepishly tell her that she'd already kindly brought it over months ago, and we were just slack slack slack and had neither used it, nor returned it. (Shame Krispy, shame!)
So the Saturday just gone, I had organised the lovely Judy to look after Alex for the afternoon, I had five uninterrupted hours planned, and Julie had given me a crash course in using the pressure cleaner - I was set to go. So here was the hit list I did up for Saturday:
:: Pavers in patio and BBQ area
:: Windowsills in patio area
:: Quick wash of bricks in patio area
:: Ceiling of pergola
:: Pavers in pool area
:: Windowsill of Alex's bedroom
:: Painted concrete path down side of the house
:: Driveway
:: Letterbox
Do-able in five hours? In my infinite wisdom (did I mention I have never used a pressure cleaner before?) I thought it was definitely achievable - five whole hours, piece of cake! (Spoiler alert: here comes the iceberg!) As it turns out, pressure cleaning is a lot slower going that I anticipated. Of course my Mum, who has done this a hundred times and works on a marina, warned me that I would not get it all done in one day. Did I listen? No. As daughters sometimes do, I assumed she hadn't done it recently enough, or the cleaner I was using was more powerful than the one she used, or that I am 10ft tall and bullet proof and can do anything… whatever! So going into this, my hopes were higher than Snoop Doggy Dog…. I couldn't wait to get started!
Just for fun, here are some photos I took on Saturday morning before I started - behold the filth and general blah of the patio area:
So pretty much the moment Jude arrived to play with Alex, I moved the furniture out of the patio area and got to work. Wow. Well I'm not going to give you a blow by blow (because to be honest, most of the time my eyes were looking at what I was doing, but in my mind I had wandered off to my happy place… how else could I get through 5 straight hours of that?) but in the end, I didn't get nearly as far as I would have liked. I got the windowsills, bricks and pavers in the patio and BBQ area done. That was it. Mum was right!!! (Sorry for doubting you Mum! What was I thinking?)
To be fair, the pavers that were out in the weather were really, really dirty - here is a look at cleaned ones next to uncleaned ones mid-way through the job so you can see how bad they were:
And I couldn't resist writing a pressure cleaner love message to Boofy in the filth… aaawwww, so romantic :)
So at 5pm I packed up for the day, headed inside, got myself dried and dressed, and immediately poured myself a drink (with stiff, shaking hands!) I'd never felt more deserving of a glass of wine!
Next morning I was very stiff, sore and sorry (but thankfully not hungover). Still, I picked up that pressure cleaner and did another hour and a half, this time on the ceiling of the pergola…. Let me tell you that looking up for an hour and a half, while holding something up with arms that are aching, pressing a trigger with fingers that are so stiff they're almost numb and having cold water pour all over you (it is winter in our neck of the woods after all) was really hard work! But I did the whole ceiling.
After I had packed it all away, given the whole area a good sweep with the big yard broom and got myself dried off, I started to move the furniture back in. We recently added to our shelving and I have been slowly (over time) picking up little bargain nick nacks to go on these shelves. This was the fun part, and I had a ball putting it all back together. I am so happy with the result in this area, I cannot stop walking past it and looking out the door! The photos really do not do it justice, but here they are...
The shelves hold all sorts of things that are cute and fun for the great outdoors... there are a few cute little plants, a stereo, candles, watering cans and some boxes with useful things in them (like gardening gloves, seeds to plant and cleaners for the BBQ).
I couldn't go past these plants - especially the kale in the middle there - isn't it beautiful?
A few lanterns are always handy to have around - this one is resting on my favourite placemats that Mum bought me from Freedom about 5 years ago...
And what sort of area, devoted entirely to relaxing, would be complete without some light reading material...
Of course my little tropical windowsill from this post fits in perfectly too:
And just for fun, before and afters one after the other:
And just for fun, before and afters one after the other:
Now that I've started on this task, I really REALLY want to finish it off. So I have organised Jude for next Saturday afternoon as well, when I'll be doing it all over again. At least my list isn't as long any more - here is how its looking now:
:: Pavers in patio and BBQ area
:: Windowsills in patio area
:: Quick wash of bricks in patio area
:: Ceiling of pergola
:: Pavers in pool area
:: Windowsill of Alex's bedroom
:: Painted concrete path down side of the house
:: Driveway
:: Letterbox
I honestly don't know if I will finish it next Saturday either - there is a fair amount of square meterage around the pool and it is all exposed to the elements, so very dirty - as is Alex's windowsill (I don't know why but it seems to catch sludge there and its just black). So with my new found respect for the pressure cleaner, I suspect I'll be pushing just to get the pool area done next Saturday, but we'll see.
I do have a little trick up my sleeve though... dependent on weather, I am going to coat the whole area in an industrial strength mould remover some between now and then - I am hoping this will make my pressure cleaning a lot quicker going! Fingers crossed!! The pressure is on for Saturday, as we have Church Sunday morning and on Sunday afternoon I am getting around to one of those things that was on my July list that I didn't get done - I am using the massage, facial and pedi voucher Boofy bought me for Christmas! Hooray - I'm sure a massage after all that pressure cleaning will be absolute heaven!
So what do you think of the transformation, friends? You like it?
Coincidentally, I have achieved this makeover right on time to link up to this week CSI Project's Porches, Terraces & Patios Challenge, so that's exactly what I'm doing!
No comments:
Post a Comment