James Harrison

This week;
- Tools and materials finally packed up and cleared away as the 2025 Programme comes to an end.
- Paintings and mirrors were re-hung in the bedroom.
- Some investigation work took place, breaking out the concrete patio in a small area to see what work is involved in a full removal.

And that's the 2025 programme of works finished. There will be more progress to my restoration project, next year.

This week; floor stained, door stained, furniture moved again, fireplace finally cleaned, skirting board reinstated and hearth tiled laid.

Oh, and a new dining table and chairs built.

The to-do list for the 2025 Programme now runs to
- grout the tiles
-.

The name 'Happy Mammoth' doesn't exactly scream guaranteed success either.

Effort this week has been directed toward the floorboards. Some have been screwed down. Otherwise, just about everywhere I can reach has been sanded and a lot has been stained. Still an awful lot to do though.

Last week, I promised that this week will see major progress. Well, here it is - the walls are finished.
Now, onto sanding and staining the floorboards.

Moving the wardrobe allowed things to progress rapidly.
Milestone 1; all wallpaper is gone.
Milestone 2; all walls are skimmed.
Milestone 3: the last of the carpet has been removed.
Milestones 4 and 5; the last length of skirting board has been stripped and stained.

Phase 3 finished and Phase 4 started. Floorboards stained and screwed down, radiator installed, window surround reinstated and the chimneybreast re-skimmed.

This week's progress; I got paint on the wall, I got the skirting board stained and I've made good progress on stripping the floorboards.

I've been worn out and run down this week, trying to fight off a cold. Therefore progress nosedived... what I have managed to do, however, has been to sand down a good length of skirting board, which puts me in a good place to make decent headway next week.

28/09/25 update.
Firstly, the front wall has been skimmed as far as I'm planning to at this time.
Secondly, some of the loose floorboards have been screwed down.
Thirdly, the new bedroom radiator has been bought.

Progress this week; the back wall and the alcove are finished. Work has carried on with staining the floorboards (but this is slow because of access and furniture). Work has started on the front wall.

This week then. The paintwork on the back wall and the alcove was completed, and 2/3 of the paneling has gone up. The rest if the paneling has been stained and is drying before I can it and fit it.

This week, things have taken another step forward. Paintwork on the back wall and alcove approx 2/3 done, and paneling starting to go back up.

Are we talking about the Sky at Night presenter? Who's pace is about equal to the speed of light?

A minor milestone reached - the entire back wall skimmed. Ready for smoothing down and painting.

With furniture moved, this week I've been able to 1. Patch in some large holes that opened whilst I was taking down paneling and 2. Start skimming the back wall. The general aim is to skim the rear alcove at the same time, paint this wall and rebuild the paneling.

I rely on my brother's devil-dog, Beelzepup.

How do you manage to levitate?

The side wall is now complete and furniture has been rearranged. I now have the working room to proceed with both the backwall (more paper and paneling removed) and the front wall.

Bugger. Attempts to gently remove the first of the timbers on the backwall resulted in large sheets of the wallpaper coming loose, and big chunks of the plaster blowing. On the one hand that solves my quandry of which part of the room to deal with next, on the other it's a headache to solve.

What a difference a few days makes- when you've got time off work, and you're bored. I want to break up the middle strata into smaller panels with more timbering, and then start more detail work.

Reaching one goal- skimming one wall and a bit beyond- opened the route to some very swift progress.
My idea of what I want the room to look like has changed a bit, but I've now got about 2/3 of this wall painted.

YouTube video by Dr Vicky Mills The Man Who Painted His House. A short film by Dr Vicky Mills and Lily Ford.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbFg...

The Parr House. One of the main influences I mention whenever someone asks me what I'm playing at with my own home.

One wall skimmed at least. We'll carry that on around the corner for a few feet, then smooth the wall down and then get on with painting and panelling ready for the radiator to go on.

Another week, another 30 or 40 square feet of plaster skimmed over. This is a long-haul part of the job but I'm hopeful of getting at least this wall done this week. Then to smooth it all down and paint it.

Meanwhile, upstairs I'm really not impressed with how the wallpaper is starting to come away from the wall. So for the next section of the room I'm skimming the wall with a thin layer of filler. And then I'll paint over that.

I'm calling it there. I'm done with scratching away at paint for hours and days. I'm going to let the weather have a go at it for a while and I might come back to it next year.

For the last few weeks I've been patiently chipping, scratching and cutting away at the paint on the back walls. Still masses to do, but it's getting there.

This week's progress. Snap, I'm afraid. For reasons unknown the wallpaper started to come adrift at the top, and the only way to really solve it was to tear large chunks of it down in strips, saturate it and re-paste. This worked, but... I've now got to repaint everything above the panels.