Nimmitabel: A Work in Progress: Pelmets back up 19-21 August 2022

So, Fraser and George went to pick up the couches in the ute. And the plan was to drive them up to tonight. But as they say "best laid plans".....there was now rain forecast, so we thought we shouldn't risk it - and parked the couch laden ute in the garage, and drove the passat to Inglewood on Friday night

And we were right, or at least the BOM rain radar was, it started raining in Kyneton. not heavily but enough, so our decision to leave the ute and couches behind was vindicated

Arrived in Inglewood around 7.30 or so, and had what was now our traditional dinner tray in bed in front of a movie

It was my turn to choose - so I picked Antoinette in the Cevennes - which was charming (not as good as the Ideal Palace though)

Saturday, and a bit of a lie in - Justin made me a delicious breakfast in bed - bacon, eggs etc.

Then- had to go up the street, and get some eggs, say hello to Steve and Denise and buy some delicious pork for dinner.

Chris arrived close to lunch time. Justin made us some sandwiches which we ate in the rotunda

And then down to business - 1st job was moving all of the furniture out of the bee room again, and reinstating the rugs in the top hallway, as the top hallway and bathroom had been re-sanded and oiled

Luckily we were able to borrow Bernie's trolley which was especially useful for that very heavy TV cabinet

And finally an empty bee room - in readiness for sanding

And now everything was back in the hallway

However, Chris was here to help us put up the pelmets. But first they had to be fixed up

This involved cleaning off decades of dust. It was easy enough getting it off the tin, but we had to be very careful with the green tassle bits, as they are quite fragile

Justin started at one end and Chris at the other, and they met in the middle. The upstairs pelmet was first on the agenda

Once it was clean, they then had to measure and cut the backing material

Last time when Alex and April had done the small one - they'd tacked the material onto the wood - using the existing tacks. This time Chris had brought a staple gun which was much more efficient .

Next job was to attach the brackets that Chris had made up for us. He was very dismissive of the old /original ones, and also planned to replace the brackets in the dining room which we had painstakingly replastered in. Chris thought they just weren't good enough

Below is a photo of the brackets during production at Chris' place. He was bending the pelmet brackets here

And here is Chris - armed and ready like a deadly tradie James Bond

And then finally, up with the pelmet - they reckoned they didn't need my help, so I was there with my camera (mobile phone)

When they first put it up - there was a bit too much of a gap on the right hand side. But they soon fixed that up

And we're not finished yet, because Justin wanted a scalloped edge to the material - so he did that

Did a little bit of mucking around also

That was enough work for the day, so then it was up to Both Banks - for the Wine Door opening

Mark and Chrissie had put some nice new bifold doors into their tasting room - and so had a bit of an event to celebrate them. They'd also hosted a small wedding party earlier in the day

Had a chat, a few nibbles and a drink, and then back to our place for a G&T on the veranda

This was followed by dinner in the dining room - slow cooked pork, crispy crackling, roast potatoes and salad- delicious

Sunday, and action stations again - This time the bottom pelmet, and this time I cleaned it with Chris, while Justin was doing other things

Then they had to staple on the new backing

And put it up

Meanwhile, I swept as much of the dust up as I could, and tidied up the kitchen - in preparation of the underpinning which was supposed to start this week. We weren't sure if he was going to have to demolish any of the cupboards, remove the fridge etc