Light news

For the past couple of years we've had a light bulb as our light fitting in the study...Sad how that happens.

The bayonet fitting was actually broken and we finally had that attended to on the weekend.

study while it was being renovated last year

Because the ceiling in this room is quite low we are limited in what we can have as a light fitting.

Rather than buy a new one, we just re-used an old Art Deco glass shade that used to be in the bathroom. It's a bit paint splattered, but it's just going to have to do for now until we are motivated to strip it back.

And in more exciting news, I found some new Murano crystals to replace the broken ones in the great chandelier fall of 2011. I've been told by some readers, they remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they first found out about our chandelier fall...it was big news.

pink Murano dragon tears

There are about 70 'new' dragon's tears which were part of another chandelier I had picked up.

I'm debating whether to keep the chandelier for the master bedroom though...or just use the tears in our dining room chandelier, as well as replace the drops in our new bathroom light fitting...

Decisions, decisions. (and be kind Anon Natalie! xx)

Anyway, we are just dripping in Murano crystal tears at the moment.

Study before and after

Another room down. 

Jason found the study to be the most frustrating room to work on because it was poorly constructed in the first place. Nothing is square and it was rough as guts. 

It still is, but that's an old house for you. It would quickly lose its appeal if we tried to make it into the Taj Mahal. It's come a long way though from how it used to be.

The only thing left to do is to source a suitable light fitting for the ceiling. Anyway, here are the after shots. 

View of study from the sunroom.
The architraves around the windows were replaced and made to match the rest of the house.  The two chairs are Danish Quality Furniture (DQF) which were made in Brisbane.

New brass fittings (which caused so many tears last week) on the old casement windows 

quad was used around the walls as skirting  - to seal the gap from floor board to wall.
Jason built floor to ceiling book shelves last year in a dead space in the corner of the room.

We've centred the desk under the window when we decluttered the study.
We also moved all the electrical points lower to the ground, there used to be one power point at waist height near the door. 

It's nice to be able to open the two doors of the study to get a nice breeze on hot still days.

A fresh coat of paint in the study made a world of difference. We used Dulux wash and wear for the walls
and gloss white for the doors and windows. We scraped the cream paint off the old door knobs. Jason then polished the copper plate

 And here are the before shots:

This photo was taken just before we moved into the Sow's Ear in 2009.  It's very crude in its construction.
On our first inspection of the Sow's Ear there was a large wardrobe blocking one of the two doorways. It was used as a craft room but it was basically a junk room.

Bodgy wood work

We put the desk close to this wall because of the lack of power points in the room. We also had a set of  book shelves on the other side of the desk

We've put these shelves in Jason's hobby room under the house

It's a gorgeous room now - such a pleasure to blog in the new headquarters.

P.S The Australian Modern giveaway is still open. Make sure you leave a comment to win your very own copy. Open to all world wide. HERE

Study photos - more progress

It's very nearly finished. These photographs were taken yesterday. Jason's still fiddling around with the window hardware tonight. He can't seem to leave them alone..

The doors haven't been painted yet, nor do we have a light fitting but apart from that it's close to being finito. I should be able to move back into blogging HQ tomorrow after I clean the floors.

Disregard the disarray you see in the photos. Things are a bit all over the place at the moment but I thought it would be good to show you the layout of the study.

The study taken from our sunroom

The study taken from our front entry

This shot is taken from the study. You can see it has two entry points which makes it a nice little home office.

 And in breaking news, Jason's favourite work shorts are tearing to shreds. He may soon have to go shirtless and short-less!

impersonating a castaway with his poor old shorts

The many ways to insult a brass screw

Jason's dark and stormy. He's been working on the study all day and he's still at it. It was going quite well until late this afternoon. He'd finished the painting, cleaned himself up, had a break and poured himself a nice glass of Cabernet. Then he decided to put the brass fittings on the windows...

We are all (the boys and I) keeping very low. Son #3 was swiftly bathed, fed and put to bed. The two older boys are under strict instructions to be on their best behaviour. They know that there is some Jekyll and Hyde renovating occurring in the Sow's Ear.

