Puzzles for renovators

Or how to make a stone hearth:

So this is what Ross and I spent the weekend doing, a giant stone puzzle.  We had the Cannon Fitzroy gas fire installed before last winter, which was money well spent, it seriously heats up half the house! Since then it has been sitting in it's frame, albeit with a mantelpiece, waiting for us to get around to doing the stone surround.

So end of summer we have finally got around to it!  We started by laying all the bits of stone out on the deck so we could see the size and shape of each piece easily.

Ross hard at work!  I helped by documenting (ie. I took photos!) and occasionally held the odd bit of stone in place so that he could take a step back and survey his workmanship.

Now to grout it!  So pleased with how it is looking so far though.

As for how we built the bench seat.... I did take photos at the various stages but unfortunately I can't access them at the moment as they are all stored on the back up thingy and I have no idea how to get to them and Ross is in a conference at the moment and being most unhelpful.  ie. ignoring my phone calls and text messages!

So I have included a bunch of photos of it and maybe if you have any specific questions about it Jane email me and I will get Ross to answer them for you!

For those that asked, yes there is storage underneath it!

Ross did all the hard work here, although I did paint it and organise the cushions!  My tip on the cushions... shop around!  I rang a dozen different upholsterers and the prices were varied to the extreme ranging from $400 to $1500!!!!  I went with the $400 quote and am so pleased with his work that I will be using him again.  For the fabric I used a sunbrella outdoor fabric and went for the darkest navy that they had.  Again, shop around for the fabric.  I ended up sourcing mine from a sail manufacturer who imported it and was happy to sell me a few metres.  Best thing about it I can practically hose it down when the boys have finished eating!

The red bed...

We had the Captain's old iron bed powder coated red and I can't begin to tell you how thrilled I am with the end result.  I wanted the bed to be a little pop of colour in amongst everything else and it most definitely is!

The powder coat guy thought that I was crazy choosing red.  He questioned my husband when he dropped the bed off and even rang me to confirm that I was going to spend "good money powder coating a bed lipstick red."  Oh yes I happily reassured him, although I do prefer fire engine red as a description for it!

Now I just need to hang some art on the walls... what to do, what to do...

I seriously can't stop grinning at how good that bed looks and I have now got my beady little eyes fixed on the bed in the spare room!

Hurrah... I have a computer again!

I started to write a long and lengthy post trying to explain about the rather difficult past 3 months we have just had but in the interests of keeping things in perspective, ie.  there are others that that have to cope with so much more on a daily basis that I decided to abandon it and instead update you all as what we have been doing.

I will say though that as we haven't had a computer for the past 6 weeks (details were in the explanation now abandoned!) and have moved out of the house twice and been on holidays, also twice, that blogging and all that it entails were temporarily put on hold.   Apologies to those that I alarmed with my lengthy absence and Jane a card will be in the post on Monday to you my lovely!

The house is now painted. The colours that we ended up choosing are Dulux Oyster Linen and Taubmans Aspen Snow for the trims.  A lot of people have emailed me about the colour of the house.  The number is actually mind boggling.... anyway, if I haven't replied to your email yet I apologise and am getting around to everyone slowly.  Hopefully I will answer all the questions here now:  Oyster Linen is not on the standard colour chart but if you go into Dulux or Bunnings they will be able to mix a sample pot for you.  It is full strength.  The front door is Dulux Domino in a gloss finish.

The little blue strip above the door is yet to be painted!

The inside is very slowly getting there...

My clever clogs husband built the bench seat! Well, he/we did most of the work inside the house!

It is a lovely spot for a cup of tea in the morning, actually just lovely all the time! The floors are blackbutt with a matt finish.

The laundry is in, I absolutely love the long bench top but do not recommend the product.  Ceaserstone Snow and it stains if you just look at it with a cup of coffee, some red wine or even a slice of fruit... don't ask... Unless you are considering using it somewhere, in which case be aware that it STAINS easily. VERY EASILY.  It does look nice though.

Will do some more house updates soon but in the meantime the Pirates are well.  We had a fabulous break at the beach house.

They are both their father's sons and love the surf.  The little one, although quite a proficient swimmer scares me with his confidence.  He is always the smallest person out in the surf.

He started pre-school last week.  First time away from me and I was prepared for tears and drama.  Nothing.  Indeed, the little traitor practically rolled his eyes at me when I was saying goodbye.

I will be along to visit all of you soon!  xx

The Captain's Bush Detectives Party

So.. this was a little while ago, but for the sake of posterity I thought I should document the event with a few photos:

Yes... they came across three of them during the course of the party and yes... it is a Red Belly Black Snake.

Happy Sixth Birthday Captain!  At six years old you are a passionate Lego engineer and can spend hours either creating a masterpiece of your own design or following the instructions to build the model.   Playmobil, Superstructs, the vintage Thunderbirds toys, craft and reading are your other biggest passions.  Your favourite books are The Secret Seven series, The Magic Tree House, The Famous Five and more recently the Just So Stories.  It started off with me reading to you and now we are taking turns at reading pages to each other. 

You love school and regularly tell me that you are friends with everyone in your class.  You often play goodies and baddies and divide yourselves into Teams which you refer to as the BB Team and the Fairy House Team.  You leave the house for school looking pristine and come home filthy.  At school this year you have learnt how to play chess, the basics of fencing, about respect, to recite verses of Shakespeare, about friendship, the Pause and you earnt so many Merit cards that I could probably wallpaper a wall in your room with them!  Your buddy Ethan from the sixth class helped you settle in and was a great role model for you.  You will miss him next year when he goes off to high school.   

At home when you are not busy destroying our backyard with your brother creating dams and construction sites, you love to swim in the pool, swing on the swing out the front (you both LOVE that swing), have your dad (not so much me) throw a cricket ball for you to bat and throw paper planes off the deck.  You keep pestering me to get you some more tadpoles.  You are onto your third Venus Fly Trap plant, you solemnly promised not to feed this one any insects and so far so good.  I think it is about 4-5 months old now!

Your favourite food is pizza made by your Dad.  Your favourite DVDs are The Thunderbird Movie, The Adventures of Clutch Powers, the Lego Megafactories Documentary, Tom and Jerry and Miniscule.  I am pleased to say that you really have no idea about computers and certainly have no clue what a DS or Wii are.  Please let it stay that way for as long as possible my darling! 

You told me once that you are my precious and it is quite right, you truly are my precious boy.

John & Ginger in Freshwater

Home Beautiful arrived yesterday and as I was quickly flicking through,  as I won't have time to properly read it until after Dec 11th or when the majority of the work will be finished,  I was captivated by this image:

I was so enamoured of it that first thing this morning, ie. after I dropped the Captain off at school, I raced over to Freshie to have a look.  I was desperate to get those blue and white cushions as well...

mmmmm, look how lovely they are! 

Imagine, my disappointment when I found out that they were sold yesterday.  Some smartypants obviously got their copy of Home Beautiful before I did...

Nevermind, the trip to John & Ginger was well and truly worth it.  It is one of the most beautiful shops that I have ever visited and the owner is just gorgeous.