New wall art + a familiar story

Some of you may remember the lovely hand-stencilled wall button (on the left) I had hanging in my studio

  (boy, it was tidier back then). It's by local Tassie textile artist, Penny Malone. Well, the other day I finally added another to my collection. There is it below :)

The design is based on a building at 80 Collins Street, Melbourne. It's funny as I'm not a huge fan of the colour orange, but I just love it in combination with pink and red.

I decided to hang them in the lounge room as we have a couple of big bare walls.

Bit of a quirky combo but I like it.

I'm not sure if I'll leave them there, or even together, as I like the idea of the geometric one by itself or even hung with a pink/red graphic print or two. I suppose that's the beauty of picture rails, you can move art around and not have to patch walls :)

And my familiar story?

 Well, you know the old story about the plumber's house without decent plumbing, or the builder's house that is never fully built? Same goes for electrician's homes. We have been here for almost 3 and a half years and I had a power point in the kitchen that had only one switch that worked. I have been juggling appliances, constantly unplugging and plugging in again. The other night I was cooking on "George" the grill and wanted the rice cooker going at the same time. Lyndon decided on that moment to fix the power point.

Would you believe after 3.5 years it only took him 5 minutes to fix that darn thing?!!

I was so excited. Now if I could only get him to replace the power points in the lounge room...

xx

The painting continues...

Ah yes, riveting times are here :)

We are still painting and I can see this continuing for a year or more at the rate we are going.

As they say, it's all about the preparation, and boy does that take a long time when your weatherboards are very weathered like ours are.

As you can see, we have painted this section apart from the bottom two boards, the very bottom one is a new board that we fitted on the weekend.

We have been stripping the window surround which is in a bit of a dodgy state.

Lyn has removed the front panels that cover the inner workings of the window themselves.

I don't know all the technical terms for sash windows but you can see the weights in my following photos.

Look at that big ol' rusty thing hanging there. I find it fascinating that it has been suspended there on that old length of rope for just over 100 years. Yes, clearly I need to get out more :)

It's difficult to see but there's some writing on the timber panel at the back. I can't work out what it says.

You can see the sorry state of the windows here.

There's barely anything holding the panes of glass in at the moment.

I'll be so happy to see this all patched up and painted.

The windows (not the panes, silly!) will be painted in the white colour and the fascia bit will be painted in the dark blue. I think it will look pretty nice.

xx

ps I have been meaning to tell you, the cheesecake-filled chocolate eggs I made at Easter tasted wonderful. They were a bit of a hit too :)

We're safer than houses

If I wasn't such a prim and proper blogger I would have titled this post, "the big erection" but I think that might have resulted in unwanted and undesirable traffic :)

ANYWAY, as you can see we have erected, er, put up, some handy scaffolding. Lyndon had been teetering on a ladder and it just wasn't going to do. Thankfully he could borrow this from his work.

Guess who helped him put it together?

Yes, your truly.

When we got to the bit where that platform had to be lifted into place he had the cheek to say, "this is where you need two blokes".

Well, I'll be!

I got up there and darn-well got that darn-heavy platform in place. One bloke and one strong, capable woman will do just fine, thank you very much!

So, you might be able to see Lyn has pulled off some boards that covered the edges of the tin. They'll need replacing. Originally Lyn thought he'd replace the tin too, but I'm happy to say we'll paint it and see how it goes. Then we have to tackle that big window :)
How was your weekend? I did so much gardening, mostly weeding, that I discovered muscles I didn't know I had! Ouch.

xx

Slow but steady progress

Not surprisingly, it's pretty slow progress out the back with the weatherboard painting.

You can see in these pics the left hand end has been finished and we (mostly Lyndon) have started on the middle section.

The boards have come up really well. Lyn did a great job of filling in all the holes and rotten bits and even filling in underneath every board. Quality takes time people.

Next up is the middle section.

By the way, that funny window on the freshly painted part was the original toilet window. It's now a built in wardrobe, but we decided to leave it as a little bit of history (ie couldn't be bothered ripping out and fixing all those boards). Our current (and very scary) bathroom is that built-in bit of verandah on the right with the 3 windows. Noice. The room in the middle is the spare bedroom.

Here we can see Lyn has made a start with the new heat gun. I made a dick of myself by going back to the store to complain that it had stopped working to be told that it's a safely cut-off system to avoid it melting itself. Whoops. Maybe we should have read the booklet of instructions?

That board at the bottom is beyond repair so will need to be replaced. It's a bit of a bother that the hot water pipes run externally and get in the way a bit. When (if) we've saved up we'll switch this to a gas system with new internal pipes. Ah the joys of old homes :)

I find the whole paint removal process really stressful as it's so easy for it to catch alight. We keep a close eye on it and have the hose ready to go at all times.

Anyway, looks like a bit of window sill stripping is on the agenda for me this weekend.

Fun. Hold me back (yes, that's sarcasm).

xx

An actual renovation post!

Yes, you read it peeps, hold onto your seats, here's a renovation post!

