he's so handsome.....

....my house, that is......

..... I'm going to name the house "Ashmead" ...this was my dad's middle name (it's a family name) and it's very masculine......I think it suits the house.....



this next photo is of the internal stairwell, from the bottom looking up, as promised in my last blog entry.....












photo below is of my new window seat as well as replacement casements (to replace those that were there as the wood had deteriorated).....this is in the new living space - right next to the back door and new kitchen (this was actually where my kitchen sink was located prior to the house being raised).












no more photos tonight...I'll post some external photos and also some photos of the new study (aka old 'sleep out') soon

must get to bed......it's after 1.15am and I have a full day of no-more-gapping VJs tomorrow......prior to doing a quick clean up of James's place before picking him up from the airport sometime after 10.40pm (he's been in the UK for 2 weeks).....will be a big day......guess they'll be no time for sleeping on the couch from 8.30pm and none of James's coffee as an attempt to keep me awake to make it to the airport in time.....hope you all had a great Easter!!!

Soon to be house and garden magazine feature :o)

well, ok, we're not quite there for a glam magazine spread.......but are well on the way..... as promised, some photos:

This first photo is just to show you the colours I have chosen internally....this is a photo of the laundry but you just need to look at the grey door frames (and soon to be doors) - high gloss - and the white VJ walls - satin finish........for you to see the colour combination for the internals of the house - very simple and very neutral......to be enhanced by furnishings!












Photo 2: white weatherboards are new addition to match the front of the old house....ready to have dowel added and to be painted. See also the new front stairs...









Photo 3: 'games room' downstairs with the start of the tiling done.....the grey tiles have a fleck in them but these seem to have been lost when laid én masse....the tiling in this area was finished today.....















Photo 4: internal stairwell - connecting up and downstairs (photo taken from top of the stairwell - problems, again, with downloading photos so bottom of stairwell photo will be in next blog entry)












Photos 5-7: Downstairs bathroom - wetsealed (the green stuff), with bath enclosed - Photo 4 is of the shower base, photo 5 is of the rest of the bathroom and Photo 6 is an example of the vanities (this one is a photo of the vanity forthe powder room aka toilet upstairs - missing the light grey composite stone vanity benchtop & above bench 'dazzle' basin.)

Glimpses of The 'Elements of Style'.....

I forget that a lot has happened since the 27 November blog......

• the walls (VJ sheeting downstairs and in new areas upstairs) have been sheeted
• ceilings have been gyprocked and the cornices completed
• all windows and doors are now in place (and decorative framing around the doors/windows)
• internal stairwell and balustrading has gone in
• painting has started
• I've picked the tiles and the tiler has started tiling downstairs
• the bathrooms (upstairs and downstairs) have been wet-sealed and bedded and the framing is around both baths
• they've finished the major wall changes to the inside of the house upstairs, except for one window (in bedroom 2 upstairs, where the french doors were previously)... as well as the louvres have not been taken out of upstairs at the front....this is due to waiting until the house is in complete 'lock up' before doing
• all appliances are order and are now in stock, ready to be put in the house
• vanities are waiting to be put in the house as well as the toilets, taps, shower roses and show screens etc.
• the kitchen is now in place except for the composite stone benchtops (50% deposit paid and contract signed - measure up and templates next week).
• laundry cupboards and bench are being made
• lighting in new parts of house is ready to go in (holes have been drilled) - had to rethink lighting to older parts of house due to aesbetos sheeting in ceilings....approach is to minimise the amount of disturbance to this sheeting.

Now for some photos:

Photo 1: my new kitchen...minus stainless steel new appliances and the white composite stone benchtop (Caesarstone colour "Ice Snow")

For some reason, I can't add any new photos to this blog (I've tried 5 times now to add new photos, to no avail), so I'm going to publish this blog with the one photo of my new kitchen.....and try to save more photos to a new blog entry....

The XY Factor

Yes, as I admitted in my last blog.....I have been distracted by a fellow, actually I've known him as a friend/work colleague in a past life (that is, my canberra past life since 2001)....

anyway, (his name is James) we've been going out for a few months now.....he's been marvellous in providing extra moral and physical support for my renovation....helping me sand walls....and sand walls.....and sand walls some more, just for good measure..........................hhhmmm, also, he did one stint of no-more-gapping (but it stopped there as I'm a bit of a perfectionist...so this is my domain).....and he's great at making me dinner, good coffee, breakfast shop visits & not hating me for falling asleep on his couch almost everytime I come over (sadly, this is generally by 8.30-9pm) ......yes, I've turned into a nanna.....

J's been attempting to keep Gemma, my dog, up to scratch with the whole OH&S requirements of a renovation site....as you can see from the following photo......





















ps J's bandana is to protect his shaved head from collecting a fine film of lead paint dust (which is not a good look when mixed with sweat), rather than as a try-hard-to-be-cool statement.....although James does have a very powerful sparkly blue Ninja motorbike
pps Gemma rocks .....as this photo is taken with her balanced on top of a wood plank between 2 a-frames.....about 1.5m off the ground....

we've also joined a Trivia team together on a Tuesday night with some of my work colleagues .......6 of us in the core group....James, Moi, Andrea, Elizabeth, Gordon, Michelle.....we're called The Isa Connection (don't even think about asking why as it's too convoluted to explain) and we tend to be in the top 5 each time.....but I also have to admit that we've had a bit of a winning streak when the 6 core team members are there.... James is actually obsessed by Trivia (but he's in denial so will rigorously refute this comment....)

Pleading the 5th (despite it not being part of the Australia Constitution)

all I can do is apologize for the long delay between my blog entries.

I plead the 5th amendment as I've had a few of the following happen since my last blog:

• distraction by someone of the XY chromosomal domain
• acting in (and then obtaining a promotion to) a higher level position, which has required a massive amount of work to get a Qld statewide social marketing campaign off the ground
• launch of the aforesaid social marketing campaign in early Feb.......and I'm still bogged down with responding to the massive public interest from the campaign (phone, letters, emails, etc)
• christmas
• further work on the renovation - from my perspective......aka sanding walls and no more gapping - aside from work recently, this has been my life's achievement of late....

This concludes this blog entry. This blog is short and sweet....to attain a psychological edge - you'll be mad at me, at first, but then will be anticipating the razzle-dazzle of the new reno photos I'm shortly going to blog (well, maybe not razzle-dazzle, but at least some progress) :o)