wow, another house update!

.........since it's all I seem to be doing lately, in between various types of health surprises that is.

So we have done a bit since the last post. Three rooms and the hallway have been double undercoated and are ready for colour.

There's some of them, a more subtle and classic scheme I've yet to see!

Actually, these are just some of the sample pots we've been collecting, but will be going with all of these.

We were actually going really well in terms of time and work. The plastering's been completed, and really rocks, and the floors were going to be replaced last saturday, with the sanding and polishing of the hallway to happen the following weekend (today actually) when.. da dum.

bit more damage than we'd hoped, assumed, planned for....

White Ant damage. Old stuff, and it's been treated by the previous owners But. Not. Repaired.

So those bits of sagging floorboards in each room? Seems to be virtually eaten out boards and the joists are pretty rubbish as well.
We've got holes in each room, and we haven't pulled up the rest of the boards so we can use the floors to stand on, to finish painting the walls!

Here's Xi's ceiling, with his walls undercoated.

And here's the sampler of the office paint, chosen to go with the wallpaper feature, right in front of a lovely hole.

I will be meeting with a builder tomorrow to see if there is any chance of getting the joists replaced and the floors in by...............as soon as possible really. Unfortunately Christmas is close and well, everyone is working like crazy already.

Fingers crossed.

But my next post will show just how far we've come with the painting!

W.D.S part two

Continuing our theme of despising wallpaper, or removal of, here are some pictures from the working bee last weekend.

In the kitchen, with CC and Boris, where they took on not one vinyl wallpaper, not just the lovely picnic scene shown previously here, but TWO, the other being this beautiful wood panelling number.
This was the worst room, and the one I made the biggest mistake on. I thought it was going to be beautifully well behaved wallpaper like the shiny front room, so left it til last.

...After the working bee..

It has been the wallpaper from hell!!!!! It has ended up being a four day job, possibly more... I can't remember anymore. We just spent yesterday scrubbing of the last bits of adhesive residue, so, maybe more.
A nice shot of all the crap we've had to clean up, though not as bad as the pink room, where half the render had to come off as well.
The games room finishing getting undercoated. We've got a baby hanging out with his cousin twice removed (?) (we call her Aunty) his Nana painting away and another 'Aunty' cutting in. That room is now looking pretty good! Haven't narrowed down what colour it will be as yet.

We have almost finished the wall prep ourselves, and need some plastering work done, and then it's back into it - painting!

The cutest kids dress I've ever made

Not that I've made that many (apologies to my nieces who are now definitely out of little girls dresses, but at least they got some...!)

It's a little cotton number with ric rac and applique details. I especially like the ric rac stems going into the pockets!

It's the simplest one I've made, in terms of shape, previous dresses have been modelled on 1950's party frocks with double skirts and whatever left over shiny fabric I had in my stash (which was great fun, but they aren't really everyday wear). I've also learnt from using those old patterns to widen the necklines greatly so that the child doesn't feel strangled (apparently in the 50's children had either tiny necks, or weren't actually allowed to play or move!)

A easy pearly snap back yoke opening, and to extend it's life, it's got deep armholes for wearing over winter longs, and possibly even might make a cute top, if the chicadee still wants to wear it when she gets bigger! I made the pattern, so hopefully the proportions are right!

I also need to get some shots of Xi's new shorts. They are not complicated, but hopefully I'll be able to find some time to make a bunch amidst all the dewallpapering!

Wallpaper disappreciation society part 1

It's true. I want to join that society. We are nearly there though. Nearly kinda almost not quite nearly there.

It's been a full on week. This is the first day in nine that I haven't been at the house de-wallpapering. I can't remember what I used to do before wallpaper; either I'm pretty knackered by it all, or the wallpaper has just turned my brain to mush.

To start at the start, my fabulous MiLaw came over for a week to help in any which way she could, (unluckily for her it was the wallpaper) and we got things cranking when Xi was off having a fun time at childcare, and Tom could have some time at the house.

Front room (the wonder room with wallpaper that comes off like a dream...... wish the others were like it)

It was a different story when it was just the two of us and the baby.

