Graft

If you're down at Ruskin Park today you might spot me selling some of my smaller items as part of Walkley Festival. Also taking expressions of interest for DIY classes and handiwork from late September onwards. Come say hi 😊👋

Introducing Tristan 😊...

Graft is growing and he's my new subcontractor for supporting me on jobs. A great guy who can turn his hand to most things but also about to tackle his latest plumbing qualification. Also available on weekends too, what a star! Here he is through a cat tunnel he did for me on a job last week. Couldn't help but get a shot like this 😆👍.

As I'm getting busier I really want to support more women into trade work but there's only 2% of the industry currently female. I'm looking into training opportunites and support on this angle but am all about equality too though, so whilst it is female led, Graft growing will hopefully mean more opportunity for all.

My daughter made me a screw tree 😆❤️. For now I'll keep in on van dashboard as long as I can. She wanted me to cast it in resin but it didn't particularly last the journey home very well, perhaps an interesting idea to explore though and I loved the creativity!

Always happy to help a friend out. So one Sunday afternoon we took his egr valve off and gave it a really good clean to get all the carbon build up off, refitted, ran codes and his warning light went off. Quite often you don't need to shell out a new part but just to take care of what is there. And seeing how sparkly it gets is quite rewarding too 🥰

Campanula poscharskyana (Trailing Bellflower)

This grows all around my house out of brickwork and everything. It has to be cut back every year as once I found it growing through the front door we don't use 😆. But it does have such pretty little flowers so I don't particularly see it as a w**d, despite it's constant attempts to take over!

Restoring oak worktops. Sanding off the varnish, going through several grades to smooth everything out and then recoating in Danish oil has restored these to such a nice finish. I love how tactile wood can be 🥰

Sorting out things for my stall at the upcoming 😊🌼

Geometric themed vinyl and stitch work canvases will be available for sale. They are currently single items but I will be offering an order service should some designs prove more popular I'll happily make some more. Prices vary based on time taken for more intricate detailing.

Working at height can be a pain sometimes for someone of my stature, and perhaps it's the middleground of being good at balance and climbing versus health and safety nightmare to get to the underside of this window to cut in the paintwork after not being able to reach from the scaffold tower 😅. However I never aim to take risks that could significantly affect this being my day job, I can't afford to get seriously injured! Also having had a bad injury from a climbing fall I'm particularly careful these days. Taking your time is worth it in the long run. And the window is looking great now 🥰

My van is somewhat of a pride and joy as she helps me every day. Needs a fair bit more work on her this year but I had to get a picture next to these flowers as she's called "Daisy" (my daughter named her when we got her).

Aside from new tyres being fitted I do all the mechanical work and servicing myself. She's had new brakes, full service, work on the egr valve and other bits and pieces. Treats coming up for her include new injector seals, new undersealing, paint job work, and more. Soon I'm going to treat her to more decals including my business information.

I didn't need something new and shiny, and restoring her is not only a good learning curve on mechanics, it makes the sentimental attachment worth the effort.

Sorting out things for my stall at the upcoming 😊🌼

Geometric themed vinyl and stitch work canvases will be available for sale. They are currently single items but I will be offering an order service should some designs prove more popular I'll happily make some more. Prices vary based on time taken for more intricate detailing.

Turning an old pile of shelf boards into something new. A custom bookcase design made up, installed and braced to wall.

After and before of a patio repair job. Sometimes just a little bit of time and effort can renew something and make quite a difference. Time had taken its toll but its now back to being a nice useable area now 🥰.

Been wanting to put some more shelves up at home for a while, but work life balance isnt always as easy these days to find time for my own jobs around the house 😅. However finally was able to add some more to my houseplant jungle set up after being kindly donated some shelves.

I picked some nice black brackets from and now swear by fixings and rawlplugs for putting anything up on Sheffield masonry that you want to stay up 😆. Especially in this case precious plants above a staircase!

Now just to find somewhere for a shelf big enough to have room for the much bigger plants to grow like my monsteras, yukka, butterfly palm etc. 🤔 hmmm...... to be continued hehe.

I love the quirkiness of old houses in Sheffield, but my words angles are such a pain, you really end up having to use a fair bit of maths and problem solving when all else fails 😅. Putting in some new skirting boards following some damp proofing work in this house, then caulking edges ready for a fresh coat of paint.

Laying some lino in a bathroom, sealing edges and fitting the bath panel. Managed to line this patterning up nicely with the fittings considering nothing is square these days working more in houses rather than a workshop 😆. It's finished up really nicely 🥰

Gotta love a good old jetwash job. Cleaning up a garden patio and steps, they look so much better already, and have to admit I really enjoy how a jetwash can quickly uncover the original colouring below the natural buildup of dirt and algae over the years, also a lot less slippy now in wet weather. 😊👍

When the scaffold arrives "flat-packed" and you have to build it first with the customer to get cracking 😆👍. Decorating a vaulted kitchen in a lovely extension build that has a very high ceiling 😅. Looking much nicer now the new plaster has a fresh coat on, really brightens up the space 😊.

Planted this Wisteria 7 years ago and this year had to repair and replace the arch after the metal one gave up the ghost after a few heavy snowfalls in winter. Rebuilt a new archway from old bits of a sycamore tree and it looks much nicer now, to top it off this is finally the year we have got an abundance of flowers everywhere 🥰. It also seeded last year for the first time so who knows, maybe we can grow some babies for the future 🤞🌱

What was supposed to be just changing the threshhold turned into discovering rot had spread into the bottom sides of frame and door sill too. There was also some little woodlice families who unfortunately need to be evicted.

Replaced the threshold and door sill with new pieces, dug out bottom of frames of rot and used .uk wood rot hardener and high performance filler to bring the pieces back to their former glory, followed by a lick of paint to pull it all back together.

A sneaky leak resulted in pulling the whole toilet out and replacing with a new flexible and extendable soil pipe when discovering the old one wasn't long enough to form a secure connection. Then back in with the toilet and replacing all the connections and screws with new pieces. Job done 😊👍

Repairing outdoor ballustrade with a new top handrail ready for painting and enjoying some outdoors time.

Peekaboo! It got through 😊👍 Repositioning an aerial cable from the front of a building to a rear extension, bit fiddly getting cable back through the insulation section but phew, job done! 😁.

Now that's a very long masonry bit 😅 but the job required one so good excuse to pop in to my favourite local DIY shop and have a catch up. Not sure it's going to fit in the drill bits tool box mind 🤣

Super fine fineliner 0.05, some creative time in between other work.

Turns out ceilings, wallpaper and someone of my short stature can be an interesting job 😅 but got it done 😊👍
Following a historic leak some of the wallpaper had sagged so needed stripping and new paper putting back up.