No I'm not in love with the letter box- but I'd much rather receive something like this in the mail than a bill!I couldn't resist this cute apron from here.
I'm saving it for a special catering occasion coming up soon.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Letter box love
No I'm not in love with the letter box- but I'd much rather receive something like this in the mail than a bill!I couldn't resist this cute apron from here.
I'm saving it for a special catering occasion coming up soon.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
A little botany- part 1
TreeFlip image courtesy of Rob Wiltshire.
I wanted to share a little botany with you this morning, I've been talking about the timber we're using to build the hut, and it wasn't til the other week when my workmate asked me "what is myrtle", that I realise not everyone has (mis)spent their youth traipsing around the bush looking at the native plants!
Luckily for me I know the author of TreeFlip quite well, and he was happy for me to share the relevant pages. I do laugh at his descriptions, I think his personal bias towards certain timbers for furniture or his favourite plant for honey are thinly veiled!
Celery top pine was named for the celery-like appearance of its "leaves". These are actually not leaves but flattened branches called cladodes, that have taken over the photosynthetic role for this tree. The trees can get up to 30m tall and look like this:
Image courtesy of http://www.tastimber.tas.gov.au/SpeciesDetailsGeneral.aspx?SpeciesID=9Celery top is a natural, durable and tough, fine grained timber. The wood is creamy white when freshly cut and darkens to a mellow rosy gold hue over time and with exposure to sunlight. Slowly grown, it has a hardness, strength, and density not normally associated with conifers.
Image as above
The timber for the outside of the hut is vertical, dressed, celery top boards. It looks quite blond at the moment (similar to my old hair colour) but once coated it will darken to a golden honey colour. Rob is heading down today to start coating the boards, at the moment they're in our bedroom and the hall way to keep them from the rain.
Anyway that's enough botany for this morning!
Monday, March 21, 2011
Timber
Last week was fairly quiet at the hut, a few things were meant to arrive, but they didn't. Which is something we get used to. We did get to see the start of the window seat, the only piece of bespoke furniture we're having made, (sorry I had to use bespoke, so very Kevin McCloud of me). It was nice to see the our timber dressed and being put to good use. The window seat will be made of celery top and myrtle, to match all our retro furniture finds. You may have noticed that Rob and I are a tad obsessed with timber. A couple of years ago we went to an auction in huonville, we ended up with 2 ute loads of timber, and I only left him for a moment! So it's nice to see some of it now being used in the window seat and the kitchen cabinets and bench tops.
Today we headed down to the hut to check on progress. I could see the two water tanks from the top of the drive, and the septic came into view as we got to the hut. Both dogs had to bark at them. I wandered over to the hut, and noticed the workhorses had been moved and there were tyre marks. Now this got me interested, we have learned that builders don't tidy up after themselves unless it's in the way of something else. So I looked in the door, to see timber. At this point I may have gotten a little excited, and squealed for Rob to come and open the door. Inside sat a neatly stacked pile of myrtle for the skirting and trim inside, and the promised half of the celery top cladding for the outside. We've been waiting for it for awhile now. The builder and Rob were hoping for it in December, sadly the sawmiller had lost the order in his ute. Then there was Christmas, then there were issues with the cutting blades for creating the shiplap joins. So he kept promising next week.
Today was that week.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
P.S. Sorry the photos we took were a bit sad (silly little camera and quite dark) so we'll head down for some photos tonight.
Today we headed down to the hut to check on progress. I could see the two water tanks from the top of the drive, and the septic came into view as we got to the hut. Both dogs had to bark at them. I wandered over to the hut, and noticed the workhorses had been moved and there were tyre marks. Now this got me interested, we have learned that builders don't tidy up after themselves unless it's in the way of something else. So I looked in the door, to see timber. At this point I may have gotten a little excited, and squealed for Rob to come and open the door. Inside sat a neatly stacked pile of myrtle for the skirting and trim inside, and the promised half of the celery top cladding for the outside. We've been waiting for it for awhile now. The builder and Rob were hoping for it in December, sadly the sawmiller had lost the order in his ute. Then there was Christmas, then there were issues with the cutting blades for creating the shiplap joins. So he kept promising next week.
