Behind The Scenes

If you’ve been following us for a while you’ll already know that we tend to go through phases. As much as we’d like to DIY all of the time, we sometimes lose motivation, run out of money or general life just gets in the way.

We always try to keep things real around here and, just because you’re not seeing much on the blog, doesn’t mean that exciting things aren’t happening behind the scenes!

You can always catch up with us over on Instagram where we share lots of behind the scenes footage of our projects as we’re working on them but for now, here’s a quick recap of what’s been happening!

• We’ve almost, almost, almost finished the bathroom makeover which we’ve been working on on and off for the last couple of months. We’ve painted the walls, I’ve built shelves, we’ve built a shower curtain rail and I’m currently in the process of stripping, sanding and repainting the doors.

The last thing on our list (other than a few pretty finishing touches) is installing a new washbasin and cabinet! We’ve not done much plumbing work in the past so keep your fingers crossed that everything runs smoothly!

• We hopped on a train and spent a lovely weekend exploring Hamburg. We visited a couple of years ago for a long weekend and it basically just rained for the whole time we were there.

Let’s just say that the combination of the miserable weather and the fact that we were both ill didn’t really help give the best impression of the city the first time around. You can read about our last trip to Hamburg here.

• I was lucky enough to be invited on a press trip to the Ryobi ONE+ conference to learn about their huge range of battery powered tools and meet some lovely other bloggers!

Jen from Mum In The Madhouse whizzing around on the Lawnmower & Joe from Average Joe’s Joinery swinging the chainsaw

We’ve built some of our favourite projects like our log store, slatted garden fence and the gorgeous panelling in our guest bedroom with Ryobi tools so it was great to see more of their fab product range in action.

Did you know that they have a range of tools for crafters, too?

The conference was great fun, the fact that I almost didn’t make it home because I managed to lose my ID just before queuing to board the plane home not so much!

I’d only gone and thrown it in the bin with the rest of my rubbish! Let’s just say that rummaging in the bin like a mad woman trying to find my ID wasn’t exactly the highlight of the trip but I did eventually manage to find it and make it home in one piece!

• We’ve officially declared that it’s summer and have already been swimming in our local open air pool – which just happens to be the Olympic swimming baths and have been to a couple of beer gardens (well, it just has to be done when you live in Germany! ?).

THINGS WE’RE LOOKING FORWARD TO…

• We’re off to visit the Spreepark which is an abandoned theme park in Berlin in a couple of weeks. I love exploring abandoned buildings so I’m really excited to see what an abandoned theme park looks like.

There are so many abandoned places to explore in and around Berlin like the Haus der Offiziere which we visited earlier this year. I’m still not through editing the pictures (I only took around 500) and I have a feeling I’ll be taking a lot more in the theme park!

• In a few weeks, we’ll be heading over to Somerset to my cousins’ wedding which I’m sure will be loads of fun – although I’m not sure how relaxing it’s going to be spending four nights in four different hotels!
• A couple of our lovely Manchester-based friends will be visiting us for Berlin Pride! Last year it was like nothing we’d ever seen before (so many naked people!) and I can’t wait to see what it’s like this year!

What have you been up to lately? Do you also find that everything takes much longer to complete than you expect?