Working with Alex Friday 5 - Sunday 7 February

Well, I must admit that I'm getting a bit slack with this blog.  It's been 3 weeks since we were there.

Anyway, Justin felt like staying in Melbourne, but Alex wanted to come, as he hasn't been there for a while.  So we decided to have a work weekend.

Took the ute up on the Friday night with a couple of bedside tables that we'd bought, and some other bits and pieces.

And on Saturday we worked, and on Sunday too!

First up on Saturday however, we had to inspect the front fence which was nearly, but not quite finished.

Looks good though

new fence

 

framing for new fence

And then we drove to Bendigo to pick up the ceiling light fittings which had been extended.

They looked good too.  Next thing was to absolutely decide which fittings went in which rooms, so I laid them out in preparation for the electrician.

We had decided on the 2 light fittings that I'd got in Kew to go in the 2 front downstairs rooms. 

Kew light fittings

Kew light fittings

The light fitting that we got ages ago from Frank went in the front hallway

Frank's light

A light fitting that I got from Camberwell Market went in the back hallway

Camberwell Market light

Alex's 3 lights from Ermington place went in the kitchen, study, and scullery

Alex lights

Alex lights

And the 2 of the  fittings from Tullamarine  went in the upstairs hallway, and the 3rd in the little yellow room

Tulla fittings

Tulla fittings

The fancy one from Mentone (which the light bloke said would be worth $500) went in the large upstairs room

Fancy Mentone light

And our old  2 from Tooronga Road went in the Red room and perhaps the soon to be Blue room

Tooronga Rd fittings

Tooronga Rd fittings

The other Tooronga Road pendant light will go in the downstairs bathroom - although the photo below shows the proposed upstairs bathroom

Tooronga Rd fittings 

And that upstairs bathroom will have the pull down pulley light from the kitchen

As you can see from the Red room photo, I had some more glass ball shades, which I thought I'd use on some of the empty fittings.  However they were the wrong size!  I'll have to get some other ones. 

approx 6 cm across

>6cm across

In the meantime, Alex was doing some remedial plastering.  He thought he'd have a go in the scullery with some light skim coat on the hallway wall (where I'd scraped off the peeling paint some weeks back).  And he also did the large cracks over the window, and evened out the plaster next to the window. He did an excellent job 

Scullery skim coat

Alex in action #1

Alex in action #2

Alex in action #3

lot of filling in the scullery

the newly smooth wall

It might need a little bit more, and then a sand, and then it's ready for painting!  He was also quite impressed with Justin's cupboards to be, and thought that some of the door insets should be glass, rather than wood.

Had a refreshing G&T on the veranda, followed by a nice porterhouse steak and salad in the garden

cooking up the dinner

Finished dinner

The hoop pine is producing lots of pine cones that every so often fall and then break into pieces on the ground.  We haven't seen this many before.  And the effect of the shattered cones is like Autumn poplar leaves on the ground.  The ground around the tree and for a bit further out is full of these pieces - Each piece also has a wicked sharp hook - presumably to hook onto passing animals to grow elsewhere

hoop pine cones coming down

shattered pine cones covering the ground

an old and a new pine cone

look at that hook #1

look at that hook #2

just falls apart

On Sunday we worked pretty hard also - starting off with watering the garden - it's so dry....


I also found a printed piece of tin that our magpie friend Chris would like - so I've put it aside for him

printed tin

But then the fun stuff, for me at least, yep painting the proposed bathroom.  After checking with Justin we went and bought some top coat paint - China White I think which is a lot more "yellow" than the white primer that I initially used.

I also made sure that I put the roller on properly (unlike last time)

I think I did a pretty good job, not sure yet if it will need another coat

cutting in

that wall is finished

so is that one

And Alex did more filling in the maybe to be Blue room  (remember last time I didn't want to fill the really big cracks, because I thought they would close up when the house is eventually underpinned) Anyway, he filled with polyfilla - something that can move

So this room also just pretty much needs a light sand on what he did - and then we should be able to paint it.  The plan (at least in my head) is to do so before we set up the bed in there again, and maybe even do the floor too - perhaps over the Easter break

perfectionist #1

perfectionist #2

Perfectionist #3

perfectionist #4

looking good

And he also did more in the scullery - after allowing yesterday's lot to dry

scullery work

some stupid unattached wire

this looks so much better too

And, he swapped over that pesky laundry trough door  that was facing the wrong way.  Now it open up into the room, as opposed to towards the window.  What a clever chap!

a vast improvement

And so, the next time we come up, the electricity - lights/ powerpoints/oven should be done.

As they say in the classics "we won't know ourselves"