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)

Another Wildlife Story + 15 photos

Well, my builder has relocated our residential 3m long carpet python.....I have never seen it but my neighbours had told me about it. My builder came face-to-face with it the other day. He said it was the thickness of his thigh and it's the biggest carpet python he's every seen. It's now been relocated to the bush out the back of Capalaba to live a happy existence rather than in the back-blocks of inner city Brisbane. He told me it was in the old shed out the back - which is scary as I was placing doors in there over the weekend and it would have been lurking somewhere around.....thank god I didn't see it, as they would have heard my screams 1km away!

This is going to be short and sweet as I have a virus and am at home sick today - stupid gastro bug + sore throat.....am just about to head back to bed.

Latest update:

• I have met up with the cabinet maker and the kitchen is now being made. I have to organise the granite/composite stone benchtops but they will be fab.
• am frantically organising bits and pieces such as whitegoods, toilets, shower, baths, taps, vanities etc....all systems go
• house is close to lock up - nearly all windows are in
• painter is working away frantically and the house has most of the weatherboards now in place.
• the modifications to the main bedroom have occurred
• the internal stairwell has been cut out
• I have nearly finished sanding back the archway, next to the new internal stairs, which has been a big job
• gas fitter has put in the new gas lines in the house - waiting on origin energy to connect the natural gas from the street to the house
• back deck has been oiled twice
• electrician has done all the new wiring in the new parts of the house (powerpoints, data cables, lights, fans).....ready to be installed. I have to organise my electrician to do the old parts of the house (lighting) as well as order all my lights/fittings. I also have to organise the alarm system has to be run before ceiling is sheeted) and also the intercom
• the VJ sheeting will go on in the next 2 weeks.
• internal stairwell has been cut out ready for the stairs and balastrading to go in.

Some photos (these are from 2 weeks ago - will need to take some more updated soon).

Photos 1-5: my new kitchen and living area (various views, including inside-out and outside-in)

Photo 6: the new internal stairwell (cut out from the old study - the builder has put in a temporary board to stop me falling downstairs) - i've picked the balastrading, which is yet to arrive

Photo 7: my hand sanding efforts (archway overlooking new internal stairs), not finished yet. the doorway to the rest of the house has been blocked with a big sheet of plywood.

Photo 8: view from lounge through to new kitchen area (with the sheet of plywood, that you see in Photo 7, removed) - it looks dark due to the staining on the walls......this will, of course, be painted-out to make the rooms lighter and brighter...

Photo 9: view from main bedroom modifications up the hallway to internal stairwell (as shown in Photo 6). You can see into the bathroom on the RHS of the picture as they have removed a cupboard - this will not be there shortly....the wall will be closed over shortly so that the shower can be fitted behind (and a small linen closet). Missing floorboards have now been replaced.

Photo 10: shows where the wall between the old sleep-out and the main bedroom has been removed (you can see the back of the old set of cupboards (these will be painted white and moved to the garage). behind these cupboards is the new doorway (french doors) onto the deck. Since this photo was taken, the builder has modified the ceiling and put in all the framing for the wardrobe cupboards as well as modified the windows in the sleep out/new study....will give you an updated picture shortly. the floorboards are also now in place. They had to hide a 1 inch drop in the floor line in the new wardrobe space....this is why you need an experienced builder....nothing is square in an old house.

Photo 11 - 13: These are downstairs photos looking into the 'games room'.

• First one is from the space for the internal stairwell that is looking into the room (since this photo was taken, the back windows have been put into place);
• 2nd one is standing near the bifold doors and looking back across the games room towards the internal stairwell space; and
• 3rd one is from outside (under deck ) looking towards the bifold doors into the games room (the weatherboards are now in place in this whole area). The laundry is on the LHS of the photo.
• Collectively, these photos give you an idea of the size of the games room (it's pretty big at 6mx6m) and the living space in/out downstairs.

Photo 14 & 15: Views of my big pivot front door - standing inside and then standing outside... a cool extravagance.......but I adore the door so it's more than worth it. Now just need to pick the right door handle (aka door 'furniture').

I'm In Awe

I'm so excited about my house. It looks so fabulous since the builder has laid the new hardwood floorboards in the dining/living/new kitchen area. The place really is starting to look magic. They
have also put in my pivot front door....the extravagant (expensive one) that I had to have....

So rather than bore you with words...I'm just going to blog my photos....

Plus, this will give me some extra time tonight to start my spanish homework (as there's a few social events and some reno work standing between me and my next spanish class on Tues night)...our teacher really loaded us up with work this week.










Picture 1: Current look of the back deck area - the gable was painted last week. Bay window in the kitchen is now in place, which you can see.










Picture 2: My new downstairs front door 'undressed'.....it's yet to get 'door furniture'. A retaining wall will be build where the pile of besser bricks is located so there is direct access to the front door from the street)










Picture 3: My new floorboards, looking towards the kitchen bifold window. To the LHS of the step later - the blue timber on the floor marks the edge of the kitchen and where the back stairs will be and the 3rd toilet (aka the 'powder room'.

Sorry all....I've tried several times to blog some additional photos but they won't upload.....so you'll have to wait to see these until another day (when not so many people are using the internet). At least 3 pics give you a taste of the progress :o)