Sauna anybody?

It is warm and sticky outside today since there is spurts of rain in between the sunny spots. Feels like walking in an outdoor sauna when in the garden. I did bake some bread though earlier this morning when it still was cool outside, but now I don't think I want to be in the kitchen at all but got to make some dinner for James when he gets back from work in a couple of hours time.

I've had a go at carpentering today and fixed the upstairs loo door that was very tight to close. Now it works like a charm and glides close with a smooth swoosh sound instead of the crackling screech it had before. It still hasn't got a door handle though so it is still a matter of getting your finger almost caught when hooking it in the hole where the handle should be when closing the door. But once we find some nice old-fashioned door handles I think we will be replacing all of them so no point in just buying one odd one is it. There are just too many odd ones already! I am also going to start stripping the doors before it gets too cold outside. I thought I might be using paint stripper and it doesn't work so well if it is too cold. For maximum effect it needs to be above +15 and you really have to be outside since it does smell very VERY foul when gucking it about.

We are off for a quicky to IKEA tomorrow to buy a corner section and new doors for our wardrobe upstairs. We had a peek to see what make the wardrobe was because we wanted extra shelving and by luck it was from IKEA's range so we bought extra fittings and shelves the last time we went to IKEA and now we are thinking about expanding it along the wall and corner. We are aiming to empty the downstairs wardrobe so we can take down the wall and get the space back that they used from the lounge to make it in the first place. It is only 1.5 m but it will make all the difference since you will gain an extra doorway as well into the lounge.

Hopefully the man from the chimney shop will get in touch early next week so he can come measure what size our chimney is and fix the odd little jobs needed to it and also fit a slip stop for the roof ladder before we get our chimney swept this autumn. I also phoned a big garden center outside Ludvika about planting Syringa vulgaris (Bondsyren in Swedish) as a hedge and what it would cost and when the best time was to plant them. I also asked about our existing hedge towards the road that is looking very bleak and thin and it seems it is best to cut it in spring so that is what we are going to do. Planting the hedge is best to do in September though. So we have to decide what kind of Syren we are having and how many to get. You have to order in august to get them in September so got a little while yet to decide. They had 3 varieties that suited as hedges, one mixed coloured one where you get white,pink and lilac flowers, the old sort Bondsyren and a new Russian variety that had dark lilac flowers. The nice chappy recommended the Swedish Bondsyren for hedging since it grew very well and thickly so that I think is what we are going to get. The bushes cost from 200-400 kr for a bundle of 10 bushes and you would need 2-3 bushes per meter.

I also called the council to ask about putting up a fence towards the road and if there were any restrictions. Apparently you can put up a see-through-fence 110cm high without permission but if you wanted it higher and non-see-through you needed to apply for a building permission. I also asked about hedges and if we needed the neighbours consent to plant one. We only need them to agree if we want it smack on the border but we could have it well in on our yard and they would have nothing to say about it as long as it didn't grow into their yard. But considering the big stump of an old maple three that they have cut down just in the border I don't think they can argue that much. We'll just have to see. Mum has offered to come with us encase they start talking Finnish behind our backs just to listen in on what they are saying, no need in telling them she will understand is there...