We have started doing the nightmarish job that is painting the exterior of the house. We will be tackling it one small area at a time.

Above is the first patch. It's at the back of the house. Some of the boards were very worn, but Lyn has sanded, bogged, sanded and wood primed the surface. Most of these weatherboards had to come right back to timber. It appears in it's 101 year life, Molly's Maison has only been painted twice. I somehow don't think we'll be so lucky not to have to paint for aother 50 years!

Paint colours...

well, we are sticking with the current theme which is a cream with Deep Ocean colourbond roof (there's another massive and hideous job - replacing the old roof). It looks like we will go with Wattyl colours Vienna Creme (sounds tasty) with a highlight in Diva White (not sure about that name). We will use Haymes Ultra Premium as we like that it's a family owned Australian business.

(sorry about the terrible pics)

I've been wandering around with this big painted swatch and so far so good.

We even took the small paint chips on a neighbourhood walk so I could compare against other house colours I liked.

It's a serious business.
Boy oh boy was it hot here yesterday! I hope you all had a lovely weekend and the week ahead is a dandy one!
Xx

Five quick questions with Katrina from The Block!



Image via Katrina's blog. Amie on left, Katrina on right.



As many of you will know, I am an avid follower of the television show The Block. I'm even more excited this year that fellow blogger Katrina Chambers is one of the contestants along with her sister Amie!

Katrina was very lovely to answer a few questions for me about her experience on the show...

1 How did you decide on the type of room for your first room? We were confused for the first couple of days and had no idea. But we soon realised what should go where and the layout of the house came to us. Scott Cam gave us an insight and then we were able to sort out the layout. Why a guest room instead of master bedroom? Our master bedroom was going to be somewhere else special in the house - you'll have to wait and see!
 
2 Did you and your sister Amie learn new things about each other during the process?Amie and I have always been really close. We have never competed against each other and we are very protective. We did get asked this question lots and we both said, no, we didn't learn anything new. We knew everything about each other already We were comfortable with each other and it showed. There were no surprises and this is how we were able to live together successfully for 8 weeks! Although, I toss and turn at night and she doesn't move in the bed. Yes, we HAD to sleep together!

3 Do you think the tradies treated you a bit differently to the other couples because you are women? Some did, absolutely. Some were awful. But then we also had a bunch of great and supportive tradies who knew Amie and I were doing it tougher than any female on the block. They really took us under their wing and helped us get through 8 weeks of mayhem. If so, how? You'll have to wait to watch this bit!

4 Worst aspect about The Block? Missing my husband and kids. But their support from home was enormous.

5 The best thing? I have learnt so much about what I can do. I now know that anything is possible. Good things come to people who try hard.

Image via Katrina's blog. Katrina in her stylish reno attire

Thanks so much Katrina! I can't wait to watch the rest of the show and see how your rooms come together. You and Amie are such a hoot!
Might even get some good tips for here at Molly's Maison... Tonight is the first room reveal and I'm really looking forward to seeing them all.
Have a great week friends xx

Studio update + curtain dilemas

It was a very busy weekend here at Molly's Maison. It was probably a good thing that it rained non-stop as it meant we weren't itching to get outside. Instead, we painted my studio room and finished off a bit of plastering. Lyn has installed two downlights in the verandah part of the room and today I ordered a nice chandelier for the main ceiling.

Things to do:

- get the floor finished

- install main light and ceiling rose

- fit cornice

- order, paint and install replacement skirting and picture rail

- fit new window hardware

- clean, clean, clean

- curtains??????

- move in and enjoy!!!!!!

Regarding curtains, I keep changing my mind. Due to the replacing of the floor, my curtain budget is now about $10 (sort of) so unfortunately no fancy Designers Guild fabric for me. Boo hoo!!

Because they wont need to be insulating curtains and I will probably not ever draw them (privacy is not an issue) I was thinking maybe something sheer? I was toying with the idea of the Tord Boontje "Until Dawn" panel, but would need two unless I do a centre panel and then a simple drop at each side, perhaps just a cotton voile. I could even replicate some of the shapes in a hand-made print on the drops?

Any ideas/suggestions from all you creative interior design folk out there would be greatly appreciated.

xx

1st image by me, 2nd and 3rd from dedeceplus

A can of worms

At this point I was hoping to post my newly polished studio floor. No such luck.

Above is my not so newly polished floor sitting on the front porch.

It's not a fun story...

Muzza the floor guy came the other day to sand the floor (above is the before shot).

All looks ok but when you looked closely there was big areas of rot, especially in the old verandah boards over near the window.

We decided that the floor needed to be replaced. We had discussed it a while ago but I was hoping that when it was sanded it would be ok. No such luck.

Sooooo.... Lyn ripped up the boards, in fact, half the room's worth.

The old joists in the end part of the room weren't even attached to anything and some had rotted.

This is where it got nightmarish. You now the saying, "to open a can of worms"?

Well, how about "a room of worms"???