Today was that week.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
P.S. Sorry the photos we took were a bit sad (silly little camera and quite dark) so we'll head down for some photos tonight.
Friday, March 18, 2011
A wolf in sheep's clothing or a...
...koala disguised as a chicken?
Sorry I couldn't help myself. I bought this gorgeous chicken tea cosy for a friend's birthday present, and have been meaning to wrap it for a few weeks. This was a reminder to myself to get organised!
Sorry I couldn't help myself. I bought this gorgeous chicken tea cosy for a friend's birthday present, and have been meaning to wrap it for a few weeks. This was a reminder to myself to get organised!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
A tour through the freshly painted hut
Welcome to a tour of our little hut. After returning home from a flying visit to Launceston we were pleasantly surprised to find the first coat of paint had been done.
Looking from the kitchen into the living space. Originally we had wanted exposed beams and vj timber lining on the ceiling, but, ahem, due to budgetary restraints we had to settle for plaster. But now it's been painted Rob and I have fallen in love with it. The plasterer has done a fantastic job the ceiling just disappears above you, creating a light filled space. Oh and have we told you we love our bifold door? Sorry to gush, but we're pretty happy with how it's pulling together at this stage.
The opposite view looking towards the kitchen and the hall.
Our entrance- the breezeway, there's a matching set of french doors on the other side too. Don't worry, they haven't forgotten some plaster, these will be clad in the celery top pine vertical boards to match the outside of the hut. With the polished concrete floor, we reckon this room is a winner.
The guest bathroom, a shower with a great view.
The spare bedroom.
Our bathroom.
Our bedroom, overlooking the laundry hut and my flower garden.
Looking back from our end of the hut to the other. The hallway looks dark at this time of day, but once the sun swings around the corner it will come through the three full length windows. A lot of people worry we don't have enough space. We laugh to ourselves, we don't need the home entertainment room, several spare bedrooms, huge bathrooms with spas, the "good" room. This hut is for us to live in, not wasted space that will need cleaning. But it's also for us to feel connected to the nine acres of space we have outside. Once the hut is all finished our next job is to pave the flat area in front of the hut. Slightly ambitious, but we have decided to pave the full 30 x 4m. I think that will be enough space don't you?
Looking from the kitchen into the living space. Originally we had wanted exposed beams and vj timber lining on the ceiling, but, ahem, due to budgetary restraints we had to settle for plaster. But now it's been painted Rob and I have fallen in love with it. The plasterer has done a fantastic job the ceiling just disappears above you, creating a light filled space. Oh and have we told you we love our bifold door? Sorry to gush, but we're pretty happy with how it's pulling together at this stage.
The opposite view looking towards the kitchen and the hall.
Our entrance- the breezeway, there's a matching set of french doors on the other side too. Don't worry, they haven't forgotten some plaster, these will be clad in the celery top pine vertical boards to match the outside of the hut. With the polished concrete floor, we reckon this room is a winner.
The guest bathroom, a shower with a great view.
The spare bedroom.
Our bathroom.
Our bedroom, overlooking the laundry hut and my flower garden.
Looking back from our end of the hut to the other. The hallway looks dark at this time of day, but once the sun swings around the corner it will come through the three full length windows. A lot of people worry we don't have enough space. We laugh to ourselves, we don't need the home entertainment room, several spare bedrooms, huge bathrooms with spas, the "good" room. This hut is for us to live in, not wasted space that will need cleaning. But it's also for us to feel connected to the nine acres of space we have outside. Once the hut is all finished our next job is to pave the flat area in front of the hut. Slightly ambitious, but we have decided to pave the full 30 x 4m. I think that will be enough space don't you?Monday, March 7, 2011
A little bargain
A little myrtle table sourced from Melbourne. Rob's been busy stripping back, sanding, oiling and polishing. It came up a treat! Just perfect for in the breezeway entrance to the hut.