Hut decoration ... the next stage

Having seen a hut neighbour make a bit of a pig's ear of her stencilling (fortunately on the inside, and not the outside) I was determined to do a better job of mine. Instead of holding the stencil in place and using the paint straight onto it - which I did a few years ago: the 'low-tack' tape to hold the stencil in place stuck like fury to the paintwork and I never managed to get it off - I drew the shape of the stencil with a pencil and then in-filled with a very fine paintbrush. I hope you'll agree that the results are pretty good!

The painting at the top of the hut (above the door) still has to be done, but I need someone taller than me on the ladder to be able to reach. I'm hoping my next-door hut neighbour will lend a hand this coming weekend, and then it will be finished!

It's just as well I had something to distract me from what was going on on the beach ... and just as well I've had my heart op, otherwise I may well have blown a blood vessel. Not one, not two, but eight kite-surfers descended on the beach and decided to set up their rigs in front of my hut. It made even contemplating swimming suicidal - they hurtle along the water at such speeds and with so little control of their boards that they'd never be able to avoid someone in the water, so I was unable to go for a swim all day. Photos below to give you an idea of the size of the rigs - which range from 6 - 12m2. The lines from kite to harness are up to 27m long, so you can imagine how much space they take up on the beach - in front of my hut. I did ask the 'ring leader' a couple of years ago why he couldn't just walk about 50 yards further along the beach, where there are no huts and no swimmers, so as not to be in the way, and I got a torrent of abuse back. Now I'm sure they do it on purpose. Anyway, a series of photos and a letter is going off to the local council suggesting they ban the use of kite-boards in front of the huts, and set up a designated area further along the beach, out of the way.

I'll let you know if I get anywhere with the council. I have a strong feeling that I won't even get a reply ...

The Naming of the Hut

Springtime is repair and repaint time. I've always referred to the hut simply as 'the hut' but as it now has a new roof covering and smart new front panels, I thought I might give it a name and what better than The Sand Bar? When the tide is out, you can wander for miles along the sand bar, and when I have visitors, they usually bring a bottle of wine (in fact, it is a requirement of all visitors to contribute something, and chilled white wine is always acceptable!) so it seemed very appropriate.

After trying to think of various ways of getting the font I wanted transferred onto the wood (thought of having a custom-made stencil, or using white carbon paper, or chalk) I finally went for freehand, and I think the results are pretty good. I hope that it looks as good once it's in situ: more photos to come when it's fixed to the hut!

Hut decoration

Last year I tried in vain to find someone to re-roof my hut - I contacted 3 people, one of whom even came down and measured up - but none of them came back to me with a quote or responded to my follow-up calls.


The roofing felt was almost all gone from one side of the roof and when I went down for the first time this year the inside of the hut was very wet and all the towels etc damp and musty. Someone had poked a card through the door offering repair services, so I called him the next day to explian what needed to be done. The following day he called back with a quote, and, on Monday, he did the work! I went down at the weekend and painted the sides (before he'd had a chance to put the new roofing and front on) and the above photo is how I found it when I went down last night - new roof, new front panels either side of the doors, and new fascia to the front. Fantastic! So, I set to work immediately, and this is how it looked by the time I left at 8.30pm :

As you can see I've painted the panels beside the doors in the same blue as the sides of the hut. The lighter stripe you can see (probably only on the left side) is going to be painted white. The panel above the door is going to be white and I can't quite decide if the diagonal pieces are going to be blue with the diamond shape where they meet (see next picture) in white, or vice versa. Decisions, decisions!



I've got a piece of driftwood that I'm going to sand down and paint (blue background, white lettering) with the number of the hut - 10 - and the name. The hut doesn't have an official name, but I've decided I'd quite like one. I shan't tell you what it is, though, until I've finished the project, then I'll post a picture.

Touch wood, weather permitting, I shall go down at the weekend and finish off the painting, sand down the doors and paint them white as well, and put new galvanised bolts on that won't rust and drip ginger stains all down the new paint work! And hopefully, in amongst all that activity, I shall find some time for a swim (if only to get the paint off me!) Oh, and I need to throughly clean out the inside, because when they ripped off the old manky roofing felt and put on the new, lots of horrible lumps of tar and felt of varying sizes fell through the gaps between the planks and covered everything.

I wouldn't have had the energy to do all this last year!

More pictures to come after the weekend!