More Recent Work

Here are a few more pictures of recent works - firstly the front deck with its new coat of paint and refurbished wrought iron balustrade (so much work restoring that - I don't think I ever want to do something like that again!) Secondly, the restored and refinished kitchen floor with the hand-painted "tumbled tiles" design.

I've also had a good start on painting the front of the house - it's a brick house, so its only the windows and soffits that need painting. I was fearful that paticularly the end window was badly damaged, but I was surprised to find that it was remarkably sound under the loose paint. Only one tiny repair in one corner where the wood had rotted a little. Because it is the two-storey part of the house, I needed to access it safely - luckily I've been able to borrow my son's portable scaffold for a few weeks while he doesn't need it. I think the grey/blues I've chosen look great with the red brick - complementary contrast and all that!

Work has continued in the garden, too. the seeds I planted last week are coming up and the seedlings are looking healthy and perky. The weather is still relatively warm so I'm getting a late flush of scarlet runners and zucchinis.

Blissfully unaware, Oliver sleeps on!

Surviving in Strange Times

In a matter of a few months, how the world has changed! As the corona virus sweeps through countries, virtually shutting them down one after the other, we find ourselves forced to stay home and with as little contact with others as possible to mitigate the possibility of spread. Social distancing. Who knew what that was just a few weeks ago?

All that notwithstanding, I have still been pressing on with my renovations - nothing like a bit of hard work to keep yourself occupied with the added bonus that it leaves little room for brooding!
Fortunately, I quite like my own company, so being at home alone is not an ordeal for me. Missing the communal music-making, though.

So what have I been up to? I converted a useless corner cupboard (you know the ones - in a corner so its almost impossible to access what's in there. They end up being repositories of forgotten jars of unspeakable things!) I opened the back of it so that it faces into the dining room, framed it and painted it and now it is far more useful as wine storage.

I've been doing quite a bit of work outside. I've put in a ferny frog pond in a shady corner that my dining room window looks out on. No residents as yet, but I'll get some tadpoles in the spring. I've also painted my front deck and hand-rails. I don't have pictures of those two projects, but I'll take some tomorrow. The vegetable garden is expanding and in recent days I've planted beds with winter vegetables......seemed like a good idea, given current circumstances.

Some digging around and clearing up unearthed this set of steps that had been completely buried - they lead up from the backyard bungalow. When the conifer is finally removed, I'll make this area into a pleasant little garden.

Unfortunately, my excavations didn't yield any treasure - just this:

In late summer last year, my friends from Switzerland stayed for a week or two - they helped with some of the jobs around the place. This is Hannes' fence - such an improvement on what was there before! that one got used as kindling to start the fire with last winter. And Ursula helped me to strip the layers of old lino and vinyl from the kitchen floor and remove the old glue (big job!) After they left, I finished it with liming white and painted a decorative tumbled tile design where the kitchen and dining room floors meet. I'll add pictures of that to my next post. 

But the biggest job in the past year was getting the fascias, barge boards and down pipes replaced. I had this professionally done - it was beyond my skills to do this kind of work properly. I'm glad I did - it looks so good and absolutely no leaks since the 50mm downpipes have been replaced with 90mm, which can cope much better with heavy downpours. The colour is Colorbond Deep Ocean - a kind of dark blue-grey, which I will also use on the garage door and the gable ends. The windows will be a lighter shade of blue-grey.

 

So that's about it for now - I sliced the tip off my finger today using one of those lethal mandolin slicers - bit distracted, I think. I'm throwing that thing away tomorrow! I don't think I'll be able to do much work in the garden tomorrow - I need to let it heal. Maybe a day reading and tea-dinking is in order!