This is exactly how much painting you can get done before the child realises that something more interesting than playing in a very exciting new sandpit just outside the door, is going on.

This is the mentioned sandpit. It's a hit, though we have been finding sand in unexpected places (carseats, prams, lunchboxes etc)

After that we took turns and then did a flurry when he was napping.

We also had a lot of help from some hardworking friends on the weekend -

Hallway coming along nicely.....

The pile of carpet from four rooms and the hallway, in the only main room that wasn't wallpapered (thank goodness for that!) That got taken away by D & J!

Walk Through

Okay, so here's a bit of a walk through of the house, though not in walking order!

Here's the back wall of the kitchen, with the previously displayed wallpaper, and sliding glass doors which we think are winners. (Latter, not former)

The kitchen. Note that it's got cool blue splash back tiles, warm brown food theme wallpaper on two walls, and fake wood wallpaper on the other wall. The room you can see through the way is going to be............the GAMES room!!! And drawing room!!!! But at the moment, it's an empty space with half exposed brick, and half wood panelling.

This is the back hallway entrance, with it's peeling wallpaper (I did that section to see what was underneath, with a view through to the laundry and bathroom/linen closet/toilet rooms.
This is Xi discovering he can crawl into kitchen cupboards, but not out of them!

This is the front room that will become the office/spare bedroom. Out of all the rooms with wallpaper, part of this might actually be kept as a feature (cause it's shiny :)

This room will be our bedroom.

This is our room after it met with me in my new respirator mask.

I ripped out the carpet in three rooms and the hallway yesterday. It was really good to get in and DO something.

I found out some interesting things, like how come they threw two cupboards in - they'd carpeted around them! They are sitting on older carpet! When we move them, I wonder what style it'll turn out to be?

This is the hallway carpet, with it's layer of horsehair underlay, an amazing amount of dust, and the original vinyl underneath.

This is what the front section of the hallway looks like: a mish mash of woods and thicknesses to create some really dodgy spots and a frankenstein's monster effect.

And this is what the second part of the hallway looks like - beautiful. I think we will have to figure out a way to make the first section nice, and polish it up. I was originally against polishing the floors, because I've lived in a house for five years with wood floors and with 5-7mm gaps in between the planks. It is not easy to clean, the nails pop up, and basically, I hate it.

But the opportunity to have a nice wooden floor??? hmmmmm

Future Paths...?

Not to be pushy parents, but can we have a builder/drummer please?

Drumming at the Pony.

Actually, he likes destroying the constructions so far......

Garden (and Garden show)

This is the first flower of my violet alstroemeria, I'm very excited, because I thought I lost it last summer during the heat wave, and it's now happily living in a pot, waiting to move to it's new home.

And these are the yellow flowers that have just bloomed for the first time as well. Luckily the way you pick the flowers encourages more growth of the lily, because I couldn't help myself with these ones! I'm hoping to have a bed of them in lots of different colours for cut flowers. I like having flowers in the house, but most of the ones I grow, especially the bulbs, I don't have enough of, or enjoy them too much out in the garden to dare pick them.

On another note, I am now officially part of an art exhibition about gardening (thanks DC!) that is happening next November. I'm really happy about that and really looking forward to working in a studio that has enough room to store all my materials and equipment. Since the whole moving decision I kind of have paused on my eternal quest to find a better way to store everything in a small space (can't give up anything, so please don't suggest it!), and have just been waiting to figure it all out again in a new space.

Does anyone have any suggestions or favourite websites for cool sewing storage stuff?

I'm thinking a giant pegboard for my tools, and possible thread display.........

House Hunted!!

We went to the bank on Friday to figure out a budget, we started looking at houses ..........

we put in an offer two weeks later on one.......

and got accepted!!!! Check out the beautiful* blue brick veneer!

