A month of mess, in one way or another

I really do love this month. Looking out of the back bedroom windows and seeing a riot of colours, and a mess of leaves on the lawn makes me smile. It's the kind of mess I like. A beautiful mess.

I'm less keen on mess in the house. Mess and clutter. Not a fan.
I tend to make November my 'White Month', I've written about it in previous years, so won't go into great detail. It's more of a state of mind, trying to keep the mind clear and organised in the run up to Christmas. A tidy house really is a tidy mind to me. So I try to keep things simple and neutral. Candles are white - which is why I love [Kringle Candles] so much - flowers are pale, pale pink or white. I declutter as much as I can, I just try to keep things calm.

So why for two years in a row, we've had floors ripped up and replaced is anybody's guess. I think it's the 'nice to have it done in time for Christmas mentality. Do you have that too? Don't lie, you know you do! Advertisers know we all think this way which is why they shout out 'order this sofa now, and have it in time for Christmas'!
It's Festive Nesting with Christmas as the deadline! We want the house cosy and perfect for it. Am I wrong?!

Last Autumn the floors in the den and hallway were changed to wood. The hallway had yukky carpet down, the den had laminate.
This year we had the living room and dining room floors replaced. The dining room had yukky carpet, the living room had laminate. Hmm. Touch of déjà vu there!

Befores and afters, not great but you get the idea.

The chap who did the floors last year did the floors this year, so that the wood matched throughout. We are delighted.
We bought a new piece of furniture for the living room to celebrate, a gorgeous console table for the tv. This was a few weeks ago now, and I *still* haven't sorted out everything on there so forgive the mess.

The table came from the same shop as the furniture in the craft room, [Woody's]. Absolutely brilliant for furniture, and a lot of it is painted in Annie Sloan paint.

On a roll, we decided to get the floor of the downstairs toilet sorted out too. That way, all downstairs floors were sorted. All tile or wood and easy to clean. This has been on the 'to do' list for a long time now, but as with everything else, money had to be saved, and the right flooring found.

The husband found a tiler via a website that claims 'recommended tradesmen across the UK'. A chap came out to give a quote, and after being told he could do the work the following week, the husband agreed he could do the job.

Now. I'm not going to slate these websites, I have no doubt whatsoever that the vast majority are honest, talented, tradesmen. But. I will suggest you tread with extreme caution. The 'tiler' who worked on our floor was not as good as he claimed.

Let me show you his work. Pains me to share these, but I really think I should.

If you can't see the mistakes in the top left photo, I've marked them out on the top right photo. The husband then marked with tape changes that needed making, and the final photo shows how he spent Friday night, and quite a bit of the weekend.

It's obvious he'd never worked with mosaic tiles before, as he'd not followed the pattern, stuck them straight down, and ended up making borders in the middle of the floor! Utter disaster. Let me tell you, in Real Life the floor did NOT look good.

Why didn't I say anything when he was here? I just wanted the idiot out of my house. It suddenly hit me that I knew nothing about this man. He was a stranger found on the internet, in my house, and alone with me. How could I say 'that's wrong, pull it up?'. He clearly wasn't what he'd told us he was, and as he was so chuffed with his work (honestly, raved about how good it looked. Either lying or really thought he'd done it well), I didn't know how he'd react to criticism. I just wanted to send him on his way and lock the door.

The husband was not happy when he came home. He phoned the 'tiler' and told him not to come back to finish the job or correct it. The husband has had to pull up the incorrect tiles and order more.

The tragedy is, that my dad spent his working life as a plasterer, and did tiling as well. He can't do this for us as he had a knee replacement op earlier this year and isn't allowed to get down and sort out floor tiles. He did put right the wall tiles that had been done at the same time. Not as messed up as the floor, but still not properly done.

So. If you are looking for a tradesman and decide to use a website to find one, just be careful. I'm absolutely certain we were just unlucky, but it's ended up costing time and money. A week after the job should have been done, and we've only just got replacement tiles in. The husband will try to finish it with my dads advice.

Oh well.

Also in November, I like to put up my outdoor lights, ready for the Big Switch On, on December 1st.
I was going to keep it simple this year, but then the Debenhams advert came out and I decided I would dearly love our house to look exactly like the house in that! Not quite like theirs, but it certainly inspired me.

A little sneak preview.

I've never bothered to put lights on the garage doors at the front before. But I was watching 'Christmas with the Kranks' at the weekend and noticed they had a wreath and garland on their garage door. So I copied it!

I've just got to make and add the wreath on the front door, and add bows to the lamps on the front door and the handles of the garage doors. But it's all set up and ready to go!