And the reason? The tiny brass screws which come with the brass window pulls and casement stays are snapping in half.

brass screw cleanly snapped

The screws are no longer referred to as screws now. Jason has officially renamed them any profanity you could possibly imagine:

sh*t things,
motherf*%^ers 
c*&ts 
f*%^ing useless things
pieces of crap
stupid b#^%ards

The screws are not a standard size and there are no spare screws which come with the window hardware. The shops are shut because it is Sunday evening. Mr Hyde, I mean Jason is making do with the little he has at the moment. He just wants to secure the windows before we go to sleep tonight.

I asked poor old Jason how everything was going and he used an analogy to describe his feelings: "You know the first day when wear a new pair of shoes. When you have to walk from one end of town to the other and  you start to develop large blisters on your feet. That's what it feels like. Every bloody step is just agonising."

That's when the latest screw snapped. As did Jason.

I inadvertently took some video footage while I was photographing the "motherf*%^er" (i.e the brass screw, NOT Jason). It's only four seconds of insults which are luckily, in this instance, G rated. 

The Study. It's looking great.

Anyway, you have been warned. Brass screws suck.

Night painting

It's half past eight in the evening as I begin typing this blog post. We've had dinner, the dishwasher is loaded, the two youngest boys are snug in bed and I'm catching up on some writing work which needs to be finished, except that I'm writing this instead...

And Jason is painting the study. He arrived home from work at the usual time this evening, mixed up a Martini, drank it, ate his dinner and then put on his Fun and VJs uniform. Painting shorts. He's painting the study like a man possessed. What a classic. His propensity to work is almost freakish!

Who could be arsed painting at night when you don't have to? It's not like we're on a renovating TV show nor are we selling the Sow's Ear in the near future...

Looks like the study will be finished sooner rather than later. So, does anyone else out there paint in the evening?

Jason's painting the study ceiling and walls tonight.
The doors, windows and architraves will be the last thing he paints.

Brothel...oops! I mean Study progress

It was high domestic drama last night. I was reprimanded for my hoarding ways when we were clearing out the study in preparation for sanding and painting. Poor Jason can't stand that we have excess stuff and issued me a stiff warning: "There's no point renovating if you intend to keep it as a brothel!"

I told him to take a chill pill but that didn't go down well. In an effort at self-preservation, I told him I'd improve my bower bird ways...clearly, I was lying but it was enough to quell Jason's fiery temper.  This is one of the ground-hog day arguments we play over and over again. You know how it is...same argument, different day...

The window architraves are repaired and the undercoat to cover the old cream walls has been applied.
The windows will be repainted white.
Here's an alternative view of Jason for his fans.

Jason put an architrave around the door. It used to have nothing but now it is nicely framed .

It is only a small room at approximately 3m x 3m. As Blog HQ I'm hoping it will be finished soon.

Study windows and a hammer holster

Jason found a hammer holster in some of the bits and bobs which Mr Rooney, our southern-dwelling builder, left behind in our garage. 

Jason  imagines he's a tradie but I have to remind him that he's not...especially when he's carrying one of the children's hammers in the hammer holster...It's true!

hammer holster

So, fully armed with his holster attached to his middle, Jason began work on the study. The project involves
fixing up botched window architraves and a wonky bullnose and scotia. It was a bit of a pig's breakfast, really.

The new architraves are similar to the what is in the rest of the house. Jason also reinstated some VJs (vertical join boards) which were missing near the windows. We find that giving the windows some TLC goes a long way to improving the look of a room. And with a coat of paint or two, it will come up schmicko!

Stay tuned for another study update soon.

P.S thanks so much for all the lovely well-wishes for my birthday.xx

removal of bullnose and scotia. It will be recycled again in the study.

All the old window architraves have been removed

Birthdays, mention and study renovation

Birthdays are fun when you reach an age where wearing deep red nail polish doesn't look too out of place. Unless of course you're at home doing breakfast dishes...but I won't let that deter me. Thanks N, L & G!

