Whew, another big few days up here ....
But firstly, a reminder from 4 years ago - our inaugural Yacht Club ball on the March Labour Day Long weekend 2020 - just before covid turned into the pandemic - it was still a bit of a laugh then....although toilet paper was getting in short supply ( Uncle Brian gave us a red ribboned 6 pack!)
Ah, good times, good memories, but I digress....
Back to the present, I came up on Thursday evening as I wanted to get more stuff done before Justin came up on Saturday morning.
Given the jonquil bud from last week, I wanted to see if it had flowered, And yes it had, but had also sadly been nibbled on by something
I also checked out the grape vines and discovered this lovely green insect
And the lizard was definitely looking the worse for wear
Anyway, got down to work on Friday morning
Sanding the filled sconce hole in our en suite (and subsequently painted it)
Sanding the powder room door
Filling in some more cracks in the Kitchen - that I had forgotten about last time
And cutting in - in the downstairs hallway
And finally getting the paint roller out - in the downstairs hallway (getting rid of Vic's blue hued plaster) and the powder room
Note, the plan had been to get a professional painter to do all of this. Tried Ron - who did our wall paper (and painted the trim) - but he wasn't interested, tried John (Sheryl's husband) but he was too busy. Got a recommendation from David the plasterer - and spoke to the guy - but he never got back to me..... And so I thought, I have the time, and we can save a bit of money ( the kitchen bench cushions are substantially more than I thought they would be - but they will be very beautiful)
It was also very hot ....38 degrees on Friday, 39 degrees on Saturday, and 38 degrees again on Sunday - it was also a 3 day heat wave in Melbourne. Most likely the first and last heat wave of the season
Luckily because the nights cooled down to low 20s - the house remained relatively cool, especially downstairs. Although we did sweat quite a bit while painting/sanding/any activity... And we did use the air conditioners a bit at night also
Saturday, and more sanding/painting/filling etc - still in the downstairs hallway, - this time around the underneath of the stairs. And once again I had sort of wanted David the plasterer to do all of this - but he had said that he had only bought enough filler for the music room - so I did it (and saved more money).
The overalls were too hot, so I just wore these old shorts and t shirt for painting/sanding etc
I had to be very careful painting around the mural - used a paint brush for more precision - but when looking at the wall from an angle you could see it was sort of rough. So went over it again with a teeny foam roller - which made it better.
Looking good, if I do say so myself...(although I forgot to take off the tape around the light fitting and light pull). When Pauline came around a few days later I told her that I'd painted the hallway, but she thought it had already been painted previously....(she obviously hadn't noticed the light blue plaster and light green skirting boards)
Justin arrived around lunch time, and we went to the IGA to get some supplies. We saw so many people there that we knew - Nicole, Geoff/Wooly, Mal, Anne L, Peter C. Came back and had a quick lunch
Pottered around for the rest of the day - doing more stuff (no photos) and Justin took it easy, as he's had a long work week
Sunday, and Justin took the kitchen cupboard doors off - so that he could carefully paint the wooden moulding. I thought it was very clever of him
And I recommenced in the hall - with more of the same - sanding the large hole I'd filled
Cleaning the light while I was up there
And yep, more painting
And Justin started painting the undercoat on the moulding
All this before lunch - which Justin then made
It didn't take the undercoat long to dry so he then did the top coat
And then we thought we'd start on the Music room
First sweeping down the walls of dust
then cutting in
Rolling
And yep, we finished it - 2 coats on the wall all in the one afternoon! I must say it was quite warm in there - and we were sweating quite a lot, in fact when I was dipping my brush in the paint sometimes drops of sweat would fall in. I told Justin this, and he said luckily the paint was water based..
I also think that this is a very nice green - Dulux pale sage, and it will look good with the white trim (Dulux China white) This made me wonder as to why I'm not so fond of the upstairs green room - Dulux Lime parfait (maybe its too yellow?) - but we're not going to start re -painting any time soon
The below photo was taken in 2016
Justin did the last bit of rolling, so I thought I'd clean the hallway coloured window - as it had splotches of mortar and plaster on it (via Vic) - and of course lots of dust
I carefully scraped off the mortar/plaster with my finger nails - not doing them much good, and then dusted, /spray and wiped the glass and wood
Also took off the tape - luckily not too much paint came off with it
Monday, and Justin put the kitchen cupboards back on the frames (forgot to take a photo). I also showed Pauline and her dad, and a carpenter around quickly. With a bit of luck the carpenter - Gordon will come back and fix up our sash windows for us - as some of them have bits of wood coming away (ie Music room), others have broken cords ( red and green upstairs room) and others don't have proper weights ie top windows dropping when bottom ones opened (bee room). Without wanting to sound too whingey - I was never happy with how they were done in the first place years ago - the guy said he'd come back and fix them - but never did...