We discovered a leaky pipe and heaps of mushy soil. It gets worse...amongst the soil were colonies of worms. It was truly disgusting! We had to dig out a few wheelbarrows of soil and worms, put in brick supports, a new beam and joists (as you can see below).

Starting to take shape.

Site supervisor Molly keeping a close watch on things.

Yay! A new, level, solid floor - all in one day!!

$600 in materials and plenty of super sore muscles later we are much happier!

Renovation happenings!

I am very excited to be reporting actual renovation news! After the first plasterer went AWOL then phone calls to 3 more plasterers, one came and quoted an incredible $3000 to plaster the stepped ceiling and one wall in my studio room!! Wowza! Totally beyond our budget and estimations, so we decided to give it a go ourselves.

Above shows a timber frame we made to level out the very shoddily built lower ceiling. This was where the room was extended out onto the old verandah. Lyndon installed new light cable for a couple of neat down lights.

Master of the Tools then made use of a very clever/handy little machine called a Lackey, which lifted the sheets up to the ceiling so they could be attached.

Screwing the plaster board in place.

Luckily, the Lackey also reached the higher ceiling as well.

Almost there! Only a bit around the edges to fill in and then we're ready to get it stopped up. Lyn called a guy called Colin who will hopefully come tomorrow (not holding ones breath) to quote on stopping the gaps and edges and attaching cornice in the higher ceiling.

Today I will attempt to smooth out the side wall that we had originally planned on re-plastering but now think it might not be worth it. I'll have a go with the sander and we'll decide afterwards if it needs doing or not. A fresh coat of paint may make all the difference :)

Exciting times! Have a great week peeps!

Tip shop step ladder

Another little project for my studio room. I scored this somewhat pre-loved (read: very neglected) timber step ladder up at the tip shop the other day. I have been thinking for a while that I'd like something like this in order to reach the top of my wonderful shelves.

This little guy is great as he doesn't take up a lot of space and is tall as well.

My plan is to paint him a bright-ish aqua blue colour. What do you think?

Here are a few samples I picked up - I'm leaning towards the ones on the right.

These look a little darker than in reality.

Anyway, as a start I'll give him a sand, then once I've chosen the colour he'll need a few coats of paint and new cords to make him safe. Having concused myself falling off a ladder last year I am in no rush to do that again. He's a bit wobbly so at some point I'll need to level off the legs a bit.

Hopefully we'll see a little reno action in the actual room very soon.
Hope this week's a good one for everyone xx

Storage - a mini project

It has been so long since I have posted anything remotely reno related. We've been in save mode so it has all had to go temporarily on hold. We hope to get back to it very soon and will start by completing the reno on my art/sewing/jewellery studio = my room!

On the weekend I busied myself with a mini-project - the storage. With 32 pigeon holes in my wall unit I have been trying to find a few storage solutions. I found these water hyacinth cubes at Officeworks that fit in the space really well. I wasn't keen on the natural colour so decided to spray them pale blue.

What do you think? I am happy with the results and am thinking of trying another colour - perhaps limey green?

For those of you who haven't seen, this is the wall unit that Lyndon and I built from scratch. Here is the beginnings of the process. Okay, so we didn't make the doors, they came from Bunnings, but we did everything else. Boy, that was challenging at times!

I'm not sure what to do about lighting. Above is a light I found at the tip-shop (sorry about bad pic) and funnily, I purchased it about a week or so before we bought the house. I thought I'd get it so we could buy a house to match! I just love the colour of the glass shade. Master of the tools (Lyn) rewired it and I think I might use it for the time being but I'm not sure I'll get enough light out of it. Maybe a couple of nice lamps will do the trick?

SO, any ideas what other colour might be nice for my storage? Do you like the limey-green idea? FYI the walls will be pale blue and white as well :)

ps. thanks for your birthday wishes for Rachael - she's read them all :)

Cheerio!!

Our weekend

We had a super industrious weekend.
I did quite a lot of work in the garden. I planted a bunch of hydrangea cuttings and mulched the whole yard with mushroom compost.

I dug out an area at the back to put in my miserable little tomato seedlings that are just not growing. This was an old area where a pile of grass clippings had been dumped and had composted down. Being a warm spot I thought it might give the tomatoes a chance. BUT, I discovered a heap of bricks under the soil so had to dig them out. Got a bit of exercise doing that job! Grow little tomatoes,grow! They're so small that you can't even see them in the piccy!

We sealed and sprayed 2 coats of gloss white on my shelves. Slowly getting there on this job. Next part is bringing them back inside, screwing them together and attaching the edging along all the exposed edges ( so it doesn't look like mdf).

For a bit of light relief I went to the Designed Made market for a little look and came home with a lovely ceramic vase by local artist Sara Wright. The inside is glazed with a pale green glossy colour which is lovely and subtle. I like!

Not quite duck-egg

Still in my blue patch, we found this little rejected egg the other day - think it might be a blackbird. Very pretty colour.

I'm down to threee swatches for the studio wall so will get some samples soon. Still so much to do in there. I've lost count of all the coats of paint, maybe seven or eight. We will start on the shelving part this weekend.