The bounty of lovely birthday gifts

Jason also bought me some rather impractical underwear. He is very much of the mindset that gifts should be of the sort that keep on giving (in this case, to the hopeful 'gifter'). Classic. (It's in the background in the above photo!)

Birthday bubbles

Also, I'd like to thank the lovely and friendly Julie-Ann from the Decorating Forum for the shout out  today. She's made special mention of our deck renovation on the forum which you should all check out HERE (if you want). This is a great site for useful home design advice and worth a visit if you are renovating or decorating.

And perhaps the loveliest gift of all is the start made on the study renovation. If you follow Fun and VJs on Facebook, you would've seen snippets of the progress we made on the weekend and the crying over spilt beer fiasco. Work is well and truly under way for a revamped study. Hooray!!

Change of plans...already

So much for the big pronouncements for 2012...

Jason's putting on hold some of the 2012 renovation plans after he looked at our rather unhealthy bank balance just after I published that last blog post. Ha! Christmas and New Year are an expensive time of year, doubly so if all your life and income protection insurance is due on Boxing Day. Yikes!

It seems our reno desires are bigger than our budget at the moment. The decorative valances for our deck and recladding the bottom half of the Sow's Ear are postponed for now, so there will be no getting jiggy with the circular saw this month. It may be an Easter project.

Unfortunately, the priority will be on finishing the exterior painting while we save up some dollars. We have a lot of paint. And painting is a relatively inexpensive task when DIYing. The second carport needs to be finished too, as it is still in heritage colours.

Jason is planning to renovate the study at the same time - it is a small room and hopefully it will break up the monotony of just painting. There are window frames which need fixing and some VJ (vertical join) board  to reinstate on the walls; that may be the variety needed to spice things up around here. It will also be within our meagre budget.

Study windows with old tear-drop window hardware.

Study windows. The bullnose and scotia and window frames require some work!

Original casement stays

The funny thing is he went to buy brass window fittings on his way to work this morning. That's keen! He loves his polished brass and has bought enough for the seven windows which are in the study. I've said it before but Jason's all about bling and bedazzle.

I'd be inclined to keep the original hardware myself but this is a battle I know I will lose. Truthfully, the originals don't function well and the stays don't 'stay' either. And they don't bling.

To appease my guilt for replacing 80 year old fittings, Jason tosses it in a box in the garage so it remains with the Sow's Ear, but really he would have no qualms throwing it in the wheelie bin when I'm not looking!

Image from HERE

brass casement window stay

2012 plans

A lot was achieved on the Sow's Ear last year.

The master bedroom and sunroom were completely renovated,

Master bedroom finished earlier this year.
below are the sunroom shots

two new window hoods were reinstated on the side of the house,

this is the hood over the window of the back bedroom

a bookshelf was custom built in the study by Jason DIY Inc.,

Study bookshelves. This is one of the last rooms yet to be completed. It is like the study/junk room at the moment. Scary!

the deck was given a new insulated ceiling which has worked a treat on really hot days,

It is finally painted but I can't show you just yet as there are a few final things to be done

and the biggest achievement of all...the exterior of the Sow's Ear was painted...over the span of a year.
This of course has had the biggest impact in terms of the appearance of the Sow's Ear. She's emerging from the swine to the divine...ha! Corny puns are my forte!

(but believe it or not, there is still a lot of painting to do under the house like the deck joists etc. It seriously is never ending),

Jason finished painting the back stairs and oiled the treads. They look too good to use!

So, onwards and forward in 2012.

I've been given a list for timber supplies. Jason's getting jiggy with the circular saw this January. He's thinking decorative valances for around the deck. He loves his architectural bling!

2012 will also see the removal of the asbestos cladding under the house which will be replaced with weatherboards. A big undertaking...for the weekend warrior.

A new front fence is on the books too. I've selected the style which I like and which is in-keeping with 1920s era of the Sow's Ear. Jason is not keen to tackle this job by himself, so it will be outsourced early this year.