Justin left soon after (before lunch) and I continued on
Patched, sanded and swept out the alcove in preparation for painting
Worked out how to reach the top corner at the bottom of the stairs...was a little precarious (but safe) unfolding the ladder - and wedging it up against the ceiling there, and I didn't go up beyond the middle step (had to carefully stretch a bit)
Ta da - the walls are done - but still need to do the skirting. I finished off that 10L paint can - really scraping out the last of it - so that I could finish the walls. And I thought that I would have to go to Bendigo to buy a new 10L tin, as I thought that the IGA didn't have any left. Luckily I checked - and they put it aside for me - so that I could buy it in the morning (after they tinted it to China White). That said in the end I didn't even touch the new 10L can as I had forgotten that we had also purchased a 4 L can of China White for the Music room trim, and that's what I used for the rest of my painting. We will however probably need the 10L can, as the kitchen still needs to be painted, as does the top hallway, and the scullery - all in China White
Removed the stupid ratty old flyscreen from our ensuite window - as it was swinging around
Tuesday and I put some skim coat on the skirting that I'd patched in the hallway, and also in the kitchen
Did some more wood puttying in the kitchen
Realised that I need to fill these cracks also otuside the Music room alcove ( and did so)
And did my best painting the underside of the landing
Put some undercoat on the powder room door
More sanding in the back hallway
Prepared for painting the skirting china white in the music room - by doing yet more taping
Shane came back late afternoon to peg out some tear shaped garden beds/define new paths etc
Wednesday
Painting the back hallway skirting
Realised I had more filling to do in the powder room door
Started painting the base colour of the powder room door and surrounds
Still trying to figure out how to put a rangehood fan in the chimney cavity. Did further diagrams. Possibly the best idea is to get a remote fan and put it outside at the back of the chimney, and then have some filters made up - or try and get a purpose built one
As per below - the electrics are still there from Cam - when he put in the plastic fan and 2 x down lights
Jerry dropped over to have a look at the possibilities for the rangehood, and also looked at the dropped light in the Music room - and agreed that yes the hook was broken, and that basically the electric wire was what was supporting the weight of the light fitting - which is hardly ideal. He managed to get it suspended by one hook again, but there should be 2. He said he'd come and fix it properly when we're back next time
I also took some further photos of the proposed garden beds - this time from ground level. There are 5 proposed beds. At this point in time, I'm thinking the one nearest the house would be succulents, and 2 or 3 with roses. I'll also ask Shane for some plant recommendations/ideas
There will also be 1 or 2 beds by the back door - so as to break up the toppings/pathways, but these haven't been pegged out yet.
And there will be steel edging in front of the olive trees, and mulched all along, so there is no "grass" at the back of them, and likewise steel edging for the kiwi fruit
And we're also reconsidering the the pergola (outside the smaller dining room window) - maybe we'll just put the big table under the tree in the shade, and have the 2 back garden beds with herbs etc
We'd like the front garden to be reminiscent of this old photo of the house and garden
Finished off painting the skirting in the alcove
And then it was onto the tricky bit of the agenda - doing the combing painting on the powder room door
It looks ok I think....certainly better than what it looked like originally
After
before
Unfortunately my photo of the front of the door is blurry - who knows why
One of my last self allocated chores was to pull off the tape in the music room - after having done 2 coats of china white on the skirting. Well, Justin had said not to use tape, but rather to use a card to stop any white paint marking the green. Well, I should have listened to Justin, as although the paint was dry, it was still very "fresh" and plasticky, so some of the white paint came off (and also even some of the green in places, so will have to do a touch up....
And I had been so pleased with myself....plastering/patching/ sanding/painting like a pro (or so I thought) Thinking that I loved the painting tape, and hwo good I was getting with it - oh well after pride comes a fall...
Also called up Ian S to organise the stair sanding- put the proposed carpet there for him to see the width - as he won't need to sand under the stair carpet. He advised that he'll try and have it done before Easter - yay! And Rod the stair carpet guy is semi retired, so said he could pretty much work around us
I also had to completely clear out all the areas that we will want sanded
Bottom Hallway - actually you can see the powder room door there - and it doesn't look too bad does it?
Scullery sanding
Landing sanding
And of course the green room
That means that just the little yellow room, and the upstairs and downstairs green rooms still need to be sanded - but that can wait - the downstairs green room is way to full of stuff....
And from a painting perspective - we still need to do the kitchen and scullery, and the upstairs hallway, Music room ceiling, and the window sills/doors in the upstairs bathroom and our ensuite
And of course we need to sort out the kitchen rangehood - so that we can close up the chimney and unwrap the Aga at last
So, it's not that much really....the end is definitely in sight, and with that the last filming for Restoration Australia with the "reveal and party" Mark had tentatively suggested this for April - but I don't see this happening now
Maybe May or June?
