ToughButterCup

We're starting to clear out our cottage in preparation for the move up the garden path into Great Crested Newt Towers (Salamander Cottage) And that means endless trips to the tip, books to Oxfam, long-forgotten stuff cooed over and then thrown away. And, given our age, the first step in the gentle process of Death Cleaning . The last thing we want to bequeath our kids is a few weeks hard, unpleasant work. So we need storage boxes. We still need to to pack away thousands of bits and pieces. Where does it all come from? I think I must have spent a week searching for a plastic storage box 'system' : stackable, fairly robust, and sensibly priced. I think the searching is making me go cross-eyed . Anyone got a recommendation?

Aaah tell thee lad, aahve sin sum stooof up at 'is place as 'd mek yer ears droop wi' jealousy. Sum on it, well ..... it'd tek thee breath. (tr. kill you)

I'm knackered enough to wince at the word barrow, & now the quack tells me I have an arthritic shoulder : but thanks for the thought. A couple of years ago, I bumped into a local who makes concrete like this .... one of the most interesting guys I have ever talked to: cheerful as a Lottery Winner. Top bloke - for a self builder. I can feel a little visit coming on. If you've driven past Lancaster on the M6, you driven past his 'yard' 50 meters from it in fact.

Here they are. Important lesson (for me anyway): cheap IBCs need an expensive boudoire in which to keep them. And that's a shame. The idea of waterharvesting attracts. Time to hunt for some cheap (how to put this? ) surplus concrete: a bin end if you like.

Good point. Hadn't thought of that. When people walk in to our place, they automatically look up - because there is a large window for people to look through. Thats the difference

No. The effect you talk about - drawing your eye upward - is exactly why we have had our landing designed as you suggest.

You need; persistence optimism bias humour guts The rest is easy.

Cofra : I'm hooked on them. Orchilla. Light, flexible, comfortable. 2nd pair in four years: worn for at least 300 days a year. Available for £50 (here) or £150 (here). You couldn't make it up couldja?

Thank you everyone. Yetanuvver steep learning curve. I need to go away and translate all your responses. Like Arnie said ... "I will be back "

Working through our cabling plan, I realised that we are going to have to have a network cabinet. I bumped into this idea . Neat, I thought. But I bet The Nerd Herd ( @Onoff's term) can do better. An IKEA shoe rack used as a network cabinet: I mean ... come on we can think of something more elegant cant we?

Why , why, why do companies even attempt to trade without even a cursory look at relevant guidelines? Why?

Experience. Hard won, innit? Happens to me every single damn day. Every bloody one of them.

Hoots mon! You and your mum are most welcome!

Hmmmm. Good point. How do we get round that one then?

Two rollers either side of the table saw (feed-in, feed- out) 15 degree bevel on the blade, me feeding-in and a tame mate to stack them. It'll take longer to sticker the bevelled battens, re-stack and clear up the off cuts methinks.

A dishwasher is one of the few kitchen machines that works when it's not working. Simple accessible storage is at a premium in our current house and will be more so in Salamander Cottage. We need 2. Proper neeeeeed 2 ?

Here's something, based on your initial post and photos, that you might like .... Peter Millard has put together a very valuable resource for people interested in making cabinets - among other things, out of MDF.

Not so sure about that F. But, you've made me think.

That beggars belief.

I see you tie your bow spring line to your front door eh? Good idea. The higher the wind, the louder the knock innit? Tops!

So, Pierre, whassis levelling system then? I could do with a treat at the moment.

Now there's an almost universal truth, well understood, recognised and highly valued especially here on BH. That learning process almost always contains pain of some sort. Turning most of that stress into ' ... great fun ...' is the key trick. I'm getting there. Just. Readers can't see your stress or the effort you had to put in, but we can savour the romance conjured by the images. Years from now nobody (except you) will remember the broken finger nails , the timber cut 10 mm too short, the annoying delivery driver, the infuriating '' professional ". But everyone will look at your house and smile. You can be really proud of your achievement.

I've tried hard to make our house one in which we can maintain our dignity for as long as possible. Downstairs can work as bedsit. Accessible wetroom, noggins in the joists ready for a hoist, wheelchair access throughout the downstairs area - right from the car door. A semi protected indoor garden with easy to fiddle with raised planting. Neons on sockets so I can tell at a glance if they are on or off, an extra wide (1400 mm) front door. Additional cost? About £2000. One visitor reminded me to make the house over to the children soon. "... otherwise the Local Authority will sell the house to pay for your care, and you wouldn't like that after all this effort " Not sure about the ethics behind that suggestion. Can't think about it at the moment.

Well, I'd like to ask how to have grab handles in a wetroom without the handles making it look as if the wetroom is in a hospital. Designing wetrooms for older people seems to have been forgotten - more likely avoided : because its hard.

Right on that one mate. Plus J was cross because a budgie pooed on his measuring tape once too often. Reeeeeally cross.