We also have the quandary of our side stairs which still need to be finished...Mr Rooney, our intrepid builder, if you care to have a working holiday in Queensland you are welcome to visit the Sow's Ear at your leisure.

The study is also on the hit list to be renovated. This means repairing the window frames, copious amounts of paint and a major cull of our junk!

Oh and the bathroom. The bathroom is on the wish list too.

That should keep us out of mischief. Gotta love a project to work on.

Happy Days for 2012!

Study bookshelves finished

The bookshelf in the study is complete. Hooray!

And we are going to be quite boring and put only books and some DVDs in them for now.

Floor to ceiling bookshelves for the study in our Queenslander

We are very pleased with them as it is good use of previously dead space. Storage in a Queenslander house is always scarce.

Some of our books- the military fiction and non-fiction  (with the rogue Star Wars book) are Jason's

We have another bookshelf in the study which we plan on re-painting to store the rest of our books and files. That will be for another day though.

Speaking of books, I just bought a series of Shakespeare for young readers for Son #1. Last semester, his teacher had been reading them aloud in class during free time. The books have really captured #1's imagination and he was very keen to get some for home.

It is always a struggle to find books which appeal, so at least I knew I would be on a winner with these books.

Shakespeare for children books
Son#1's favourite was Henry V

The plays have been retold in more accessible language and are a great introduction to Shakespeare. I ordered them online from Shakespeare's Globe in the UK and they arrived within a week of ordering them - just in time for the school holidays!

Fun painting vs dull painting

I get all the fun painting jobs in the Sow's Ear.

Like spray painting the boys' letters which hang in their room. Quick, easy and fun.

R is for Son #3 who likes blue

 We were also given two old clip-on bedside lamps from a friend whose children have outgrown them. Love the primary colours. The lamps will look better against the walls when we repaint the room white.

F is for Son #2 who likes "gween"

 And poor Jason gets all the dull painting jobs.

Like painting the newly constructed bookshelves in the study this evening.

And the rest!

Jason has a new painting t-shirt - aka the tent.

Bright sunshine and bookshelves

Yesterday, while I was dying from a gastro bug, Jason was very productive in the bright sunshine. Heaven knows what the children were doing while I had my head in the porcelain...

This morning I surveyed his work. He finished painting the weather boards on the last remaining section of the back of the house. The stumps and the backstairs still need to be done but that will be a job for later. Jason is trying to paint the hard-to-reach areas first while we have the trestles.

exterior painting of weather boards

And while I was sleeping, Jason finished the much maligned bookshelves in the study. It looks fantastic and will be incredibly useful when they it is sanded and painted. It will put this wasted corner into good use.

built-in bookshelves

Study bookshelves

Jason spent today constructing shelves for the study. It was too wet and miserable to work outside, so rather than taking a day off he decided to construct some shelves for the study. Jason is super-motivated.

The new shelves are in a previously wasted corner of the study.

Before shot taken in 2009:
The new shelves will be tucked in behind where the chair sits.

Sadly, it was harder work than he anticipated. A few planks of pine, a couple of VJs and a few rogue screws got the better of him.

Built-in book shelf progress

The language which came from his mouth would make the most hardened prison warden blush. And it always gets worst at dusk, in that rapidly fading light. Rather than stop and walk away from a frustrating task, Jason ploughs on to the bitter, cussing end.

I will spare you the tirade he directed at the shelves. Let's just say the shelves were personified into something evil. It was painful to watch...especially when there were no shirtless shots to take.

Jason's new drill. He bought it with vouchers he received as a farewell gift, when he changed jobs earlier this month.
image from here

Anyway, Jason used his new toy to construct the shelves. It is a cordless drill - a compact impact driver. Yeah!

He's still learning how to use it effectively, but I swear it is a vast improvement to his archaic drill he has used for the past 13 years. Now that he's got it, we wonder how he ever managed to get things done without it. An invaluable tool which comes highly recommended from a DIY home renovator.