Friday 30 November 2012

A sea of Blue & White China...

Not sure if anyone is as much of a fan of Blue and White China as me (I LOVE it) but thought I should share this just in case... Yesterday I stumbled across a sea of Blue & White China just around the corner from my work at Sunnybank.  I have been stalking similar pieces on eBay and in blogs for months and it is very expensive! Here's some pics of what he is selling:



Everything was very very cheap - he only accepts cash and I advise strongly that you haggle with him to get the best price.  Here's some pics of amazing Blue & White China in action from my favourite Pinterest Verandah House:




 His store is literally in his front yard and the location is the corner of Mains and Newber Street Sunnybank... Run don't walk people - it won't last for long!!!
Find the sea of Blue & White China here...

Tuesday 27 November 2012

Weekend Progress...

As most of the work downstairs has been done and the bottom half of the house is finally secure - we are starting to focus our attention upstairs. As I have mentioned before the cash flow is starting to run thin so we are trying to get the kitchen and bathroom done first as they are obviously a priority.  The first thing we had to address upstairs was the rotting floor boards, this was caused from a leaky bathroom.  We priced up some timber floor boards, purchased them and set about ripping the damaged ones up.  Floor boards are quite expensive all up about $600 for the ones we needed.  Initially we thought it would be OK to just replace the area that was damaged but as the original boards had shrunk over the years it turned out that it was best to replace whole lengths instead.


Initial cuts to replace damaged areas


New Floor boards in - Thanks Travis!!!
 Another reason we were keen to replace the boards was that this needed to be done so we could get the beautiful French Doors in that I purchased a couple of weeks ago. - Here's where they will go - Please note only half the hole has been cut so far...
View from inside to out - so pretty!   

the french doors

 Dad spent most of Saturday morning battening the final palings onto the gate he made - Looks great!
Gate before

gate after
 Also during the week Dad also resurrected the lattice door that I was so keen to keep and re-use - its just so cute! He said it literally fell apart when he tried to sand it so he had to do some surgery on it including replacing the bottom panel with VJ sheeting, but it's come up a million dollars and finishes the space off really well.
Before


... After!


Finally the boys decided to spend Sunday arvo concreting and finishing off the last little bits downstairs - it amazes me everyday how willing they are to have a go and tackle jobs.

mixing up the concrete

finished product - they also formed up and concreted the block on the left after a besser black broke on them - again so clever!!!
Next weekend we hope to get the floor finished and the french doors in - with the help of Travis!  Wish us Luck!!!

Monday 26 November 2012

Hudson hard at work...

This was too cute not to share - Hudson helping Daddy and Poppy work on the house yesterday... complete with sound effects!

Friday 23 November 2012

I feel like a Duck!!!

Ever heard the expression "Be like a Duck, float calmly on the surface but paddle furiously underneath the water"??? That's how I feel this week.

We are having a meeting with our kitchen extraordinaire builder Alan sometime this weekend or early next week and he informed me that I need to have my oven, cooktop, dishwasher, rangehood etc etc etc all chosen before we can do anything - OMG why did I not think of this???

So I have been researching like a crazy person the best oven that will give me the most bang for our buck around the $2700 range (this must include oven, cooktop and rangehood).  I know that I want a stand alone oven like this:
sourced from For the Beach via Verandah House

I really like the sound of an ILVE and can't seem to find a bad reveiw on them - but they are pricey!
ILVE JC906

I would have to find a floor stock model to get in on that budget.  I also have found very good prices for a Baumatic like this one:
Bargain Price here...
 ... but have read bad reveiws for this model.  Finally I spoke to the salesman at Harvey Norman who raved about this SMEG package Harvey Norman SMEG Package but this is considerably still well above my budget - even after I haggled my butt off!

Arghhhhhhh so confused - the only other option is to purchase the cheapest 90cm stand alone I can find have the kitchen built arount this and upgrade it at a later stage - but I hate the thought of spending money only to have to spend more later... At the moment with the overall cash flow fast depleting and still no kitchen or bathroom installed I guess beggers can't be choosers!!!

Tuesday 20 November 2012

What a busy weekend!!!

Here's how our weekend looked (in pictures)....
Friday afternoon Dad and J cut some block work away in preparation to re-install the door into the laundry

Saturday morning Dad installed the steel stumps (he made - so clever!)


Hudson helped Poppy...

... while I painted the remaining battens - then they got rained on and ruined :-(
When the rained cleared I started painting our new Chamfer Board wall

this is the wall going up (framed)

Hudson - always working....

... finished product (minus paint)

Whilst I was busy Dad started installing the new gate (he also made)...
SUNDAY: got up early to do some more painting...

then headed to the Temple...

Pretty Girls...

Hudson and his "Ya"

then headed home to prepare the roast and wait for everyone to arrive to put up the Christmas Tree - yes we know it's not Dec 1 yet but Nanna could not wait any longer (neither could Hudson)

Everyone was very "Merry"
Jeff also managed to finish off the Fringe Battens and 99% of the side battens...

Phew - need a weekend to get over our weekend!!!

Saturday 17 November 2012

Getting ready to join the masses...




Up extra early to head to Aldi this morning to pick up a couple of these cute Cape Cod Chairs for Hudson's House.  They are $80 each which is a HUGE bargain - these usually retail for $200-$400+ and i have been coveting them for months!!! Wish me luck...