Visiting Queenslanders in the street

This morning I had morning tea with a lady who has lived in our street for 27 years. V contacted me when she stumbled upon this little old blog a few weeks ago. She was researching butterfly chairs and covers when she came across my blog posts and then realised the Sow's Ear shared her street address.

V and I have a lot in common apart from living in the same street. She and her husband have been renovating their home for over 20 years. They own one of the oldest homes on the street. It's an original 1910 two bedroom Queeenslander cottage which they have tastefully renovated while raising three children. It's such a lovely family home decorated in an eclectic style over the years with collected and found objects.

When I visited V this morning, she took me through her home and gave me a run down of its history. She had old photographs of the home which she obtained from her neighbours. She is so lucky to have photographs. There was one photograph of what the home looked like when it was first built and how the roads were just dirt.

V and her husband bought their home in the early 1980s and were even married in the backyard. It is a home which is obviously well-loved.

Here is a small snippet of V's home. I just love how the integrity of the main home is still intact even after a major renovation...that is a rare thing in this day and age.

Central hallway to the main house with bedrooms on either side.

Dining room. The casement windows with green and amber glass are original to the house.
This room was originally the lounge room and part of the bathroom prior to the renovation

Another view of the dining room.
The bedroom at the end is the master bedroom but it was originally the kitchen!
You can also see the back door which leads to the laundry and downstairs bedroom for the teenager.

This is part of a new section that was designed by a heritage and conservation architect. It adjoins the main house but is essentially a separate building to contain the living and kitchen area.

V's island bench is a salvaged church altar. It is amazing.
She also mentioned the resident ghost that periodically visits....wooohoooo....She had lots of ghost stories about certain  homes in the street...woohhooo.... 

The fire place and bay window are part of the extension. I like how it is sympathetic to the era with the use of salvaged leadlight windows and some period pieces but it is still decidedly modern in its construction

This is the front verandah. It was enclosed when V and her hubby bought the house. They've opened up one side to create a lovely seating area.

Anyway, V has inspired me to approach some of the elderly neighbours still in our section of the street. They may know more about the Sow's Ear...I just have to get over my shyness...or maybe I'll just send Jason over?

New look

I swear I will never mock fashion models ever again... I had some new profile photographs taken and it's frickin' hard to pose seriously without looking like a complete dill. Who'd have thought it was hard work?

From about 100 head shots, the number was whittled down to about half a dozen usable shots. There was a severe edit.

The reason for the shots was to update my social media profile as it has been almost three years since Fun and VJs began. I posed the question back in April about whether to replace my avatar and most of you said that I should have a better profile photograph. So I did what I was told and organised some retro-inspired shots.

I enlisted the help of Yvette to act as my stylist. She weaved her magic, giving me big teased hair and over the top makeup. She also selected a Blue Hawaii vintage outfit to complete the look. Hilarious but very fun!

Chris from Australian Modern was the photographer. He does a lot of studio photography using old-fashioned film. He's old school but on this occasion he did some digital shots just for me.

This was the selection of flowers and rhinestones for that added bling

My friend Susan catered. She baked little tarts and served espresso coffee in her Martin Boyd cups. Classy! 

Sadly, I am not all comfortable in front of a camera and the full frontal head shots were shockers.  Models must practise their camera face all the time. It is a skill which I don't think I will ever be able to master but by the end of the session I was getting the hang of it. Looking away from the camera worked best for me. 

It was such fun and now you can put a face to the name. Mod. Brismod.

VJ sheeting

Well, all the work to clad the walls underneath the Sow's Ear is done. Jason spent most of last week getting the VJ (vertical join) sheeting up. It's the cheats option to get that VJ look without the big hit in the back pocket.

We're really happy with the results for underneath the house. Previously it was clad with asbestos fibro on the outside and the inside walls were just exposed framing. This is quite typical of Queenslander homes which were re-stumped and enclosed underneath.


Jason was keen to get the walls lined to keep it cleaner and neater for his man cave ambitions. The VJ sheets have the added benefit of being more durable than plaster board and comes already pre-primed.

Now that the walls are up, you know what that means? More painting. Ha!

If we ever move from this place, I bet you we buy a brick house which you don't need to paint.

Jason had lots of VJ off-cuts which he used to make this back wall  - as an added bonus. You can just see the irregular joins but once it gets two coats of paint no one will ever know...

Aria and under the house

In some circles it's considered gauche to photograph a restaurant experience. Thankfully, I don't mix in that circle (if I don't include Jason) and snapped photos to my heart's content when Jason and I went to fancy schmancy Aria for lunch.

How often do I get to go somewhere a little bit posher than say, Maccas? Almost never. And these images are to record for posterity a lovely luncheon in 2012.

aria menu

slightly warmed vichyssoise
Velvety deliciousness

duck pie with spiced pears and a witlof and raisin salad in the foreground, a cast iron pot of crisp hand cut chips

  

I was too embarrassed to have my new $2.50 op-shop jacket hung up. Even though it's wool and bespoke (but for someone else, as Jason likes to remind me).

decanted wine, and a view overlooking the Brisbane River

 It was simply superb. The whole experience was excellent.

And it made a lovely change of routine from this.

The last of the VJ panels were put up under the house yesterday. Yay!

Old barn door

It's odd the things you don't quite see until you take the time. 

One side of the old barn door to the laundry is unpainted (the other side is orange).  After three years living here at the Sow's Ear, using this door almost every day to do the laundry, I've only just realised. 

It's really noticeable now that Jason has lined the under the house area with off-white VJ sheets. Really noticeable. 

What a great old door with its old rim lock though. Jason built plain but rustic style architraves to give the door that certain gravitas. 

I suggested to Jason that perhaps we could just give the door a good sand and paint a protective coat of Estapol satin to finish it off. He looked at me like I was out of my mind and just said, 'White." 

That's that I suppose...what would you do?

Old barn style door in a Queenslander.
We'll have some more painting to do with all the new walls up