Tag Archives: paint

Jul 16 2013
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Daily Life

Just Do It Yourself

Just Do It YourselfA brilliant idea came to me during this heatwave. Why not order everything I need online? No more trailing round the shops in the boiling sun rocking the drunken lobster look.

I ordered food from Ocado, printer ink from Amazon and school shirts from M&S. Getting carried away with my success, I looked for paint on the B&Q website. The Teenager wants to paint over his old Manchester City blue walls into a more mature light grey (or ‘light rain’ on the paint chart). Not a problem.

I ordered the three tubs of paint and threw in some ceiling paint for good measure. Got to the online checkout. Home delivery not available, just reservation in store. Ok. My nearest store is a ten minute drive away. With air-con on full blast, I could manage it. So I happily put in all my details, printed off the confirmation email and planned to pick it up the next day.

The morning after, someone called to say that my paint wasn’t in stock. Fine. Could you you let me know when it will be in stock please? No. You have to fill in the entire online page again. Which I did. And printed off the confirmation email and planned to pick it up the next day.

The morning after, someone called to say that my paint wasn’t in stock. Groundhog Day? Can you let me know when it will be in stock? No. You have to fill in the entire online page again. I counted to ten, said thank you very much (I’m British), and put the phone down.

Fired up with indignation, I got in the car and drove to the store. Bypassing the cruising pensioners in bright t-shirts, clutching pots of lavender, I stalked the paint aisles. And there, right where I expected them to be, were my two tubs of paint. And the ceiling paint.

Shoving them in my wheely-basket, I stomped up to the checkout, trying to find someone I could complain to. No one in sight, so I scanned through my items, put them back in the wheely-basket to take to the car. As I was leaving, there were three members of staff chatting to pensioners in bright t-shirts, clutching pots of lavender.

The website name for B&Q? www.diy.com. Does exactly what it says on the tin.

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Jan 24 2013
15 Comments
Daily Life

Fun In The Bathroom

The snowpocalypse has meant I have spent an awful lot of time at home, which has given me an awful lot of time to stare at the mould creeping along my bathroom walls. Finally, I have had enough.

In the old days, pre-MS, I could paint the bathroom in half a day, whizzing around barely stopping for a breather. This time, I will need to approach the project with caution, precision and a battle plan.

So, the other day, I began. After trudging up to the doctor’s for my blood test, I trudged back to the paint shop. I had done my research, and I knew I needed an anti-mould solution, an interior seal damp and finally, paint, so I asked the guy for help finding them.

‘But why do you need all that stuff?’ he asked. Well, the bathroom is exploding with mould, it’s horrible. ‘It can’t be that bad, surely, how old is your house?’ Oh dear. Obviously women shouldn’t know anything about painting or preparing surfaces, yada yada yada. I gave him my best steely look, gritted my teeth and informed him the house is 160 years old, the window sills are over a foot thick and if the damp has gone in that far, I’ve got a serious problem.

He gave in, but got the last laugh, thrusting a couple of paint brochures into my hand before I left, saying ‘here, take these, they’ve got some lovely pretty colours in there.’ I stomped home in  a mood. I don’t care if I paint the bathroom in ‘ocean ripple’, ‘chic shadow’ or ‘urban obsession’, as long as it gets done. If I had my way, I’d paint it all black so I’d never have to see the mould again.

Anyway, I am all set to go, but nothing has been done. Three reasons: my arms get tingly and numb if I hold them up for too long, my balance won’t be the best on step-ladders and I worry about suddenly get tired half-way through.  The guy in the shop didn’t quite succeed in making me feel completely stupid and girly, but MS certainly has….

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