rennovating

look!  i finally tiled the kitchen

And when I say I, I probably should say we, or even more specifically Mum.  Thanks Mum!


I did the drudge – cleaning off the glue and the grouting.  And making cups of tea.  She did the glory – sticking the tiles on.  And Dad did the cutting.  Go team Coughlin!

It took all my spare time for 3 days.  Which I suspect is probably why it took me 2 years to start.  But now I have!

To celebrate my Moroccan looking tiles (that were made in Italy but called batik blue – which just makes me think of Bali) I got down my Scanpan tagine – that Mezzy gave me for Christmas (found at the op shop).  

And I cooked some middle eastern lemon chicken deliciousness … in my middle easterny kitchen.  Yay. Yay. Yay.

the train carriage (farm ❤️)

Sometimes I wish I lived on a farm. Maybe Mezzy’s with this spectacular view of the Grampians.  

  
Or Lu’s with this view …  

  
But the real reason I want to live on a farm is for things like this!

  
Lu has been telling me for ages that she wants to renovate a train carriage for her office. Sounds like a good idea I thought.

But until I went to the farm on the holidays and actually checked out the carriage she had there – and that has been there like forever sitting in a corner storing oil barrels and farm chemicals (for goodness sake) – I was a bit non-committal in my enthusiasm.

But now … OMG. It is quite frankly the best train carriage you ever did see. Lined with timber on the inside. Insulated like you wouldn’t believe. Amazing. And a project of manageable size. I hope Lu gets on with it like, next week.

   
  
  Go Lu, go! Get it moved to somewhere on the farm with a great view and access to power. Paint it. Whack in some glass doors. Build a verandah … It’s gonna be so ACE!

found #4 (a new door)

I am attempting to show some restraint.  So I am feeding you in dribs and drabs with my hard rubbish treasures.  Here’s a good one.

My new back door!

I saw it at 5pm at night.  I was attracted because, 

  1. It had a glass top, and 
  2. It had a precut doggy door.

So, I thought about it for a while, mentioned it to Clive, slept on it … and woke at 6am to go and get it.  Clive helped.  It was just around the corner.  We put it on the roof of my car.

And then … I called Dad.  Handy dads are so ace, aren’t they?

 

Dad spent 2 days on this project, and stayed til 8pm putting in the lock .

 
Actually, as always, it was a bit trickier than I imagined.  But two days later and ta da!  The door has had about an inch off on each side (and at the top) and has been filled where the old handles used to be.  The deadlock from the old door has been put on and is working.

The holes in the doorframe where the deadlock used to be have been filled, and obviously, new holes have been cut.

And the doggy hole has been widened, packed out and the doggy door has gone in.  Hooray.   It looks ace!  Now I just need to get out the trusty tube of ‘no more gaps’, and some paint and a brush.
Thanks (once again) dad.