A little March update

Salvias looking great all around the garden.

Cherry tomatoes still going strong in the tunnel.

For the birthday boy.

Birthday boy taking his first run grass carting down the hill.

Keira catching a ride back up the hill for another go.

A test for the eyes - a tiny jigsaw puzzle of a vintage world map.

Keith hard at work in his 'office'.

New mulch in front of the house.

Taking a walk in the mist.

Snakes alive!

According to wiki 

The Eastern Brown Snake is the second most venomous land snake in the world.

Sharyn & I were enjoying a pleasant morning tea when one slithered past our feet less than a couple of metres away.

He was hunting for lizards and had the scent of one behind  this rock wall.

While peering into a crevice between the rocks it suddenly thrashed it's body and disappeared completely. At the same time a copper backed lizard dashed out from the other side and headed for cover elsewhere.

The Eastern Brown emerged, still hungry, but ready to strike. Shortly afterwards it hide itself behind the same rock, waiting for the lizard to return.

I didn't do any wall building for a couple of days.

Heating & a new project

The sun is out today which is great after the last few days of cold and lashing rain. This will be our first winter with our underfloor heating working throughout the ground floor of the house. Quite a milestone! 

Of course the piping was all put in when the slab was poured right at the beginning, but it wasn't until last spring that we were able to purchase the heat pump that makes it all work. 

There isn't any natural gas at this property, and as we have quite substantial winters, it's important that we are able manage the running costs of whatever heating we use. We have a wood burning fire in the family room that we light in the evenings that adds warmth and makes the room feel cozy. There is a lot of timber lying around that we are able to collect from the property and this fire is also connected to the piping in the floor and gives the heat pump a hand. 

We've recently been doing some work on the garage/studio. Mainly installing new windows and doors in the garage section. Upstairs is the two bedroom studio that my sister and her children lived in for a few years.

New timber door and windows at back.

The main push to finish this building now is because we would like to be able to rent out the studio for short stays. I think it will be a good project for me to manage and hopefully will provide some extra funds to help negate our heating bill!

New unpainted garage doors at front.

Keith has built the garage doors and once they have had some details added, I'll give them a coat of paint. There is quite a bit still to do, but we've made a good start and hopefully it won't be too long before both the inside and the outside are ready. Can't wait to show some 'after' photos!

Small 'wicket door' for easy access.

This is the picture we used as the starting point for inspiration, minus the top row of glass.

(Photo from AGD Systems)

Abstraction

A new painting went up on the weekend.

It is up quite high in the family room and is probably the most abstract painting I've done.  I found it a little bit tricky to get going but then it got to a point when it started to feel right and the process became very enjoyable.

I deliberately stepped back and stopped before I normally would.  We put it up in place and decided to leave it there.  I'm happy that it doesn't look 'overworked' and still has a fresh feeling.

Christmas time

Our front door wreath made by Keira and Keith, from gum leaves.

Inside the entry, we now have a garland decorating the staircase.  It has lots of white roses, silver baubles and berries and looks great.

This is one of those 'book wreaths'.  I actually made this last year and we liked the way it looked in the dinning room - so we left it there all year!

Our tree - with a new star this year.

Made by Keira with the help of the hot glue gun and lots of twigs from outside the back door.

The fireplace with picture by Cal and crotchet stars. (The pebbles around the candle holders are from our holiday in Nice.)

Also in the family room . . .

And, my favourite - our reindeer.  I bought him from Dural Christmas Tree Farm about 10 years ago and every year Keith threatens that he'll be firewood next year . . .  But I do love him and when he's out you know it's really Christmas!

Spring Cleaning

Last week I tackled the huge pile of unopened post, old school assignments and general chaos in our study. With all four of us using this room for all computer work and school stuff it sees a lot of activity and it really needed a bit of a clean up.

It felt so good to get it sorted out that this week I decided to tackle the laundry. Another room that definitely sees a lot of activity!

And, I'm so happy that it's clean and working more efficiently that I've decided to 'spring clean' other rooms in the house, including spending a day just on the windows (a massive job).

With three weeks left of spring, it's a good thing I've made a start . . there's lots to do and I'd like to get as much done as possible before school finishes early in December and we start the lead up to Christmas.

Memory Tree

Keira love's this blue/turquoise colour in her room - it's Dulux's Waikiki.  Recently I saw this tree painted on a wall in an IKEA magazine and immediately wanted to try it in her room.

IKEA FAMILY LIVE Summer 2011

I drew the outline of the tree with a piece of chalk and when I was happy with the shape I painted it in using the white paint that we used on the doors and trim.  I tried not to stress too much and be relaxed when I was drawing it on, but I still had to get up and down the ladder and stand back to look at it a few times!

We've just put up the few frames we had already in her room and over time can add to it.  I think it would look good with some keepsakes too, like her first ballet slippers, etc.  I love these stick on hanging strips from 3M.  They're great for these small, lightweight frames and seem to stay on the gyprock walls.  (They don't stay so well on our rendered walls . .)

We gave that armchair to Keira on her birthday this year and I made the cushions to go with it (and the wall). The patchwork one is made using some of the fabrics from the quilt I'm making for her and also includes an old dress that she had when she was little.

I'm including photos of the back because it's the first time that I've covered buttons with fabric and they worked really well.  I always thought they'd be fiddly but they were super quick and are very effective I think. 

I also gave piping a go on this one.  I have done that before and while I can't say I love the process, again I think it's worth it for the finish it gives.

Overall, I'm very happy with the way the wall looks and Keira really likes it too - which of course is the main thing! I think it's a nice thing to look at when she wakes up in the morning and it's also a good way to show new friends some of her memories.

On Display

This week saw Caley's crystal and fossil collection come out of various boxes in his room and be put on display in the entry of our house. 

Before

I found the display case on Ebay, it was very cheap and turned out to be twice the size I thought it was going to be . . (must remember to check the measurements more accurately!).

 

Once home, I gave it a good clean and moved a desk from another room into just about the only place in the house where it would fit.  Caley arranged the crystals and used a reference book to check on some of the names he wasn't sure of.

We printed out some labels and added a few relics we found in a corner of our block where someone must of had a camp a long time ago, and an emu egg from our trip last year to Western Australia.

I'm so happy with the way it has turned out.   As we walk through the house now, you can have a look as you go past.  So many of the different pieces have special memories for Caley depending on where he collected them or remembering who it was who gave them to him as a gift.

And, as Caley pointed out, there is still plenty of room for the collection to continue to grow!