How to paint the top of the house? Part Two

You're a terrific lot. So many encouraging comments to help Jason's paint brush reach the highest gables. Most of your comments were very funny.

Poor Jason's still wondering how best to paint those gables. It seems he's literally painted himself into a corner in terms of outsourcing this final part. We can't imagine anyone wanting to take on such a small job like this, so that will probably be ruled out at this stage.

Mr Rooney, our travelling builder, offered us some detailed advice via email, which involved fixing a handhold onto the roof studs (something for Jason to hold on to while he paints) and a fall arrest harness. Jason would have to lower himself down from the roof onto a makeshift trestle and plank arrangement on the front window hood.

According to Mr Rooney, Jason would be able to have his three points of contact and then he could paint with his free hand.

I'm not so sure about it though, but Jason's considering it.

I said to Jason:"No way! You're not Batman, y'know...It's not like using a batarang."

And ever since I can't get the theme song nor the climbing up the wall scenes from the camp Batman TV show out of my head.

Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, Batman! Na, na, na, na, na, na...





Holy house-painting, Batman!

How to paint the top of the house?

No prizes for guessing what we did this weekend. Yep, more painting. Pick the people with no lives. We eat, live and breathe house painting around here.

Do you know, we never actually intended to paint the Sow's Ear by ourselves? It was always a job that we intended to outsource to the professionals...I really don't know how this came about...

Jason just started painting the back deck walls last September on his weekends and pretty much kept going. Very Forest Gump-like.

Go, Jason, go!

We've gone through so many litres of paint...I don't think we even kept count.

So here we are nearly a year later and we are finally painting the front façade of the house. And the funniest thing about it is Jason doesn't know how to reach the front gables to paint them. The gables are too high and our carport and front stairs are in the way to get mobile scaffold in.

Note how the gables are unpainted. Jason could only reach so far on tippy-toes. And I don't really know what poor Jason is doing in this photograph. He looks like he's collapsed from over-painting.

We briefly looked at hiring a cherry picker for a whole weekend but then we thought we could get away with using an extra long extension ladder (we need to buy one as it is something we'll always need). Or maybe we should just get someone in to do the final hard-to-reach part? What do you think?

Where's Mr Rooney when you need him?

Newly painted lattice and arches. There used to be casement windows here a very long time ago. I wonder when it was opened up...

I've been relegated to fence painting. No heights for me.

Neutra and 3d house numbers

With the front of the Sow's Ear being painted at the moment, my mind has turned to the very important issue of house numbers. Three dimensional house numbers to be precise.

I'd like to have cool house numbers on the house. (Yeah, there's not a lot of deep thinking happening here at the moment...but this blog was never intended for intellectual pursuits!)

I've always liked the Neutra house numbers which are available in America. The font was originally designed by modernist architect Richard Neutra in the 1930s.

Image from Here

I like how they sit off the wall

And there is an Etsy seller who sells an acrylic version in funky opaque and translucent colours. These numbers are a fun take on the modernist font.

Image from here

I've looked for a modernist-style equivalent here in Australia and the closest thing I could find was a set of numbers made by a company called Platino. They're not bad looking and apparently they are stocked in the major hardware stores.

Image from here

What to get? What to get?

Once the very important decision of house numbers is decided, then we will seriously consider what to name the Sow's Ear. I'm leaning towards a historical name connected to the original family who owned the house - the Stables family... 

Enjoy your weekend!

Soda Syphon

There are few things which remind me of childhood as vividly as the Sparklets soda syphon.

My family were huge soda water drinkers in the 60s and 70s when it was hugely popular and in the 80s when it was no longer fashionable.

I went to visit my Mum today and she was having a clean-out of her cupboards. Bless her hoarding heart. Not only did she pass on some questionable 80s fashion to Son #1 (which originally belonged to one of my brothers), but she  let me have a Sparklets Globemaster and a box of syphon bulbs.

I had a choice of the red Globemaster, the blue Globemaster or a red Hostmaster. On a whim, I chose blue.

Blue anodised Sparklets Globemaster soda syphon

The whole syphon thing is highly amusing, especially after googling syphons and finding this description of the Globemaster on this site.  It seems Jason and I can have some cool parties and sufficient soda water...But most importantly the site has step-by-step instructions on using syphons.

When I returned home with my Globemaster, I realised I didn't get the bulb-holder to see if the the syphon still worked. I'll have to visit Mum again later this week to get it.

And here's Son#1 modelling his 80s nylon jacket. Now all we need are some Reebok pumps and we're set.

1980s nylon jacket

The insight of a child

Days like Father's Day offer an insight into what children really think of their parents. Jason and I love nothing more than seeing what gift our children choose or what sentiment they write on the cards they work so hard to make.

This morning Jason was awakened excitedly by the fruits of his loins for the Father's Day gift-giving exercise. Son #2 who is six years old made a booklet about his father. You know those little fill-in-the-blanks pro forma sheets asking vital statistics and details.

My Dad is ____ years old. He weighs____ and is ____cm tall.

You get the picture. (For the record Jason is a skinny giant according to Son #2)

It was very cute until the following page.

My dad likes to relax by sleeping.
He loves to wear painting clothes.
The picture depicts Jason sleeping on a bed.

The next page went on to say:

It makes my dad happy when he gets ebay stuf (sic).

I told Jason he'd been described as the Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons.

"That's your child's estimation of you. He's just described you as a slob - a painting-clothes wearing ebayer who sleeps all the time!"

comic book guy

Too funny. Especially since Jason is a James Bond (the Daniel Craig version) wannabe.

Needless to say, Jason did not paint this fine Father's Day, nor was he caught napping or ebaying.