Unexpected but not really

Subway tiles

Freshly painted french door

On Saturday morning we had a surprise visit from the tiler (actually he was expected but we were surprised he showed up). And wow! The tiling has completed the kitchen.

We were wondering how the white subway tiles were going to look on the old VJ walls. The VJs are in such bad condition - Jason tried to get them as smooth as possible but was hesitant to get the belt sander on to them, because of the layers of lead paint underneath.

There has been much agonising over the condition of the walls in the kitchen. However a good friend of ours said we should not go over the top with getting the walls perfect - the house is nearly 80 years old and that is part of the charm of an old home. If we wanted perfect walls, we should have bought a new house. A fair point.

Anyway, the tiler has done a cracker of a job, given the undulating nature of the walls. We think they look great.

Jason has almost finished painting the rest of the kitchen. One more coat on the walls and then two coats of gloss on the doors and frames.

Good-bye to the custard coloured windows and french doors. This Sow's Ear is indeed transforming....

A week in review

Child's Butterfly Chair in front entry

This is probably the first week where I haven't had a series of trade-people crawling in and out of the Sow's Ear...well, almost...

Monday morning I had a phone call from Raj who said that Prime Minister Rudd was willing to pay for my roof insulation in a bid to save the planet. There were no up-front payments and they could come the next day to do the job. Too good to be true, surely? Well I sussed it out further, consulting my friends. 'Yes, yes, as easy as that!' they assured me.

Tuesday morning, 10 minutes before the appointed time (too good to be true?), a good-looking bloke turns up (again, too good?) with his minions and within an hour the Sow's Ear was insulated with no money exchanging hands.

I'm not too sure whether this roof insulation will keep the house cooler in summer and warmer in winter. Perhaps it has a placebo affect? Perceived temperature control? At any rate, since we are lacking in the ceiling fan department, it would have to help during a hot and steamy Brissy summer.

The rest of the week has been spent blissfully devoid of fitting-in with trade-people. A little wrangling over the kitchen payments (a few small errors) and about why the tiler is phantom-like were some issues which cropped up. Apparently, the tiler is coming tomorrow, but I like to keep my expectations low, as you well know!

Jason is tackling the last kitchen wall for painting but the motivation is waning. Tiredness is overtaking him. Poor thing.

I inherited some cool art pieces from my good mates, Chris & Susan (their house was in last week's Q-weekend house feature in The Courier Mail ). The pieces are two antique Stations of the Cross salvaged from an old church - gorgeous carved timber frames. Just thinking were they will look best - Jason has banned them from the bedroom!

I am also waiting on four 1960's teak bar stools for the kitchen to be shipped up from Melbourne. A surprise find that was too good to let pass. Much cheaper than going to Great Dane but a hell of a lot more satisfying than going to Super A-mart! Cross fingers they won't get lost in transit.

A study

The study in the Sow's Ear is the tiniest room. It sits right at the front corner of the sunroom and has another access point from the front entry. This is the room, aside from the kitchen, where I spend the majority of my time.

It houses the laptop, a small bookcase (abandoned by the previous owners), utilitarian black filing cabinet, a vintage hoop pine desk and two DQF office chairs. As I write this blog, the morning sun is streaming through the amber-coloured windows, giving the room a warm ethereal glow. It really is quite a lovely room, but the walls are badly in need of a paint and there is a noticeable bow in one of the ceiling architraves.

Not too sure when we will get to renovating this room...in the meantime here are some photos of how it looks currently.

Empty study before the move

Oh wherefore art thou Tiler?

The tiler was due to perform his duties this morning, but never showed up...Mmmmm...no phone call, no nothin'. The poor white subway tiles are just sitting in their boxes waiting for their moment.

This kitchen is becoming a bit of an epic, but then I think the longer it takes to complete the longer the final payment can wait!

Here are a couple of snaps of the servery and new floating shelves:

Reunited

With all the extra storage I have in the kitchen, I have emptied almost all my packing boxes. There are a couple of boxes which I will have to sort through which are full of photographs and albums. They will have to wait until the boys are on holidays from school and kindy when my day won't be disrupted with the dreaded school run.

It's been nice to be reunited with my vintage art glass - my old friends. I will have fun working out where to place them!

The kitchen is in the final stages with most of the work to be completed this weekend. Jason will be scraping and prepping the last kitchen wall for a lick of paint. And hopefully that is another room done with eight more to go...