This is the wallpaper in the kitchen of our new house. I don't have any other interior photos because I didn't want to jinx anything, but the wallpaper was special enough to warrant a picture. The rest of the house is wallpapered as well :)

THis is a partial view of the backyard - it has fruit trees and a yard for Xi to play in, and a vegie patch and a space for chooks and a brick garage that will be converted into a FABULOUS STUDIO TWICE THE SIZE OF WHAT I'VE BEEN WORKING IN!!!!!!!!! (and thus freeing up a room in the house - spare room/office hooray!!!)

This is the work of a day with the help of a friend (and Xi, to a lesser extent) towards getting our garden ready for the move. I've just decided to take cuttings of my bigger succulents because they'll take off fast, and potted up my favourite bits and pieces. There is already several established fruit trees, and grape vines (it's an old Italian suburb, bless their cultivation!) So we'll just see what the space and conditions are like before planning anything major..............or not if I can't wait.

IT'S SO EXCITING!!!!!

we're getting the keys sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon

*it's definitely going.

Melbourne Trip

While Tom was away at Pilchuck, I had to pack some work for inclusion in the Melbourne Art Fair and sort out what we needed for the installation.

This was done by multiple emails and skype conversations over a really bad internet connection on both ends. This was one of the reasons I didn’t keep up with the blog, I was so annoyed at how slow and unreliable the internet was that, and I spent so many hours on the phone trying to figure out what the problems were with the technicians that I couldn’t bear to spend anymore time on the computer. I finally found out that it was a physical fault with a broken line and weird connections at the exchange, but I feel that that experience has scarred me in terms of loving technology, or alternatively I have been thinking that I could possibly become a phone tech support myself……..

Anyway, back to the show!

We sent everything across earlier for a preview at Helen Gory Galerie so we just had to take ourselves across with Tom’s outfit for the opening party.

The idea was to set up the installation, and then have some time together to wander Melbs. The reality was that at 8am when we rocked up to the Melbourne Royal Exhibition Building we were told that no children were allowed (under 16) and so I would have to go… We know now to double check if we can drag Xi with us, but as he’s already been part of three installations, I didn’t even think that it would be a problem. However, we are finding out that the more official and fancy an event or exhibition, the more rules and procedures there are!

This was Tom's wall of work.

So, we did try and sneak in, and succeeded for a while, until I’d just hidden the pram behind the wall set up, and was emerging with Xi on my back in a sling and ran face to face into the same guard that wouldn’t let us into the building.

I got escorted off the premises, and wasn’t allowed to bring baby back until it was open to the public. First time that’s happened to me.

We wandered around the area for a while until it started raining (and it was cold in August as well) and then hid out in the museum café reading until Tom was finished.

But on Wednesday, our free day, we got to go to the Tim Burton show (that DC went to as well),

It was great!!! That's us underneath a big sad balloon.

And then Tom went to the opening party (I did the stay home with baby gig) and on the Thursday we got to check out the MAF in all it’s multiple galleried glory. The building it was in is amazing, it was derelict for years, and then restored, and as they were restoring it, they found all these paintings had been covered up, so they restored the paintings, and now it’s a totally glorious example of 1890’s art deco interior grand hall symbolistic design with LOTS of swirls everywhere.

So we cruised all the stalls.

This is a photorealistic, yet distorted perspective supersized sculpture that messed with your head. ......I can not remember the name of the artist (bad bad me!)

Xi's new room!

After Xi's first birthday, he moved into his own room, (finally - hooray!)

We were a bit concerned that he might freak out (like the books warn) so we'd take him in there all the time and show him his room (full of our junk) and talk about his new dinosaur light shade (which he loved/s) and when we finally got our stuff out of there and his in, it was not a problem at all. In fact, he started to sleep better already (no more daddy snoring, and mummy tossing and turning I guess!)

A beautiful glass mobile by Nick Mount, which is only in the baby room because we were afraid all the other ceilings would collapse.

He likes to pull out all his clothes out of the drawers. That stool next to him has a machine knitted cover - my first big piece!

Sorry for the poor quality of the photos, it's a room that gets basically no natural light, so it's quite hard to photograph in, but here's his special name crossstitch by his Great Aunty Kathy (to prove it's up and appreciated!)