Best of the Brisbane blogosphere

Best of the Brisbane blogosphere

Well, fancy that! And so very unexpected!!

Fun and VJs was mentioned in the Brisbane Times (part of Fairfax digital) as one of their favourite blogs in Home and Lifestyle.

You must read it - Jason gets a mention. Too funny.

Thanks Brisbane Times.

An easy choice

Thanks for your comments regarding our wall quandary. I did like hearing what approach you would take if you were in a similar situation.

To refresh your memories our options were:

1. Leave the fibro as it is.

2. Disguise it - leave the fibro, but nail ready-made MDF VJ (vertical join) panel board over the top.

3. Remove the fibro sheeting completely and replace it with traditional pine VJ timber planks.

The reality is our wall options were always going to be a toss up between Options 2 and 3 with the deciding factor being time and cost.

Old fibro walls

Jason is (undiagnosed) OCD.  Having two different wall types in the same room does not compute (feature walls don't form part of his vernacular...), therefore Option 1 was not even entertained for more than a minute.

He is also not one for leaving a job half done for too long, so time was of the essence with the time-bomb ticking in his head.

Cost was another issue - a DIY job was on the cards.

  

removing D mould which formed the frame and sill for the windows. This photograph is for Melissa.

I was pushing for Option 3 - complete asbestos removal with replacement VJ timber boards. As this was going to take more time and hassle, the Chief Renovator pushed for Option 2. 

I could hardly argue with him since I was not prepared to hammer each indivdual VJ board up, nor was I getting in any disposable suit and mask to rip off the asbestos fibro sheets.

New frame and window sills installed

So option 2 it was.

Now that it's complete, I know it was better than Option 3.  You know how I know this?

I quote the Chief Renovator (please imagine these being said in a maniacal voice in the fading light):

"Next time, we buy a new house!"

"These f*cking stupid nails are useless! Useless!"

"Is there nothing f*cking square in this house?"

"Another one of my bright ideas to buy this house..."

"This. Is. The. Last. Job. I. Ever. Do! We're paying someone to do the rest of these f*cking renovations!" 

VJ panel board to cover the old fibro walls

New window sill, frames and VJ board panelling awaiting a coat of paint

To VJ or not to VJ?

That is was the question.

image from here

There was much debate about what we should use to line the walls, beneath the new casement windows in our bedroom.

This bay window area has asbestos fibro sheeting rather than the original VJ (vertical join) walls, which is throughout the house. The bay window was a later addition in the 1950s or 1960s.  We also have fibro sheeting on the enclosed sunroom/verandah.

Ah yes...the ubiquity of asbestolux...

We tossed about our options:

1. Leave the fibro, as it is.

It's been there for nearly 50 years. Perhaps there is merit to just let it be, as it forms part of the history of this Queenslander. It is also in very good condition with no cracks.

Fibro wall under the casement windows

2. Disguise it - leave the fibro, but nail ready-made MDF VJ panel board over the top.

The cheat's way of getting the right look without the extra effort...A few panels of "eazy-vj" and, hopefully, Bob's your uncle.

 image from here

3. Remove the fibro sheeting completely and replace it with traditional pine VJ timber planks.

This would be completely in keeping with the traditional way the house was built, but with the added hassle/cost of asbestos removal and disposal.

So, we made a considered decision given our personal circumstances...to be revealed in a later post.

What would you do if it were you?

Romantic casement windows

All the casement windows are now installed in our bedroom.  They are just waiting on the finishing touches, but at least the fiddly part of hanging the windows is over.

I was hasty in my comments about Jason deriving great satisfaction from manual work. After the weekend, there is definitely no fear of Jason giving up his day job and seeking a builder's apprenticeship.

What an ordeal! The colourful language used when things aren't going exactly to plan would make the most hardened prison warden blush. I would never have believed how difficult it was to hang windows...

After seeing how many times those windows were adjusted to make them open and shut properly, I will never take another timber casement window for granted.

There was one major casualty. A window slipped out of Jason's hands while he was removing it from its hinges, shattering into pieces onto the concrete path below. Fortunately, it was the old window he was replacing, not the new. 

Self-preservation prevented me from my usual blog paparazzi thing. The camera would have been trampled on if I had taken a photograph of the incident.

Ah...the romance of tangible results after a hard day's work, figuratively and literally, went out the window.

Will it win?

Remember that ugly brown lamp, which I have now lost interest in...(that happens quite a lot around here)...Well, I've entered it into a competition for best ugly piece of furniture award. Terribly cruel.

The competition is open to Australian and New Zealand residents and all you do is upload a photo of your ugly item saying why it should be replaced. If it is judged to be the ugliest, you win a replacement of the item. Click here if you are interested.

The whole competition has captured my imagination. And as my regular readers know, I love the remote chance of a freebie. I click on every so often to check out the photo gallery of my competition. I tell you, my chances are not looking good.

What really astounds me is that quite a few items photographed aren't that bad really. Clearly, these people have yet to discover the world of the Before and After in Blogtopia.

The judges have already given awards to some outstanding pieces - my favourite being the alien-like floor lamp entry. I laughed out aloud at that one.

I will also enter Son # 1's bedside table which is decorated in autocollants*.

*Yes, that would be stickers in design-speak.